Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake finds themselves in a difficult situation as they try to make the playoffs for the 9th year in a row.
RSL came in hungry tonight, and didn’t let up for the entire 90 minutes. Seattle stayed in the match, just not on the scoreboard, up until about midway through the second 45’ when they seemed confused and definitely out of sync with each other.
Real Salt Lake started off the scoring early in the first half when Roman Torres was called for a handball in the area. Javier Morales stepped up, after his signature stutter step, put it past Stefan Frei. Frei’s complaints about Javier’s approach were ignored by referee Silviu Petrescu and RSL was up 1-0 in the 12th minute.
The attack did not let up and RSL and it showed not only on the field but also on the scoreboard when Sebastian Jaime followed up after the attempt by Luke Mulholland hits the post and Jaime heads the ball past Stefan Frei who was out of position from Mulholland’s shot.
With a comfortable lead of 2-0 Real still kept up the pressure and after neither team made any substitutions coming back from the break, Seattle looked out of sorts for most of the second 45 minutes, ending the game with only 5 shots with only 1 of them on target.
There was some hope of seeing Juan Manuel Martinez late in the game, however having only arrived yesterday in Salt Lake after a seventeen hour flight from Argentina, there was little to gain and much to risk by having him come in without even one practice with the team.
Having faced this obstacle on their way to playoffs, they still have several more standing in their way, particularly FC Dallas who they will see two more times before the end of the MLS season.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 2 0 2
Seattle Sounders 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL– Javier Morales – 12′
RSL– Sebastian Jaime – 19′
Misconduct Summary:
SEA– Erik Friberg (Dissent) – 25′
SEA– Andy Rose (Foul) – 39′
SEA – Oniel Fisher (Foul) – 49’
RSL- Olmes Garcia Ffoul) – 83’
RSL – Tony Beltran (Time Wasting) – 90+2’
Lineups: Real Salt Lake (7-10-8): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran; Jamison Olave; Demar Phillips; Aaron Maund; Kyle Beckerman (C); Javier Morales; Luke Mulholland; Luis Silva (Jordan Allen, 83’); Joao Plata (Olmes Garcia, 69’); Sebastian Jaime (Devon Sandoval, 87’)
Substitutes Not Used: Jeff Attinella; Juan Manuel Martinez; John Stertzer; Eliaz Vasquez
Seattle Sounders (11-12-2): Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears; Chad Marshall; Roman Torres; Oniel Fisher; Andy Rose (Gonzalo Pineda, 77’); Brad Evans (C); Erik Friberg; Aaron Kovar (Lamar Neagle, 57’); Obafemi Martins; Nelson Haedo Valdez (Thomas, 70’)
Substitutes Not Used: Troy Perkins; Dylan Remick; Cristian Roldan; Zack Scott
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake travels to Toyota Stadium to try to keep playoff hopes alive against FC Dallas on Saturday, August 29th.