Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – A brisk night and a perfect soccer atmosphere greeted Real Salt Lake and Orlando City SC at the Riot with both teams fighting the entire match but it was the Claret and Cobalt on top when the final whistle blew with goals from Sam Johnson and Damir Krielach with Nani the lone scorer for Orlando City.
Both teams were ready to play tonight and it showed with the back and forth to start the match but RSL was the first to the goal when Sam Johnson whipped one past Brian Rowe in the 17th minute to put the home team up early. An early injury to Everton Ruiz and a second time on the turf led to an early exit when he left the match in the 34th minute and was replaced by Nick Besler.
Orlando brought on Dom Dwyer and Nani to add a little pressure and try and find a way back in the match but Damir Kreilach made it that much harder with his 55th minute goal. Orlando didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 81st minute with a bending free kick and the final score Real Salt Lake 1 Orlando FC 0.
Sam Johnson scored his first MLS and RSL goal in the 17th minute. Justen Glad made his first start of the 2019 season after an injury that kept him out for 6 matches last season.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 1 2
Orlando City SC 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Sam Johnson – 17′
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 55′
ORL – Nani – 81
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Nedum Onuoha – 34′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 41′ – unsporting behavior
ORL – Shane O’Neill – 45’+1′ – dissent
ORL – Dom Dwyer – 69′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Kyle Beckerman – 74′ – unsporting behavior
ORL – Will Johson – 90’+1′ – unsporting behavior
Officials
Referee: Chris Penso
Assistant Referee: Nick Uranga
Assistant Referee: Frank Anderson
4th Official: Ismir Pekmic
Video Assistant Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Attendence: 16,770
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Nedum Onuoha; Justen Glad; Donny Toia; Aaron Herrera; Everton Luiz (Nick Besler, 28′); Albert Rusnak; Damir Kreilach (Corey Baird, 67′); Kyle Beckerman; Jefferson Savarino; Sam Johnson (Brooks Lennon, 86′)
Substitutes Not Used: Joao Plata; Sebastian Saucedo; Andrew Putna; Justin Portillo
Orlando City SC: Brian Rowe; Kamal Miller; Robin Jansson; Shane O’Neill; Ruan; Sebastian Mendez; Will Johnson; Joao Moutiniho (Josue Colman, 77′); Chris Mueller (Nani, 56′); Tesho Akinidele (Dom Dwyer, 56′); Sacha Kljestan
Substitutes Not Used: Oriol Rosell; Adam Grinwis; Kyle Smith; Benji Michel;
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake makes their first trip to expansion team FC Cincinnati Friday April 17th.