Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake couldn’t keep up with the very opportunistic scoring from San Jose this afternoon as they fall 4-3 against the Earthquakes. With San Jose out of the playoffs and Real Salt Lake currently sitting in 8th place int the West this afternoon match has serious implications for one club. A loss for RSL means they would have to get a result potentially in both of their remaining matches. That would be a difficult task with Portland and Sporting Kansas City both playing very well.
For most of the first half it felt like RSL had the match well in hand. With a dazzling goal from Albert Rusnak with a beautiful feed from Kreilach in the 9th minute the home club drew first blood but it things would not all stay that way in their favor. There were several times when Real Salt Lake looked like they would add to their lead, even catching Marcinkowski out of position, but the ball had a little to much pace and Rubin couldn’t get behind the ball. San Jose leveled the score in the 45th minute with a goal from Carlos Fierro and then in a heartbreak just before the half Chris Wondolowski finished a corner kick past David Ochoa. The goal from Wondo was bitter just before the break was the obvious foul at the other end of the pitch moments before just outside of the box that was waved off.
You could feel the fight was still in the claret and cobalt as the returned from the locker room. RSL came back with the attack minded play we have gotten used to with Pablo Masteroeni taking over as the interim manager of the club but San Jose refused to give up even with their elimination from the playoffs. The Earthquakes extended their lead with a shot from Cade Cowell in the 69th minute to make the score 3-1. With things getting a little chippy on the pitch neither team was ready to concede anything and San Jose added to their lead in the 79th minute with a goal from Jackson Yueill. The Claret and Cobalt didn’t give up and with the fresh legs of Maikel Chang RSL scored their second goal of the match. With 4 minutes of stoppage time and the hard defensive posture of San Jose it was an uphill race here the RioT and they came close with Albert Rusnak completing a brace in 90’+3′ but it was just too big of hill to climb and RSL fell 4-3 today.
Real Salt Lake currently sits in 8th place in the West and either Minnesota or LAFC would knock them out of the playoff bracket with a win later today. It will likely take a result at one or both of their remaining matches. That may be a tall order given who is left on the schedule.
Real Salt Lake has two remaining matches this year, next up with the Portland Timbers on Wednesday, November 3rd at home and the on Saturday, November 7th they rap up the regular season at Sporting Kansas City.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 2 3
San Jose Eathquakes 2 2 4
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Albert Rusnak – 9′
SAN – Carlos Fierro – 37′
SAN – Chris Wondolowski – 45’+3′
SAN – Cade Cowell – 69′
SAN – Jackson Yueill – 79′
RSL – Maikel Chang – 85′
RSL – Albert Rusnak – 90’+3′
Misconduct Summary:
SAN – Oswaldo Alanis – 27′ – unsporting behavior
SAN – Jackson Yueill – 45′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Justen Glad – 48′ – unsporting behavior
SAN – Judson – 58′ – unsporting behavior
SAN – Cristian Espinoza – 75′ – unsporting behavior
Officials
Referee: Jon Freeman
Assistant Referee: Chantal Boudreau
Assistant Referee: Jeremy Hanson
4th Official: Ramy Touchan
Video Assistant Referee: Joe Dickerson
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert
Attendence: 15,553
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: David Ochoa; Andrew Brody (Maikel Chang, 62′); Justen Glad; Erik Holt; Aaron Herrera; Pablo Ruiz (Jonathon Menendez, 62′); Damir Kreilach (Bobby Wood, 83′); Justin Meram (Everton Luiz, 62′); Albert Rusnak; Nick Besler; Rubio Rubin (Anderson Julio, 72′)
Substitutes Not Used: Ashtone Morgan; Danny Toia; Zac MacMath; Justin Portillo
San Jose Earthquakes: JT Marcinkowski; Oswaldo Alanis; Nathan; Marcos Lopez; Jackson Yueill; Jack Skahan (Eric Remedi, 60′); Judson (Tanner Beason, 78′); Carlos Fierro (Cristian Espinoza, 70′); Chris Wondolowski; Andres Rios (Jeremy Ebobisse, 70′); Cade Cowell (Benji Kikanovic, 70′)
Substitutes Not Used: Paul Marie; Daniel Vega; Siad Hajl