Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake took charge and 3 points in the second half to send Sporting Kansas City home empty. With ominous clouds overhead that only delivered a light sprinkling of rain at times after a fairly uneventful first half RSL wasted no time with the first goal of the match coming from Sergio Garcia. After Roger Espinosa was sent off in with a straight red card the home club capitalized with 2 more goals, first from Pablo Ruiz and Jefferson Savarino put the nail in the coffin.
The first half began with a light sprinkling of rain but that didn’t put a damper on the claret and cobalt as they shot a total of 10 shots in the half with 6 of them on target. John Pulskamp came up big for Kansas City to keep the ball out of the net for the first 45 minutes. The most important development coming out of the half was the early yellow card shown to Roger Espinosa in the 24th minute a moment of foreshadowing that would come back to bite his club in the second half.
The intensity picked up for RSL as they hit the pitch for the second half and the shots kept coming. The payoff came in the 50th minute with a great buildup and a cross from Brody into the box that Sergio Cordova was able to head into the back of the net. The excitement got the better of Cordova who promptly removed his jersey and was promptly shown a yellow card although he didn’t appear to mind. Sparks really started to fly in the 62nd minute when Espinoza was shown a straight red card for his dangerous tackle with his studs up. With SKC now down a man the home club was quick to take advantage as Pablo Ruiz shot a rocket to the bottom right corner of the net in the 65th minute to double the lead. The scoring was rounded out with a 71st minute insurance goal from Jefferson Savarino.
In the seven matches that Jefferson Savarino has played since returning to RSL he has scored 4 goals and helped out on 3 others. RSL finished the night with a fantastic 19 shots with ten of them being on frame. Sporting Kansas City was kept in check the whole night with only 1 of their 6 shots being on target. Real remains one of only two clubs who remain undefeated at home.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 3 3
Sporting Kansas City 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Sergio Cordova – 50′
RSL – Pablo Ruiz – 65′
RSL – Jefferson Savarino – 71′
Misconduct Summary:
SKC – Roger Espinosa – 24′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Justen Glad – 34′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Sergio Codova – 50′ – excessive celebration
SKC – Roger Expinosa – 62′ – serious foul (red card)
SKC – Nicolas Isimat – 85′ – time wasting
RSL – Anderson Julio – 90’+3′ – unsporting behavior
Officials:
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Assistant Referee: Mike Rottersman
Assistant Referee: Gjovalin Bort
4th Official: Alex Chilowicz
Video Assistant Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
AVAR: Tom Supple
Attendence: 20,132
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Aaron Herrera; Justen Glad (Erik Holt, 82′); Marcelo Silva; Andrew Brody; Jefferson Savarino (Deigo Luna, 82′); Pablo Ruiz; Jasper Loffelsend (Nick Besler, 72′); Maikel Chang; Justin Meram (Bode Hidalgo, 87′); Sergio Cordova (Anderson Julio, 72′)
Substitutes Not Used: Johan Kappelhof; Rubio Rubin; Tomas Gomez
Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Rober Voloder; Nicolas Isimat; Logan Ndenbe; Kayden Pierre; Uri Rosell (Felipe Hernandez, 57′); Roger Espinoza; Remi Walter; Johnny Russell (Cam Duke, 79′); Daniel Salloi; Marinos Tzionis (Khiry Shelton, 66′)
Substitutes Not Used: Ben Sweat; Jake Davis; Kendall McIntosh; William Agada; Devah Rad
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake stays at home as they welcome FC Dallas Saturday July 23rd at 8:00 pm at the RioT.