Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – On the first Jazz night at Rio Tinto Stadium RSL is disappointed with a draw against Toronto FC. With a fast and furious start on the night it was Justin Meram to strick first but Toronto responded just two minutes later to level things up. After the half if looked like the Claret and Cobalt was in the drivers seat with Damir Kreilach putting them back on top but after what looked like a foul that caused VAR to look at the Toronto equalizer the final result on the night was a 2-2 draw.
The first half felt like RSL controlled most of the play but surprisingly it was Toronto that had the edge with possession. It was the shots taken that the Claret and Cobalt really showed whose house they are in with a 9 to 3 advantage over the Visitors. RSL had a 5-1 advantage on corner kicks. Real Salt Lake came out swinging today pushing the attack. First blood was drawn by the home team when Sergio Codova put the ball in front of Justin Merman who punched it past Alex Bono in the 7th minute. It felt like RSL was set to have a really punish Toronto but Lukas MacNaughton calmed things down with a quick response in just the two minutes later to level up the score. It was late in the half that the home club regained the lead with Damir Kreilach being in the right place at the right time to capitalize on a feed from Mikael Chang in the 43rd minute of play.
When both clubs hit the pitch to start the second half there was plenty of good chances or RSL but it was Toronto that was able to find the back of the net on a play that found Damir Kreilach and all of the home fans thinking he was fouled near mid-field and Jayden Nelson hitting a long strike that made it past and out of position Zac MacMath to give us would be the final score in the 79th minute of play. That didn’t mean that the fireworks were over when in the 86th minute of play ex-RSL player Carlos Saucedo was given a straight red card for a kick to the face of Sergio Cordova. Real Salt Lake couldn’t capitalize on being a man up and the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Real Salt Lake has still only lost one match this year but with 3 wins and 3 draws they are currently in third place in west for the time being however that will most likely change before the end of the weekend. Bobby Wood and Aaron Herrera came of the bench tonight to the delight of the crowd after being unavailable the past couple of matches due to injury. Damir Kreilach looks like he may be back playing a full 90 minutes tonight. Justin Meram had a man of the match level performance tonight with solid play through the 75 minutes he spent on the pitch including his early goal.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 2 0 2
Toronto FC 1 1 2
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Justin Meram – 7′
TOR – Kosi Thompson – 9′
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 43′
TOR – Jayden Nelson – 79′
Misconduct Summary:
TOR – Lukas MacNaughton – 36′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Pablo Ruiz – 47′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 55′ – wasting time
RSL – Aaron Herrera – 83′ – unsporting behavior
TOR – Jonathan Orsorio – 83′ – unsporting behavior
TOR – Carlos Salcedo – 86′ – Red Card
Officials
Referee: Marcos DeOliveira
Assistant Referee: Chris Elliott
Assistant Referee: Ian McKay
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
Video Assistant Referee: Jan Freeman
AVAR: Claudiu Badea
Attendence: 20,136
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Andrew Brody (Chris Garcia, 90’+4′); Tate Schmitt; Marcelo Silva; Jaziel Orozco; Pablo Ruiz; Damir Kreilach; Justin Meram (Bobby Wood, 75′); Scott Caldwell; Maikel Chang (Aaron Herrera 75′); Sergio Cordova
Substitutes Not Used: Nick Besler; Rubio Rubin; Bode Davis; Everton Luiz; Tomas Gomez
Toronto FC: Alex Bono; Carlos Salcedo; Lukas MacNaughton (Kadin Chung, 46′); Shane O’Neill; Lucas Petrasso; Michael Bradley; Jonathan Osorio; Jacob Shaffelburg (Jayden Nelson, 74′); Kosi Thompson (Deandre Kerr, 57′); Jesus Jimenez (Jordan Perruzza, 83′); Alejandro Pozuelo
Substitutes Not Used: Noble Okello; Quentin Westberg; Chris Mavinga; Ifunanyachi Achara
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake travels to the Big Apple to take on New York City FC on Saturday April 17th.