REAL SALT LAKE RUNS OVER RED BULLS, 3-1
FW Álvaro Saborío Starts Scoring While Running Mate Fabian Espíndola Finishes Outburst with First Brace of 2011;
Claret-and-Cobalt Become First MLS Team in 2011 to String Together Five Straight Wins
HARRISON, N.J. (Wednesday, September 21, 2011)–Real Salt Lake (15-7-6, 51 pts.) pushed its winning streak to an MLS season-best five games tonight against the New York Red Bulls (7-7-15, 36 pts.) using three early goals to run out to an eventual 3-1 win in front of 14,266 fans at Red Bull Arena.
After some early nervous moments in its own defensive end, Real Salt Lake would turn the attention to its attacking third quickly, as FW Álvaro Saborío’s header off an MF Andy Williams corner just seven minutes in would set the tone for the Claret-and-Cobalt. In the 11th minute it was FW Fabian Espíndola doubling the RSL advantage with an easy finish courtesy of a Red Bulls defensive miscue, and the Argentine would bag his second of the match just ten minutes later, his finishing of a nice build up between Saborío and MF Collen Warner all but ending the proceedings before the match was even a quarter through.
New York would gain one back in the 69th minute courtesy of MF Joel Lindpere’s acrobatic volley, and while the home side would continue to push for another tally it was Real Salt Lake doing enough to keep the Red Bulls at bay from there on out to gain yet another three-point result.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes
- With the result, Real Salt Lake pulled even with Seattle Sounders FC for 2nd place in the Western Conference standings and the overall MLS table on 51 points, both clubs sitting seven points behind leader Los Angeles Galaxy (16-3-10, 58 pts.). However, the Utah side holds a game in hand on Sounders FC and a pair on the Galaxy, which will host RSL at The Home Depot Center in a looming marquee match-up on October 1.
- Real Salt Lake became the first team in Major League Soccer to win five consecutive contests during the 2011 regular season. RSL now has winning streaks of four (to open the campaign in March/April) and five games, while the Galaxy are the only other side to string together at least four in a row.
- In addition, tonight’s victory gave Real Salt Lake three straight road victories for only the second time in club history, joining a run from July/August 2006. Real Salt Lake is now 19-60-26 all-time in away affairs.
- Forwards Álvaro Saborío and Fabian Espíndola are now even in the chase for RSL’s Golden Boot award as the team’s top scorer, as Saborío notched his ninth of the campaign early, only to be matched by Espíndola courtesy of his brace before the first stanza was half over. The pair is now tied for ninth place on the League’s Golden Boot chart, currently led by NY’s Thierry Henry and LA’s Landon Donovan with 12 tallies apiece.
- Tonight marked the Real Salt Lake debut of MF Yordany Alvarez, the reigning USL PRO Most Valuable Player making his first appearance in Claret-and-Cobalt as a member of the starting XI in place of suspended captain Kyle Beckerman.
- Beckerman sat out of the contest due to yellow card accumulation, becoming RSL’s first victim of the league’s cumulative caution enforcement rule this season after seeing yellow last Saturday vs. Sporting Kansas City. DF Robbie Russell was on warning with four yellows to his credit heading into tonight’s match, but will have one stricken from his record after going a third consecutive game without going in the referee’s book.
- Tonight’s first-half goalfest marked the third time Real Salt Lake had bagged three goals in the opening stanza, joining similar offensive outbursts on July 23, 2005 vs. FC Dallas (3-0 W) and this season’s MLS home opener against the Galaxy on March 26 (4-1 W). The 21st minute marks the fastest point in which Real Salt Lake has reached three goals in a contest (previous record of 30th minute reached in the afore-mentioned 2005 match vs. FC Dallas).
- It seems hard to believe, but tonight’s pair of assists for Andy Williams marked the veteran midfielder’s first helpers of the regular season. The former Jamaican international’s 87 assists place him 8th in MLS history, now four behind seventh-place Cobi Jones.
- It was a big night of doubles for Real Salt Lake, as Espindola’s brace was the fourth by an RSL player this season (Saborio 2, Morales 1), while Williams’ two helpers marked the fifth multi-assist contest for a member of the Claret-and-Cobalt (Beckerman 2, Russell 1, Warner 1). Espindola’s pair of goals gave RSL its first recipient of a brace in 10 games, dating back to a 4-0 win over San Jose back on July 23.
- After gaining its early 3-0 advantage, Real Salt Lake managed to pull its career goal differential back to an even zero… if only for 48 minutes until New York’s Joel Lindpere got one back for the home side. RSL is now +58 in goal differential since the start of the “Jason Kreis era” in May 2007 (57-46-41).
- Real Salt Lake will continue its East Coast road trip in the Nation’s Capital this Saturday, Sept. 24, when the Claret-and-Cobalt take on playoff contender D.C. United (8-8-11, 35 pts.). Kickoff from RFK Stadium is set for 5:30 p.m. MT and can be followed live on KMYU 2.2 (Comcast 22 / Dish Network 12), ESPN 700 (pre-game coverage begins at 4:30 p.m.) and Juan 1600-AM.
RSL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
NEW YORK RED BULLS 1 : 3 REAL SALT LAKE
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
About what the team is capable of and their chance to get into the playoffs:
“I think that we have demonstrated clearly over two years what we are capable of winning some games and going on runs. I believe that we should be considered as contenders for the championship and that is how we think about ourselves.”
About the first game of Yordany Alvarez:
“I did sense jitters which is natural, especially for a player that is brand new to our system, which is a different system than a lot of teams play, but by the end of the game I was really pleased. I thought that he made some critical tackles towards the end of the match, he was mostly good with the ball, made a few difficult decisions at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half that put us under some undue pressure, but all in all a really strong performance for his first time out and something to build on.”
REAL SALT LAKE GOALKEEPER NICK RIMANDO
About how the team is performing in their recent games:
“We are a team that is kind of clicking right now. I don’t think we are playing our best but we are playing good and we are playing good at the right time. We knew it was going to be a tough game. With New York you don’t know what to expect because sometimes they can be really good and sometimes they don’t click. Lucky enough we dropped on them early and never looked back.”
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD FABIAN ESPINDOLA
About if he was surprised with the result, especially because of the injuries of Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales:
Maybe a little because of the three goals, but not really surprised because we only missed Beckerman. Javi (Morales) has been out for a long time and obviously we need him, but I think we did a really good job.
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH HANS BACKE
On the match:
We came out flying for seven minutes and looked very, very sharp, and hungry. Unfortunately, two terrible individual mistakes changed the game. The third goal was poor defending. Anyhow, the second half it was good to see we don’t go down, showed some guts and really wanted to do a better performance. It was more about the individual mistakes. I don’t think we played poor or anything, but it’s frustrating with that kind of individual mistake. It kills the first half definitely, and the game.
On the team’s chances for the playoffs:
You never know. We need to pick up wins, that’s for sure. I think it’s good for us to play the playoff teams now so we really know what we have to do. Probably three or four wins out of five to make the playoffs.
On the team’s lack of energy after the first goal:
I don’t think it was a lack of energy after the first goal. The second one came too early after the first one. It’s that kind of mistake. Mentally, for the whole team, it’s so tough to go two down when you start the game quite well. Then conceding the third one, I haven’t seen the replay from the third one, but it looked a little bit sloppy. I have to see the replay. It’s good to see the second half. I was a little bit worried after being three down after halftime, you never know what the reaction will be for the last 45 minutes, but it was one-way traffic for 45 minutes.
On the injury substitution for defender Chris Albright impacting the substitution plan for forwards Thierry Henry and Luke Rodgers:
We said that Luke (Rodgers) should do, maximum, 45. But, we said after the first half being three down, every player needed to show in the first 10 to 15 minutes what you’re made of being three down and take some responsibility. We played him probably only seven or eight minutes in the second half and then got him out. I don’t know about Thierry (Henry). I think he should be okay doing 90, there shouldn’t be any problem. And Luke (Rodgers) probably doing 60 on Saturday. And with (Chris) Albright playing left back, it’s almost the same type of player as Carlos Mendes and I think it worked quite well for Carlos (Mendes) playing left back.
NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER FRANK ROST
On conceding three goals in the opening 21 minutes:
It’s difficult to answer right now after the match. We woke up too late. Only one half is not enough for the MLS. You have to play 90 minutes, not 45.
On Real Salt Lake’s goals:
The first goal is a corner, so it can happen. It’s a nice header. But the second goal, you want to play only the difficult way. The easy way is to play it back to the goalie and he can kick the ball way we make it too complicated, especially in the first half. We didn’t play the easy way, we chose the difficult way. Salt Lake was the better team in the first half. In the second half we tried, but it was too late.
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER RAFA MARQUEZ
Thoughts on the game:
It is always tough when things don’t go your way on the pitch. We were making the same mistakes time and time again and if we don’t correct them, we will continue to have the same outcome.
On how to fix the mistakes and finish strong:
I don’t know, I really don’t. We are close to the finish line but we are not getting the results we need. We were very lucky against Dallas, but you can’t count on luck all the time.
On the goals the team surrendered tonight, and responding to them:
No, not really I don’t know what’s happened, but we had individual mistakes. With these types of mistakes it’s hard to lift your head back up, especially when these mistakes are recurring in the game. So that makes it tough, yes.
On if the team’s struggles are more frustrating given the talent on the squad:
Obviously we have a lot of stars and good players, but if we cannot gel together that doesn’t mean anything.
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER JAN GUNNAR SOLLI
On the team’s second half response:
We went out there in the second half and tried our best, and we won the second half. But of course it doesn’t give us any points. But I think in a situation like this its good to be positive.
On moving on:
We’ll be ready for Saturday (vs. Portland Timbers) I’m sure, I can promise you that. It’s about trying to get fresh legs and do everything the best way we can.
On the continuing struggles at the beginning of games:
I don’t know. We tried to of course, in some situations we were not cynical enough. It’s like stupid mistakes lose the game for us. I’m sure Hans (Backe) mentioned it in the press conference, he said it in the locker room. We know instead of blaming each other, we know in the back four we could have done differently. We could have cleared the ball a couple of times. Those three mistakes ruined the game for us, because in the second half we really tried to get the early goal. Unfortunately it wasn’t as early as we hoped.
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