Real Salt Lake welcomed their heated rival, Sporting Kansas City, to the comfy confines of America First Field on a warm Saturday afternoon in Sandy, Utah. If you believe the experts or algorithms that determine win probability before the match, the result was expected. The hosts were given a strong 74.2% chance of winning.
This “optimism” stems from Real Salt Lake coming into the match riding a four game unbeaten streak. After falling by one goal on opening day in Vancouver, they have piled up three wins and a draw. SKC, on the other hand, have struggled, only finding four points out of their five ties.
A Strong Start & Dominating 1st
Real Salt Lake put the pressure on the visitors from the opening whistle, and it did not take long to get on the board. After trading turnovers, Noel Caliskan found Diego Luna about 40 yards out from the SKC goal. The USMNT World Cup hopeful, starting his first game after recovering from a preseason knee injury, took the pass and quickly turned to attack. With a little dip to his right he then slipped the ball to his left foot. His sudden, low corner seeking shot, sent the SKC keeper John Pulskamp diving but his stretch was not enough. Four minutes gone, 1-0 RSL.
The first half ended 1-0 for the home side, though not for lack of effort. In the 21st minute, from a lovely driven cross from Morgan Guilavogui, rookie Sergei Solans was able to stretch his foot and make contact. His touch sent the ball up and off the cross bar.
Sergei was an opportunity machine in the first half, striking the crossbar a second time off newcomer Stijn Spierings’ pass in the 41st. Two minutes later the two linked up again, Spierings delivering a beautiful line-breaking pass that put Solans one on one with the very busy SKC keeper. Pulskamp was again up to the challenge and made the point blank save.
The play did go to VAR as defender Ethan Bartlow did place a hand to the back of Solans as he was taking the shot. But referee Tim Ford ultimately did not believe it worthy of a foul. It was in keeping with the way the game had been played and officiated during the first half. With every RSL and SKC match up, physical play is the rule, not the exception.
A More Balanced 2nd Half
Real Salt Lake did finally get the ball in the back of the net early in the second half. After absorbing some early pressure from SKC, they were able to get behind the defense on a very quick counter. A deft little back heel from Gulavogui in the midfield found blossoming phenom Zavier Gozo. Gozo drove the ball to the top of the SKC box and his pass found first-half hard-luck case Solans on the left. Solans sent the defender to his left, stepped to his right, and passed the ball into the back of the net for the 2-0 well earned lead.
To their credit, SKC did not go away even though RSL had been dictating play all match. Four minutes after RSL doubled their lead the visitors fought their way back into the game. With some great combination play after forcing turnover from Lukas Engel, Justin Reynolds found Dejan Joveljić at the top of the RSL box. His left footed shot sliced off the post and into the back of the net.
Game on.
After SKC cut the RSL lead in half the game hung in the balance. Would RSL concede and allow SKC to head home with a point, or maybe more? Would RSL do what they struggled to do all last season? Or would they find the goal that would put the game away?
The answer came in the 82nd minute off the foot of Zavier Gozo. With RSL keeping up the pressure working to find that game sealing goal, midfielder Noel Caliskan found Gozo at the top of the SKC box. His first touch lifted the ball about two feet in the air. His second touch saw his right foot slam through the lift ball, sending it beyond the bombarded and diving Pulskamp and into the corner of the net. Absolutely a goal of the week contender.
Tale of the Tape
The stats bare out that RSL was the better team. But when these two get together, more often than not stats go out the window.
RSL dominated the chances with 23 shots to only SKC’s 5. Shots on target were a commanding 7 to 3 for the home side. In the end the only stat that matters is the goals tallied on the board that showed 3 hard earned goals for RSL to 1 for SKC. Of course, the visitor’s goal was more than enough to keep the outcome in doubt and mood uncomfortable for much of the match. Credit goes to SKC for keeping the game in play for 80 plus minutes, but in the end RSL extended their unbeaten streak to five games. Sporting Kansas City head home still searching for answers to turn their season in the right direction.
