MONTREAL, Quebec – Real Salt Lake (5-5-2, 17 points, West #2) lost a heartbreaker on Saturday afternoon, giving up two late goals to fall 3-2 to the Montreal Impact (6-2-2, 20 points, East T-2) at Stade Saputo.
Captain Kyle Beckerman put RSL up 2-1 with a 77th minute goal, but the Claret-and-Cobalt couldn’t hold the lead, with Montreal FW Marco Di Vaio equalizing from an offside position in the 80th minute before Impact DF Matteo Ferrari found the winner in the 93rd.
RSL – which beat the New England Revolution 2-1 on Wednesday night – is 1-1-0 through the first two games of its three-game road trip. The Claret-and-Cobalt will close the trip next Sunday, May 19, when it will take on Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center.
Real Salt Lake began the game brightly, registering chances in the third and sixth minutes before going ahead through a Ferrari own goal in the seventh. DF Lovel Palmer created the opportunity, collecting a Beckerman through ball on the right flank before ripping a long-range shot that deflected off of Ferrari inside the box and into the back of the net.
RSL nearly made it 2-0 in the 15th minute. MF Sebastian Velasquez danced around a few Montreal defenders in the right side of the box, eventually hitting a low cross to the near post that slipped into the middle of the area. FW Olmes Garcia pounced on the loose ball, firing a right-footed shot with his first touch that somehow deflected off of the leg of Montreal GK Troy Perkins and out for a corner kick.
The game stayed wide open throughout, with Montreal getting a good look at an equalizer in the 17th. MF Felipe found MF Justin Mapp wide open in the right side of the area but Mapp – who had RSL GK Nick Rimando caught off his line – cut back into traffic on his left instead of shooting with his right and saw his shot blocked.
Real Salt Lake had another chance in the 24th minute. MF Javier Morales slipped FW Devon Sandoval into the right side of the area, but the rookie striker couldn’t keep his shot on frame, driving his effort over the bar from 15 yards out.
Felipe brought the Impact level in the 39th minute. Mapp collected a DF Jeb Brovsky through ball on the right wing, racing forward for a couple of touches before hitting a cross into the middle. Felipe made a hard-charging run through the box to get to the ball, slotting home inside the far post from eight yards with his first touch.
Felipe’s equalizer took the sides into halftime. Like it did in the first, RSL started the second half well, with Morales forcing Perkins into a good stop with a shot from distance in the 47th before Beckerman ripped a 25-yarder inches wide of the right post in the 48th.
Montreal hit back with an opportunity of its own in the 50th minute. FW Andrew Wenger got free on the right wing, dribbling into the box before cutting back on his left foot and firing a low shot that a diving Rimando held.
The match settled down after that, with both sides battling in the midfield and struggling to create chances until Beckerman reclaimed the lead for RSL in the 77th. The goal came off of a Morales corner kick, with Garcia flicking a header from the near post to DF Chris Schuler at the penalty spot. The ball eventually made its way to Beckerman left of the spot, with the Claret-and-Cobalt captain toe-poking a 10-yarder past Perkins and inside the near post.
Unfortunately, RSL’s lead was short-lived, as Di Vaio controversially equalized just three minutes after Beckerman’s goal. DF Maxim Tissot started the play, dribbling through the middle of the RSL defense before finding Wenger at the top of the box. The 2012 MLS SuperDraft No. 1 pick flicked Di Vaio through in the left side of the box for a scuffed finish off the near post and in. Replays showed that Di Vaio was in an offside position when Wenger played him through.
RSL had a golden opportunity to retake the lead in the 85th minute. Substitute FW Joao Plata – who had only come on seconds earlier – was played behind the Montreal defense by Javier Morales, but the Ecuadorian couldn’t beat Perkins, who came well off of his line to deny Plata’s shot from 15 yards.
That miss would come back to haunt RSL in the 93rd minute, when substitute MF Blake Smith’s corner kick squeaked through multiple players before falling to Ferrari for a solid right-footed finish from just inside the spot.
Real Salt Lake will now return to Utah, where it will put in a full week of training ahead of next Sunday’s match at Western Conference foe Chivas USA
Click here to access video highlights and the RealSaltLake.com MATCHCENTER for RSL 2-3 MTL
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – RSL 2-3 MTL
- Real Salt Lake’s starting back line of DF Chris Wingert, DF Kwame Watson-Siriboe, DF Chris Schuler and DF Lovel Palmer had never played a match together before Saturday’s game. Regular RSL DF Tony Beltran was rested on Saturday and did not start while regular DF Nat Borchers missed the match due to illness.
- Real Salt Lake was also without injured FW’s Alvaro Saborio and Robbie Findley on Saturday. The starting striker pair of FW Olmes Garcia and FW Devon Sandoval was the ninth starting forward pair that RSL has used in nine games this season.
- Real Salt Lake MF Luis Gil did not play on Saturday. Gil, who is nursing a bit of a right ankle injury, had started all 11 have RSL’s matches prior to Saturday’s loss. RSL DF Chris Schuler is now the only Claret-and-Cobalt player to start/feature in all 12 of the Utah side’s MLS matches this year.
- Real Salt Lake DF Kwame Watson-Siriboe returned to the 18 on Saturday after missing RSL’s last two matches while attending to a family matter. The fourth-year center back went all 90 minutes for the Claret-and-Cobalt on Saturday.
- Before Saturday’s game, the last time that Real Salt Lake conceded three goals or more was on July 14, 2012, when the 10-man Claret-and-Cobalt lost 5-0 at the San Jose Earthquakes. Allen Chapman was the head referee in both matches.
REAL SALT LAKE 2-3 MONTREAL IMPACT
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2013
STADE SAPUTO
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 1 2
Montreal Impact 1 2 3
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Mateo Ferrari (Own Goal) – 7’
MTL – Felipe (Justin Mapp, Jeb Brovsky) – 39’
RSL – Kyle Beckerman – 77’
MTL – Marco Di Vaio (Andrew Wenger, Maxim Tissot) – 80’
MTL – Mateo Ferrari (Blake Smith) – 93’
Misconduct Summary:
MTL – Hassoun Camara (Yellow; Foul) – 29’
RSL – Ned Grabavoy (Yellow; Foul) – 40’
RSL – Nick Rimando (Yellow; Argument) – 91’
MTL - Sanna Nyassi (Yellow; Argument) - 91'
MTL – Matteo Ferrari (Yellow; Excessive celebration) – 93’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-1-2-1-2): Nick Rimando; Chris Wingert, Chris Schuler, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Lovel Palmer; Kyle Beckerman (C); Ned Grabavoy, Sebastian Velasquez, (Khari Stephenson, 69’); Olmes Garcia, Devon Sandoval (Joao Plata, 85’)
Substitutes not used: Josh Saunders (GK), Tony Beltran, Carlos Salcedo, Luis Gil, John Stertzer
Montreal Impact (4-4-2): Troy Perkins; Maxim Tissot, Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Jeb Brovsky; Justin Mapp (Sanna Nyassi, 86’), Patrice Bernier (C), Felipe (Collen Warner, 89’), Andres Romero (Blake Smith, 73’); Andrew Wenger, Marco Di Vaio
Substitutes not used: Evan Bush, Wandrille Lefevre, Dennis Iapichino, Sinisa Ubiparipovic,
Referee: Allen Chapman
Referee's Assistants: Corey Parker, Jason Cullum
4th Official: Mathieu Bourdeau
Attendance:14,578
