America First Field, Sandy, UT – Tonight is the beginning of new ownership for RSL, under the helm of the Larry Miller Corporation and with Gail Miller in attendance to start the match off with the coin flip. Real Salt Lake led in every stat tonight except the one that matters, goals scored. It was an early goal by Theo Corbeanu in just the 9th minute that was the game winner. RSL dominated ever other stat with an amazing 23 shots on goal and dominated possession even with going down a man when a red card was shown to Diego Luna in the second half. The home team didn’t give up and fought the entire match and you would have never known they were down a man with the intensity they were able to deliver to the pitch. In the end it just wasn’t enough, enough men and enough luck, to get a much needed point at home.
It was a cool evening for the start of the match and maybe it was the temperature that set a slow pace for both squads for the first 15 minutes. It was an early mistake by RSL that led to the first score. Bode Hidalgo took a hard touch in front of the goal and Theo Cobeanu took advantage to put his club up in just the 9th minute. The chances were there to equalize from both the run of play and set pieces, but the Toronto was able to clog up the box enough to keep the home club out of the net before they headed to the locker room at the break.
After the break things picked up right where they left off with RSL seemingly in control of the run of play but everything went off the rails in the 61st minute. A scuffle ensued in front of the Toronto goal with a number of players involved. In the midst of the melee Diego Luna and Roaul Petretta went down in a battle for the ball. When the air cleared Sergii Damianchuk showed yellow card to Toronto’s Roaul Petretta and in a stunning move Diego Luna was shown a red card. Even with VAR affirming the red card it certainly left a lot of room for questioning the result of the interaction. The claret and cobalt fought hard to equalize for the remaining half hour and took an astounding 23 shots on goal and held almost 60% possession and even the 8 corners couldn’t lift them up for a result.
After being shown a red card Diego Luna will miss next weeks match against San Diego on Saturday, April 26. This was the first win of the season for Toronto having lost 4 matches and securing points on 4 draws. Real Salt Lake has now lost 4 of there last 5 matches.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Toronto FC 1 0 1
Scoring Summary
TOR – Theo Corbeanu – 9′
Misconduct Summary
TOR – Deybi Flores – 12′ – foul
TOR – Federico Bernardeschi – 35′ – foul
RSL – Diego Luna – 61′ – Red Card
TOR – Roaul Petretta – 62′ – foul
RSL – Emeka Eneli – 67′ – foul
TOR – Sean Johnson – 74′ – time wasting
TOR – Kosi Thompson – 84′- foul
RSL – Justen Glad – 90’+5′ – foul
Officials
Referee: Sergii Damainchuk
Assistant Referee: Stefan Tanaka-Freundt
Assistant Referee: Walt Heatherly
4th Official: John Matto
Video Assistant Referee: Drew Fischer
AVAR: Meghan Mullen
Attendence: 19,082
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Rafael Cabral; Brayan Vera; Justen Glad; Bode Hidalgo (Zavier Gozo, 76′); Alex Katranis; Braian Ojeda (Sam Junqua, 75′); Diego Luna; Diogo Goncalves; Dominik Marczuk (Ariath Piol, 66′); Emeka Eneli; Jesus Barea (Tyler Wolff, 90’+1)
Substitutes Not Used: Nelson Palacio; Lachlan Brook; Ariath Piol; Philip Quinton; Mason Stajduhar; Noel Caliskan
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
Toronto FC: Sean Johnson; Kevin Long; Sigurd Rosted; Raoul Patretta; Kosi Thompson; Theo Corbeanu (Tyrese Spicer, 58′); Deybi Flores (Alonso Coello, 87′); Jonathan Osorio (Matty Longstaff, 87′); Lorenzo Insigne (Maxime Dominguez, 58); Federico Bernardeschi; Derrick Ettienne (Ola Brynhildsen, 72′)
Substitutes Not Used: Kobe Franklin; Markus Cimermancic; Lazar Sefanovic; Luka Gavran
Head Coach: Robin Fraserraf
Tags: Major League Soccer, MLS, Real Salt Lake, RSL, Soccer, Toronto, Toronto FC