PORTLAND, Oregon (Sunday, February 12, 2017) – Real Salt Lake remained unbeaten in preseason after FW Jordan Allen scored a late equalizer to notch a draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Providence Park in Portland on Sunday.
It was the second goal of preseason for Allen as RSL moved to 1-0-4 in five preseason matches and was the second comeback draw of the Portland trip after drawing 3-3 with the host Portland Timbers on Thursday.
Real Salt Lake outshot Vancouver 10-4 in a scoreless first half, forcing goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi in to three saves. However, perhaps the best opportunity of the half came when FW Ricardo Velazco burst up the left side and got into the box before cutting a cross toward the edge of the six-yard box. FW Chad Barrett was the first to it and got his head to the ball, but narrowly missed the close-range shot outside the near post.
Head Coach Jeff Cassar again used a mixed lineup for the match and the group that started played 60 minutes before giving way to the second group. With still three weeks before the first match of the 2017 season on March 4 against Toronto FC at Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL is building toward 90-minutes fitness.
The second half saw similar control from Real Salt Lake, but Vancouver was able to get on the board first. After a misplayed ball in RSL’s defensive third, Alphonso Davies touched a pass to Yordy Reyna into the box. Reyna then hit a right-footed shot that bent around his defender and just out of reach of RSL GK Matt VanOekel to go inside the far post for a 1-0 Whitecaps lead in the 70th minute.
RSL pressed for the equalizer, outshooting the Whitecaps 10-3 in the second half and Allen finally leveled the match in the 83rd minute. In a quick transition, MF Albert Rusnák switched a ball from right-to-left to FW Joao Plata just inside the midfield stripe. Plata then sent a ranging ball to Allen at the edge of the box. He chested the ball down, got into position to shoot, then hit a right-footed half-volley through Tornaghi for the goal to make it 1-1.
RSL finished the match with four shots on goal to three for Vancouver, as GK Nick Rimando and VanOekel each made one save in the match.
Real Salt Lake will take on Minnesota on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT in the third and final match during RSL’s 10-day stay in Portland. The match will be live streamed at RSL.com.
REAL SALT LAKE 1-1 VANCOUVER WHITECAPS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2017
Portland, Oregon
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
VAN: Yordy Reyna (Alphonso Davies) 70’
RSL: Jordan Allen (Joao Plata) 83’
Discipline Report:
VAN: Cristian Techera (Caution) 58’
VAN: Sheanon Williams (Caution) 59’
RSL: Sunny (Caution) 77’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando (Matt VanOekel 60’); Tony Beltran (Demar Phillips 60’), David Horst (Aaron Maund 60’), Chris Schuler (Emilio Orozco 60’), Chris Wingert (Max Lachowecki 60’); Omar Holness (Luke Mulholland 60’), Charlie Adams (Sunny 60’); Andrew Brody (Chandler Hoffman 46’, Jordan Allen 60’), Luis Silva (Albert Rusnák 60’), Ricardo Velazco (Joao Plata 60’); Chad Barrett (Yura Movsisyan 60’).
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4-2-3-1): Paolo Tornaghi; Sheanon Williams, Cole Seiler, Christian Dean, Marcel de Jong; Russell Teibert (Michael Baldisimo 86’), Andrew Jacobson; Marco Bustos (Cristian Techera 46’), Giles Barnes (Alphonso Davies 68’), Kekuta Manneh (Yordy Reyna 46’); Kyle Greig (Erik Hurtado 63’).
