On Tuesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake needed a goal to change the game against Municipal in the CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage match. While a scoreless draw would have seen RSL advance to the Quarterfinal Round for the second time in club history, a goal would allow the Claret-and-Cobalt some comfort and a chance to improve seeding in the Championship Stage.
Then, the seas parted in front of the Municipal goal and Jamison Olave came flying through with a header to smash a Javier Morales corner kick into the net for the game-winning goal, giving RSL room to breathe in the match while putting Municipal in position to need two goals to advance.
“It’s just good for Olave,” RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said. “It was good. We needed a goal and it was a big time goal for us.”
It was an oddly familiar position for the 34-year-old Colombian center back.
Back in his first stint with Real Salt Lake, Olave scored a similar goal against Saprissa in Costa Rica in the 2010-11 tournament semifinal. Salt Lake won the first leg of the aggregate-goal series 2-0 at home, but allowed a goal to start the second half in the second leg in Costa Rica to make the series 2-1. One more goal from Saprissa would have been evened the series, but also put momentum strongly in the home team’s favor at an intimidating stadium known as The Monster’s Cave (La Cueva del Monstruo).
Morales again sent a corner kick to the edge of the six-yard box and after a redirection sent the ball into the air, Olave slammed it into the net with a side-winding volley that put the game out of reach for Saprissa, who needed three goals to advance after that point and only managed one.
The magnitude of that moment may eclipse the goal on Tuesday night, but it was still a big moment for the club after missing the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2007.
“I couldn’t be more happy for him, for our team, for our club, for our fans,” RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar said after the match. “That space was open all night that front area to the top of the six. I really liked where Jamison started. He started a little bit deeper and was coming in rather than being already there which we were on a few of them. Beautiful service from Javi and a fantastic finish from Jamison.”
To Olave, there is no comparing the two goals. One sent the team through to a final – the first MLS club to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final – while the other made RSL the fourth MLS club in this cycle to advance to the quarterfinals.
“This one was good, but I think that the other one was better. It had a better feeling,” he said. “It was a way to pass to the final. That was more important to me.”
While he is undoubtedly right, there is no arguing the importance of Tuesday’s win. With the playoffs out of the picture, RSL now has a target to prepare for in the 2016 season when it starts the Quarterfinal Round in February, prior to the start of the grueling MLS regular season in March.
