Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake was unable to keep their winning streak going and settle for a draw against the Columbus Crew. After scoring 6 goals in the last two matches the sold out crowd was looking for their club to keep it up tonight but even though they dominated the stats they just couldn’t find the back of the net tonight. RSL hosted Pride Night this evening at Rio Tinto Stadium keeping up their tradition that started in 2018, they were the first pro team in Utah to host this event.
The first half was somewhat overshadowed by a 5 alarm fire near the stadium that sent plumes of black smoke into the air and filtered down into the stadium. The blaze was mostly controlled by the 20th minute of play and did not have a real impact on the match. RSL did start this game hot and looking to capitalize on the momentum they have been building and excitement grew with two early corners and a header from Justen Glad in the 21st minute that just went wide of the mark. The crew had their chances as well with their best chance in the 24th minute on a deep volley toward the corner of the net but Zac MacMath chocked up his first save of the match and denied the visitors.
The fans were not impressed with the officiating tonight and it really showed with Marcelo Silva was issued a yellow card in the waning moments of the half after a number of calls appeared to be missed on the Crew just prior.
The fouls calls kept up when play resumed with RSL adding 7 more fouls to the 9 they were called for in the first half compared to the 11 for the Crew. Columbus was first up to threaten when play resumed with a quick cross into the box in the 58th minute but Justen Glad read it well and sent the ball out for a corner for the Crew. The Claret and Cobalt bounced back with a couple of chances in the 62nd minute first with a shot from distance from Justin Meram that Eloy Room got in front of and then less than a minute later Mercelo Silva tried a header that came up short of the goal. Later in the half Sergio Cordova was in the receiving end of a build-up courtesy of Jefferson Savarino but he can’t keep it on frame and the ball sailed wide of the goal. The last chance for the home club started with a deep ball in from Aaron Herrera but Justen Glad can’t get a clean shot and it glides into the hands of the Crew keeper.
On a bright note, RSL is able to keep their undefeated status at home and Zac MacMath added another clean sheet to his growing tally. It was great to see Aaron Herrera back in the mix after missing a match because of a red card. The night ended with a firework show that helped ease the disappointment of only getting 1 point tonight. It was reported that Bobby Wood will miss the next 2-3 months after having abductor surgery. Real Salt Lake travel to Minnesota to take on Minnesota FC on July 3rd.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Columbus Crew 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Marcelo Silva – 45’+3′ – unsporting behavior
CLB – Steven Moreira – 79′ – unsporting behavior
Officials
Referee: Mark Allatin
Assistant Referee: Corey Parker
Assistant Referee: Kyle Atkins
4th Official: Silviu Petrescu
Video Assistant Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: Eric Weisbrod
Attendence: 20,311
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Justen Glad; Aaron Herrerra; Marcelo Silva; Andrew Brody; Pablo Ruiz (Scott Caldwell, 67′); Justin Meram (Maikel Chang, 83′); Jefferson Savarino; Jasper Loffelsend; Sergio Cordova; Rubio Rubin (Jonathan Menendez, 66′)
Substitutes Not Used: Johan Kappelhof; Nick Besler; Tate Schmitt; Everton Luiz; Anderson Julio; Tomas Gomez
Columbus Crew: Eloy Room; Jonathan Mensah; Milos Degenek; Sean Zawadzki; Darlington Nagbe (Alexadru Matan, 90’+4′); Pedro Santos (Will Sands, 61′); Aidan Morris; James Igbekeme (Josh Williams, 90’+4′); Steven Moreira; Luiz Diaz (Mohamed Farsi, 68′); Miguel Berry (Jacen Russell-Rowe, 61′)
Substitutes Not Used: Isaiah Parente; Jalil Anibaba; Evan Bush; Jake Morris