REAL SALT LAKE FALLS TO CHICAGO 2-0 IN MLS RESERVE LEAGUE FIXTURE
First Half Goals by Fire Reserves’ Christian Nazarit and Diego Chaves Make the Difference in Central/Mountain Division Affair
SANDY, Utah (Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011) – First half strikes from Cristian Nazarit and Diego Chaves were all that was needed for the Chicago Fire Reserves, who defeated their Real Salt Lake counterparts 2-0 in MLS Reserve League action Tuesday morning at Toyota Park.
Nazarit tallied his Reserve League-leading fifth goal to open the scoring as Chaves chested down a deflected ball for his running mate at the top of the area before the Colombian unleashed a blast to the top right of the net past RSL goalkeeper Tim Melia in the 14th minute.
Ten minutes later Chicago would double the lead, as Fire Home Grown product Victor Pineda played a ball over the top of the RSL midfield for Baggio Husidic. The Bosnian ran onto it before being pulled down in the box by RSL guest player Yordany Alvarez,who was issued a yellow card for the challenge. Chaves stepped up to take the spot kick, burying a high drive down the middle as Melia guessed to his left, giving the Fire a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute.
Riding the wave of striker Paulo Jr., RSL nearly pulled back a goal twice later in the first half. In the 35th minute, the Brazilian attacker dispossessed Fire defender Yamith Cuesta on the right end line and broke into the box before centering for Ned Grabavoy, whose one-time shot did well to test Chicago net-minder Jon Conway. A minute later, RSL striker Cody Arnoux slipped Paulo Jr. through the Fire back line and in alone on the left. The Brazilian fired a quick shot which Conway dove to his right to put the effort out for a corner, eventually taking the Fire into the half up 2-0.
Real Salt Lake dominated possession in what was a chippy second half, but didn’t find a quality chance until the 87th minute, when guest player Lucas Neel centered a low cross which sat in the area before finally being cleared by substitute Fire defender Gonzalo Segares.
Today’s loss moves Real Salt Lake’s record to 2-5-0 (6 pts.) in Central/Mountain Division play, while the Fire used the three-point result to stretch its lead atop the division table with a 5-1-1 record (16 pts.) after seven games played.
Real Salt Lake Reserves Notes
- First-team regular Ned Grabavoy continued his road back from injury (L adductor strain) by putting in 45 minutes during the first half of the Claret-and-Cobalt’s Reserve League defeat this morning, the appearance coming just three days after the veteran played the final 17 minutes in RSL’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.
- Defender Chris Schuler put in a full 90 minute performance on Tuesday, just three days after going all 90 minutes against the Union on Saturday, when he scored what would prove to be the game-winner on a corner kick from RSL captain Kyle Beckerman. In addition, Collen Warner and Paulo Jr. – who played 73 and 66 minutes, respectively, against Philadelphia – also logged the full 90 minutes at Toyota Park today.
- Today’s Reserve League fixture was the first for the Claret-and-Cobalt without midfielder Jean Alexandre. Prior to today’s match, Alexandre had not only appeared in each of RSL’s previous six Reserve League matches, but had started all six as well. The midfielder missed the contest as he was called up to represent Haiti against Curacao in this evening’s CONCACAF region qualifier for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
- As goalkeeper Kyle Reynish continues to rehab from a right ankle sprain, Tim Melia made only his second start of the MLS Reserve League season between the posts for Real Salt Lake. Overall, it was the fourth time Melia has featured for the RSL Reserves in 2011, now conceding five goals in 223 minutes of action.
- After playing three-straight Reserve League road fixtures, the Claret-and-Cobalt will finally return to action at their XanGo Field practice facility on Sunday, September 18 against the Sporting Kansas City Reserves, the match coming the morning after their scheduled MLS regular season affair at Rio Tinto Stadium. The RSL Reserves’ last home match was back on May 14, when the Houston Dynamo Reserves pulled of a 1-0 win at Rio Tinto Stadium.
MLS Reserve League – Central/Mountain Division
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Chicago Fire 2 : 0 Real Salt Lake
Scoring Summary:
CHI – Cristian Nazarit (Diego Chaves) 14’
CHI – Diego Chaves (penalty kick) 25’
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Blake Wagner (caution) 11’
RSL – Yordany Alvarez (caution) 24’
CHI – Josip Mikulic (caution) 31’
RSL – Collen Warner (caution) 43’
CHI – Michael Videira (caution) 46’
CHI – Victor Pineda (caution) 55’
CHI – Gonzalo Segares (caution) 64’
RSL – Chris Schuler (caution) 77’
RSL – Donny Toia (caution) 88’
Chicago Fire Reserves: Jon Conway (Alec Dufty 46’); Victor Pineda, Josip Mikulic, Yamith Cuesta, Mike Banner (Gonzalo Segares 46’); Michael Videira, Daniel Paladini, Baggio Husidic (AJ Jeffries 46’), Pari Pantazopoulos; Cristian Nazarit (Kellen Gulley 64’), Diego Chaves
Substitutes Not Used: none
Real Salt Lake Reserves: Tim Melia; Julio Alarcon (Ricardo Velasco 62’), Rauwshan McKenzie, Chris Schuler, Blake Wagner; Yordany Alvarez^, Lucas Neel^, Ned Grabavoy © (Kevin Molina 46’^), Collen Warner; Paulo Jr., Cody Arnoux (Donny Toia 73’)
Substitutes Not Used: Kyle Reynish, Maikon Orellana
* = Denotes RSL-Arizona Academy player
^ = Denotes guest player
Referee: Kyle Trimble
Referee’s Assistants: Dimitar Chadarov, Cesar Ibarra
4th Referee: Nikola Alexsic
