SANDY, Utah (Saturday, April 9, 2016) – Real Salt Lake remained the only unbeaten team in Major League Soccer in getting a leg up on the Colorado Rapids for the Rocky Mountain Cup with a 1-0 win on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.
FW Joao Plata scored his fourth goal of the season and GK Nick Rimando made five saves to earn his first shutout of the season and 124th in his MLS career as RSL improved to 3-0-2 on the season.
Plata has now scored or assisted in all five matches for RSL and has a goal or assist in six straight matches across all competitions, including a goal against Tigres in the Quarterfinal Round of the CONCACAF Champions League. However, RSL had to wait until the second half to take the lead over a feisty Colorado team that had the better of the first half of play.
In the 43rd minute, DF Aaron Maund had a tremendous save to keep the Rapids off the board. Colorado got in behind the defense on a ball over the top, but Rimando made the initial stop, sliding out to stop Dillon Powers. The Colorado midfielder recovered the ball and dropped a pass back to Shkelzan Gashi ripped a shot from the top of the box. With Rimando pulled out of his net, Maund retreated to the line and was there to head clear Gashi’s shot and the match remained scoreless.
A minute later, Gashi played Luis Solignac in behind the defense again, but Rimando came off his line and blocked his shot attempt and the match went into the half knotted up at 0-0.
In the half, RSL held a possession advantage, 55-45, but Colorado outshot Salt Lake 8-4 as the two sides struggled to find the scoresheet.
The table tipped in RSL’s direction early in the second half, though.
In the 60th minute, RSL nearly grabbed the lead off of a second-effort from a free kick. Plata took the free kick from 30 yards out on the right side and Colorado got the initial clearance, but only as far as MF Kyle Beckerman. He sprung MF Luke Mulholland back up the right side and he clipped his shot just wide of the far post.
Rimando made another save in the 67th minute as Solignac took the rebound off a Colorado free kick and tried to turn a side-winding, first-time shot to break the deadlock, but the RSL keeper sprung to his right to make the save.
Plata finally put RSL into the lead in the 72nd minute. MF Javier Morales lofted a ball from the midfield for Plata, bouncing it 25 yards out from goal. Colorado defender Axel Sjoberg and MacMath converged on the ball, but Sjoberg popped it up over his goalkeeper, leaving Plata to tap it into the open net for his fourth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
In the 82nd minute, it looked like Movsisyan added to the lead when he was sprung in behind the defense and put his shot into the back of the net, but he was flagged offside on the play and the score remained 1-0 until the final whistle as RSL won its second straight to move to second in MLS at 3-0-2.
For the match, RSL was outshot 14-11, with the Rapids putting six shots on goal to four for Salt Lake. Six offside calls slowed the Rapids attack as well, as Salt Lake’s defense continued to be solid in the 2016 season.
Real Salt Lake will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the first of three meetings between the Western Conference foes on Saturday, April 16.
GAME NOTES – RSLvsCOL
- RSL DF Tony Beltran appeared in his 200th career MLS match, all with Real Salt Lake. He is the sixth player to reach the 200 games plateau with RSL and just the second, joining Javier Morales, to play exclusively in MLS for the Claret-and-Cobalt. The other five on the list are Nick Rimando (252), Kyle Beckerman (234), Morales (213), Chris Wingert (208) and Nat Borchers (205).
- Real Salt Lake is unbeaten in its last 13 matches at home against the Rapids, with the last home defeat coming April 30, 2007 at Rice Eccles Stadium. RSL is 9-0-5 in that stretch.
- Real Salt Lake remains the only undefeated team in Major League Soccer after Orlando City SC lost on Friday against the Philadelphia Union. The 3-0-2 start is tied for the second-longest unbeaten streak to open a season with last season’s 2-0-3 start. In 2014, Jeff Cassar’s side went 6-0-6 before the first loss of the year.
- Saturday saw MF Kyle Beckerman, FW Juan Manuel Martinez and GK Nick Rimando return to the starting lineup after missing last week’s 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. MF Javier Morales and DF Jamison Olave were available on the bench after missing last week’s match as well.
REAL SALT LAKE 1-0 COLORADO RAPIDS
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Colorado Rapids 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Joao Plata 72’
Misconduct Summary:
COL: Bobby Burling (Caution; Foul) 61’
RSL: Yura Movsisyan (Caution; Delaying a Restart) 83’
COL: Eric Miller (Caution; Foul) 93+’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Justen Glad, Aaron Maund, Chris Wingert (Demar Phillips 73’); Kyle Beckerman, Sunday Stephen (John Stertzer 84’); Juan Manuel Martinez, Luke Mulholland (Javier Morales 64’), Joao Plata; Yura Movsisyan.
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Jordan Allen, Jamison Olave, Devon Sandoval.
Colorado Rapids (4-2-3-1): Zac MacMath; Eric Miller, Bobby Burling, Axel Sjoberg, Marc Burch; Micheal Azira, Sam Cronin; Marco Pappa, Dillon Powers (Dominique Badji 79’), Shkelzen Gashi; Luis Solignac.
Substitutes not used: Chris Froschauer, Conor Doyle, Zach Pfeffer, Dillon Serna.
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Hanson, Andrew Bigelow
Fourth Official: Tyler Ploeger
Attendance: 19,224
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 65
