REAL SALT LAKE WINS WILD
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OPENER 2-1 OVER ARABE UNIDO
RSL Striker Álvaro Saborío Nets Twice,
Including Dramatic Penalty Kick Winner in Stoppage Time;
Utah Side Moves Even with MLS Brethren Toronto FC
Atop Group A Standings After Matchweek #1
SANDY, Utah (Wednesday, August 18, 2010) - Real Salt Lake made a good first impression in 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League play on Wednesday night, as the defending MLS Cup champs pushed past Panamanian qualifier Arabe Unido 2-1 in a choppy Group A opener for both sides in front of 10,626 fans at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was a veteran of CCL play, FW Álvaro Saborío, who played the hero for the home side, as the Costa Rican international hit late in both halves, including a penalty kick four minutes deep into second half stoppage time that allowed the Claret-and-Cobalt to collect the full three points from their debut in international Cup competition.
It
was a trying start for Real Salt Lake, which fell behind early after Arabe
Unido MF Armando Cooper’s deflected shot got past GK Nick Rimando
just 13 minutes in. While it was Real Salt Lake pushing the play all night
long, the task of equalizing appeared to get easier when Arabe Unido DF Nahil
Carroll was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on RSL
captain Kyle Beckerman in the 29th minute. That would be the
first of one dozen cards shown by referee Paul Ward in a match that would begin
to spiral towards the bizarre from there on out.
Saborío
knotted things up in the 45th minute, as he nodded DF Chris
Wingert’s pin-point cross to the top of the six-yard box into the ground
and inside the right post, justly evening things at 1-1 heading into the break.
Real Salt Lake’s man-advantage would allow the home team to all but dominate
play in the second half – leading to a 25-6 advantage in shots on the evening –
but nothing was able to sneak past the bunkered-in Arabe Unido defense and GK Jose
Calderon during the run of play in the second 45 minutes.
However,
the visitors’ time-wasting tactics would see eight minutes of stoppage time
tacked onto the end of the match, and it would take just two of those for
substitute MF Nelson Gonzalez to sway the result by drawing a foul
inside the area and earning RSL a penalty kick. It was Saborío asking to step
to the spot from the start, and he made no mistake, easily finishing past
Calderon to send a vocal Rio Tinto Stadium crowd home happy. The ejection of
Arabe Unido’s Andres Santamaria for a pair of swift yellow cards
surrounding the PK attempt typified the wild nature of the contest, which
resulted in 10 yellow cards (6 for Arabe Unido, 4 for RSL) and two red cards
shown.
Click
here for the MLSsoccer.com recap of tonight's contest
Real Salt Lake Match Notes
- With the win tonight, Real Salt Lake drew even with fellow MLS side Toronto FC on the top of the Group A standings after both squads won their openers, with TFC getting the job done against Mexico’s Cruz Azul by a similar 2-1 scoreline at BMO Field in Toronto on Tuesday night.
- Both MLS sides will look to seize early control of Group A next week during Matchweek #2. Real Salt Lake will pick up play by heading to Estadio Azul in Mexico City to face Cruz Azul next Wednesday, August 25 for a 6:00 p.m. MT kickoff (LIVE on Fox Soccer Channel & TeleFutura). RSL hopes to make a bit of history south of the border, as it will look to become the first-ever Major League Soccer side to win a CONCACAF match on Mexican soil.
- Toronto FC will take to the road to take on Arabe Unido in the other Matchweek #2 fixture a day earlier on Tuesday, August 24, also at 6:00 p.m. MT on Fox Soccer Channel.
- With tonight’s triumph, Real Salt Lake moves its overall home undefeated streak at its fortress of Rio Tinto Stadium to 23 games (14-0-7 in regular season play, 1-0-0 in MLS Cup play, 1-0-0 in CCL play).
- The pair of tallies for Saborío – who won the CONCACAF Champions Cup trophy with Costa Rican side Deportivo Saprissa in 2005 – gives him an impressive haul of 10 goals overall for Real Salt Lake this season when combined with his team-high eight scores in League play.
MATCH STATISTICS/ESTADISTICAS DEL PARTIDO
2010-11 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE/LIGA CAMPEONES
GROUP ROUND/RONDA DE GRUPOS
GROUP A/GRUPO A
Match/Partido #22
18.08.2010:
Sandy, Utah, UNITED STATES; Rio Tinto Stadium (A: 10626)
REAL SALT LAKE (USA) – ÁRABE UNIDO (PAN) - 2:1 (1:1)
Alvaro
SABORIO 45’, 94+’ – Armando COOPER 13’
Real Salt Lake: 18-Nick Rimando – 3-Robbie Russell (74: 20-Ned Grabavoy), 4-Jamison Olave, 5-Kyle Beckerman-C, 6-Nat Borchers, 8-Will Johnson (58: 22-Nelson Gonzalez), 10-Robbie Findley (45: 7-Fabian Espindola), 11-Javier Morales, 15-Alvaro Saborio, 17-Chris Wingert, 77-Andy Williams
TD: Jason KREIS
Árabe Unido: 1-Jose Calderon – 3-Fidel Caesar, 7-Mario Sergio Angulo, 8-Nahil Carroll, 11-Armando Cooper (53: 5-Paul Roderick), 13-Jose Justavino, 15-Rolan De La Cruz, 16-Victor Mendieta (26: 22-Publio Rodriguez), 18-Luis Jaramillo (33: 2-Reynaldo Anderson), 24-Andres Santamaria, 25-Eric Davis
TD: Richard PARRA
Booked /Amonestados:
RSL – Robbie Russell – 39
RSL – Jamison Olave – 48
AUO – Publio Rodriguez – 51
AUO – Rolan De La Cruz – 52
RSL – Andy Williams – 65
AUO – Jose Calderon – 70
AUO – Jose Justavino – 86
AUO - Andres Santamaria - 94+
AUO - Andres Santamaria - 94+
RSL – Chris Wingert – 97+
Sent offs/ Expulsados:
AUO – Nahil Carroll - 29
AUO – Andres Santamaría – 94+
Statistics/EstadísticasReal Salt LakeÁrabe Unido
Goal Attempts/Tiros
Totales
26
5
Shots on Target/Tiros al
Arco
9
2
Saves/Atajadas
1
7
Fouls/Faltas
17
15
Corner Kicks/Tiros de
Esquina
10
0
Offsides/Fuera de
Lugar
3
1
R: Paul WARD (CAN)
A1: Darren CLARK (CAN)
A2: Joe FLETCHER (CAN)
FO: Edvin Jurasevic
(USA)
REAL SALT LAKE POST-MATCH QUOTE SHEET
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – GROUP A
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2010
RIO TINTO STADIUM –
SANDY, UTAH
REAL SALT LAKE
(USA) 2 : 1 ARABE UNIDO (PAN)
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD
COACH JASON KREIS
On the win:
“We’ve been talking a
lot about being down a goal and how many teams don’t do well in that situation.
We went down a goal tonight and we win, which is the first time we’ve
done that all season – and I think that’s important.”
On RSL’s
performance:
“I thought we were
okay tonight. We were an average team, an average RSL. I thought there
are a lot of nights where we were much, much better. And there’s been
quite a few where we were poorer. For whatever reason, I think we didn’t
handle the beginning of the game right. I think we thought it would be a
little easier than it was. We got the goal scored against us, and I think
there were a lot of guys that were surprised and a little taken aback by that,
and it took us awhile to find the game.”
On the flow of the
game:
“I think tonight
was a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with our game. It all showed up
tonight, in my opinion. It was a game that wasn’t managed properly from
the very beginning. I can’t fault them for their tactics to sit back,
especially if they scored the goal and then they get an ejection so they are
forced to do what they did tactically.
“We’ve got to come up
with a solution in our game where we’re not having players laying on the ground
every three minutes, running them off the field and then letting them come
right back on. There must be a simple solution there. I can think
of one if you want me to nominate one: if players get injured that often and
you send them off, keep them off. Don’t let them back on for a few
minutes and maybe they’ll think that’s a little too penal to lie down and spend
their time, I think we can all say, faking, quite clearly.”
REAL SALT LAKE
GOALKEEPER NICK RIMANDO
Overall thoughts
on the match:
“I have seen wasting
time, but nothing like that. It’s kind of entertaining, and, at the same time,
it’s frustrating. When an away team comes in and they see that they can get a
point [on the road], they are going to take as much time as they want. It was
kind of sad to see, but at the same time we got the three points at the end of
the day and that’s what we are happy with.”
On FW Alvaro
Saborio’s crucial penalty kick conversion:
“’Sabo’ stepped forward
and that showed his level of confidence. He had a goal earlier in the game and
it’s his job to score goals.”
REAL SALT LAKE
MIDFIELDER JAVIER MORALES
On getting the result
in tonight’s opener:
“We won the game, but we
still have five games left to play. And I think [to continue in the tournament]
we have to play better than we did tonight.”
On Arabe Unido’s
tactics this evening:
“I have played
professional soccer for 10 years and I have never seen anything like that. I
hope we don’t see that again, but, if we do, we will know how to play against
it.”
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