America First Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake put on an impressive display tonight in a winning effort against the San Jose Earthquake. After losing 4 of their last 5 matches RSL desperately needed a win and against a San Jose club who is sitting in the top four in the west it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The first half started out with the home club pushing hard but soon was forced to use two substitutes early with both Anderson Julio and Brayan Vera leaving with injuries. It didn’t take long for Danny Musovski to make his mark after entering the match in the 25th minute and feeding the ball to Jasper Loffelsend for a long outside shot to put his club up in the 39th minute.
When the second half started it did not take long for the Quakes to level the score with a goal from Cristian Espinoza in the 49th minute off of a set piece deep in RSL territory. Jefferson Savarino kept up the pressure and put the claret and cobalt back on top with a zinger across the box and in the corner of the net in the 54th minute.
San Jose had the edge on both possession and shots in the second half but it was Andres Gomez and RSL that sealed the deal in the 80th minute to put the game out of reach for the visitors.
This is the first time this season that RSL has scored first in a match. The next match for RSL is against the Seattle Sounders at home on Saturday, April 29th.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 2 3
San Jose Earthquakes 0 1 1
Scoring Summary
RSL – Jasper Loffelsend – 39′
SJ – Cristian Espinoza – 49′
RSL – Jefferson Savarino – 54′
RSL – Andres Gomez – 80′
Misconduct Summary
RSL – Pablo Ruiz – 45′ – foul
Officials
Referee: Filip Dujic
Assistant Referee: Micheal Barwegen
Assistant Referee: Mike Rottersman
4th Official: Ramy Touchan
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
Attendence: 16,666
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Brayan Vera (Bryan Oviedo, 32′); Justen Glad; Bode Hidalgo (Emeka Eneli, 82′); Marcelo Silva; Pablo Ruiz; Jefferson Savarino; Andres Gomez; Jasper Loffelsend (Braian Ojeda, 82′); Rubio Rubin (Maikel Chang, 82′); Anderson Julio (Danny Musovski, 25′)
Substitutes Not Used: Damir Kreilach; Justin Meram; Tomas Gomez; Diego Luna
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
San Jose Earthquakes: JT Marcikowski; Paul Marie (Miguel Trauco, 84′); Jonathan Mensah; Rodrigues; Carlos Akapo; Carlos Guezo (Judson, 84′); Jackson Yueill (Ousseni Bouda, 84′); Jamiro Monteiro; Cristian Espinoza; Jeremy Ebobisse; Cade Cowell (Benji Kikanovic, 65′)
Substitutes Not Used: Tanner Beason; Jack Skahan; Tommy Thompson; Daniel De Sousa Brito; Michael Baldisimo
Head Coach: Luchi Gonzalez