Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake pull a 0-0 draw tonight against the LA Galaxy at Rio Tinto Stadium. Not the start we expected tonight at Rio Tinto, as a huge thunderclap was heard and felt during the singing of the national anthem.
After the lighting and thunder there was a 62 minute delay before the clubs re-entered the pitch to finally start the match. RSL modified their formation slightly to compensate for the many injuries that have plagued the club early in the MLS season.
The highlight of the night for RSL
fans didn’t come until the 90th minute of play when Nick Rimando came up with an amazing save off of a very questionable PK call by referee Jose Carlos Rivero.
Real Salt Lake may be onto something with their modified 4-4-3 formation as the played a very aggressive match for the entire night and Jordan Allen had a couple of good chances that began early in the match when he took a shot just outside of the box , but it was fired directly at Jamie Penedo who easily cradled it into his arms.
The Galaxy also had their chances the first half with the best chance during stoppage time when Zardes just missed a header toward the goal, leaving it 0-0 at the end of the first half of play.
RSL came out with the same aggressive play and kept the pressure up on the Galaxy throughout the remainder of the match. Then in the 90th minute it was the assistant referee that called a penalty in the box that setup the last minute heroics by Rimando to set up the final score of 0-0.
Quotes from Real Salt Lake
Overall thoughts
“To sum it up, it’s improvement from last week. I thought that our possession was good tonight. I felt that we made good choices on the ball under difficult circumstances. Overall, really pleased with tonight. Obviously, the aim is to get three points at home, and I thought we pushed, but came up just a little bit short on the points, but not on the performance.”
On the PK call
“I didn’t get an explanation, but he did say he did foul him. I have to look at it; I haven’t seen it. Let’s hope it was. He called 10 offsides on us in the first half and then a PK in the 90th minute – I’m sure he didn’t get them all right.”
On having Nick Rimando on PKs
“It’s just a tremendous amount of confidence in him. I think that teh other teams don’t have confidence when they face him, and that’s a big thing. This save wasn’t routine either, it was a fantastic save.”
On Luis Gil
“I thought he had a good game – I really do. It’s tough playing against two defensive midfielders that were really sitting in there. I thought his movement was good. I thought he was bright, and I thought it was a “nearly night” – it was nearly really good.”
– Nick Rimando
On saving the penalty kick
“Try to save it. Try to stall a little bit. I tried to ask the referee what was going on, tried to figure out what the call was all about, then just focus on the ball and I was lucky to guess the right way… The center ref had no idea. I kept on asking him, and he wouldn’t say anything. He said it was a PK when I asked him.”
On the overall play tonight
“A lot better. Definitely a step in the right direction. A change in the formation a little bit. As you saw, we had a lot of chances this game, a lot of attack in the offensive third. A lot more than the previous games and our coach was saying a lot, but I thought that tonight we were really inches from scoring a goal and getting things moving, but if we would have lost this game I would have been so proud of these guys the way they fought tonight. Just a different game all around. Attitude, fight, commitment on the field and if we continue that, then you will see some positive things for us.”
On Jaime Penedo
“He had a great game. I think his last game here he had a great game as well, and I think this year he’s been having some of these games a lot and helping them get some points, so I tip my hat to Jaime for this game tonight, because like I said, we were so close, but he made some big saves.”
On his PK track record
“Maybe there’s intimidation with the players knowing. My track record with the PK’s, maybe it’s me? I don’t know. There’s some study going on for sure, there’s a feel, there’s last minute decisions, and a lot of them go against me, but it was for me and I’m happy, because I don’t think that we should have lost that game tonight.”
Lineups
Real Salt Lake (2-2-4): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran; Jámison Olave; Elias Vasquez; Demar Phillips; Kyle Beckerman (C); Luis Gil; Luke Mulholland (Sabastian Saucedo, 86′); Jordan Allen; Alvaro Saborio; Devon Sandoval (Olmes Garcia 76′)
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella; Olmes Garcia; Abdoulie Mansally; Aaron Maund; Wellington Paeckart; John Stertzer
LA Galaxy (3-2-4): Jaime Penedo; Omar Gonzalez; A.J. DeLaGarza; Leonardo; Dan Gargan; Baggio Husidic; Stefan Ishizaki (Juninho, 72′); Rafael Garcia; Bradford Jamieson (Mika Vayrynen, 82′); Alan Gordon; Gyasi Zardes
Substitutes not used: Brian Rowe; Ignacio Manganto; Raul Mendiola; Tommy Meyer; Oscar Sorto
Up Next for Real Salt Lake:
Real Salt Lake travels to Toyota Park to meet up with the Chicago Fire on May 9th .