Real Salt Lake 3 at Sporting Kansas City 1
May 21, 2016; Kansas City, Kansas; Children’s Mercy Park
Real Salt Lake (6-3-2, 20 points); Sporting Kansas City (5-7-2, 17 points)
Man of the Match: Yura Movsisyan’s ball across the face of the goal led to an own-goal near the end of the second half to give RSL the 2-0 lead. If that wasn’t enough, he answered Dom Dwyer’s second-half goal with a score of his own minutes later to put the game away for Real Salt Lake. It was just his third goal of the season, but as he continues to get opportunities to score, putting a goal away like this one could be key to sparking a hot streak for Movsisyan.
Telling Stat: The trio of Aaron Maund, Justen Glad and Sunny may not draw headlines, but it has quietly been a lockdown triumvirate for RSL. After allowing one goal through 90 minutes when together on the field on Saturday, RSL has now allowed just two goals through 305 minutes this year when they appear on the field together. That amounts to just a 0.59 goals against average and includes both victories over Sporting Kansas City this season. With Kyle Beckerman set to miss at least the next two matches while away with the U.S. National Team for Copa America Centenario, a statline like this is encouraging.
What You Missed: All year Benny Feilhaber has been an instigator for Sporting Kansas City’s attack. On Saturday, he was largely unsuccessful and was subbed out in the 77th minute. He completed just 69 percent of his passes for his third-lowest completion rate of the season. His 50 touches also marked his third-lowest total for a match this season. Both numbers were significantly below his per-90 averages, but perhaps the most glaring statistic to demonstrate how well RSL was able to limit his ability to impact the game is that it was the first match this season in which he didn’t create a single scoring chance. In his previous nine appearances this season, he averaged 2.11 per match, so to finish without creating a chance for Sporting to score was significant.
So What: Real Salt Lake has posted two victories on the road this season and both have come in Children’s Mercy Park. No easy task, winning in KC provides another beacon of optimism as RSL endeavors into another two matches away from home before returning to Rio Tinto Stadium in June with the U.S. Open Cup on June 14 and against the Portland Timbers in MLS play on June 18. With matches against Columbus Crew SC and NYCFC hanging in the balance before taking a break for Copa America, RSL has an opportunity to amass more points while playing nine of its first 13 matches away from home.
