SANDY, Utah (Sunday, September 12, 2021) – Real Salt Lake (8-9-6, 30 points) dropped the tightly-contested battle at Los Angeles FC, falling 3-2 at Banc of California Stadium on Sunday night.
Damir Kreilach recorded his ninth goal of 2021 and Anderson Julio scored his sixth goal of the season in the loss.
Postgame Quotes from RSL at LAFC
Postgame Press Conferences with Pablo Mastroeni, Erik Holt and Damir Kreilach can be found here.
LAFC pressed immediately off the first touch to find the opening goal within the first 20-seconds of the match, leaving Real Salt lake to push for the equalizer after Cristian Arango slammed home the opening goal. Kreilach leveled the match in the 28th minute with a one-touch blast that found the top right corner of the net, bringing the score to 1-1. The scoreline would not last long as Arango scored his second of the match just two minutes later to retake the lead heading into halftime.
Real Salt Lake made quick work to get back in the game to start the second half when Julio found the equalizer in the 47th minute when he ran onto a crisp through pass from Albert Rusnak and beat out the goalkeeper to earn his sixth goal of the season.
An unfortunate backpass from Toni Datkovic in the 59th minute to give LAFC the 3-2 lead. After the own goal, RSL pushed hard for the equalizer with several opportunities, but the team was unable to break through and the match ended 3-2 in favor of the home side.
UP NEXT: Real Salt Lake remains in California, facing San Jose Earthquakes in a midweek matchup on Wednesday, September 15 at 8:30 p.m. MT.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
LAFC: Cristian Arango 1st minute - Bryce Duke guided the ball down the field and slipped a pass in towards the top of the box. Justen Glad was able to get a foot on the pass, but Arango regathered the ball and found himself open in front of goal, placing the ball into the bottom right corner.
RSL: Damir Kreilach (Maikel Chang) 28th minute - Taking the ball towards the end line, Change cut back and sent a pass up towards the top of the 18-yard-box. His pass was met by Kreilach at the top of the box who tucked a one-touch rocket of a shot into the far post.
LAFC: Cristian Arango (Eduard Atuesta, Bryce Duke) 30th minute - Inside the box Duke and Atuesta passed the ball back and forth, before Atuesta sent a cross towards Arango who headed in the pass for his second goal of the match.
RSL: Anderson Julio (Albert Runsak) 48th minute - Picking the pocket of Duke, Rusnak marched down the pitch and sent a pass upfield, splitting two defenders to an oncoming Julio. Receiving the ball, Julio beat out the defenders to go 1-v-1 with the goalkeeper and cleanly hit the shot with his right foot to send the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
LAFC: Toni Datkovic (OG) 59th minute - With pressure on his back Datkovic sent a pass backwards to goalkeeper David Ochoa, who was leaning the wrong direction and the ball rolled its way into the goal.
NOTES:
- Defender Aaron Herrera missed tonight’s match due to yellow card accumulation
- Forward Bobby Wood was unavailable due to a hamstring strain and Noah Powder was held out as an injury precaution due to hamstring tightness.
- Forward Jeizon Ramirez (quad), goalkeeper Zac MacMath (knee) and defenders Andrew Brody (toe) and Zack Farnsworth (ankle) were unavailable due to injury.
- Homegrown defender Bode Davis made his first appearance on the gameday roster.
- Everton Luiz will miss Wednesday’s match against San Jose due to yellow card accumulation.
Match: Real Salt Lake vs. LAFC
Date: September 12, 2021
Venue: Banc of California Stadium; Los Angeles, California
Weather: Sunny and 80 degrees
Attendance: 22,130
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 1 2
LAFC 2 1 3
LAFC: Cristian Arango 1’
RSL: Damir Kreilach (Maikel Chang) 28’
LAFC: Cristian Arango (Eduard Atuesta, Bryce Duke) 30’
RSL: Anderson Julio (Albert Runsak) 48’
LAFC: Toni Datkovic (OG) 59’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (3-5-2): David Ochoa; Justen Glad, Erik Holt, Toni Datkovic; Maikel Chang (Jonathan Menendez 62’), Nick Besler (Justin Meram 72’), Albert Rusnak, Everton Luiz, Donny Toia (Rubio Rubin 72’); Damir Kreilach, Anderson Julio (Pablo Ruiz 81’)
Subs not used: Andrew Putna, Ashtone Morgan, Marcelo Silva, Bode Davis, Justin Meram, Milan Iloski
LAFC (3-5-2): Tomas Romero; Jesus David Murillo, Mamadou Fall, Sebastien Ibeagha; Eduard Atuesta, Latif Blessing (Kim Moon-Hwan 57’), Raheem Edwards (Diego Palacios 45’), Francisco Ginella, Bryce Duke (Jose Cifuentes 57’); Cristian Arango (Daniel Crisostomo 90+2’), Danny Musovski (Marco Farfan 73’)
Subs not used: Pablo Sisniega, Cal Jennings, Jordan Harvey
Stats Summary: RSL / LAFC
Shots: 10 / 142
Shots on Goal: 2 / 7
Saves: 5 / 0
Corner Kicks: 4 / 3
Offside: 3 / 0
Fouls: 12 / 11
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Toni Datkovic (caution) 22’
LAFC: Raheem Edwards (caution) 23’
RSL: Everton Luiz (caution) 45+1’
LAFC: Bryce Duke (caution) 54’
LAFC: Sebastien Ibeagha (caution) 90+3’
OFFICIALS:
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Mike Rottersman
4th Official: Mark Allatin
VAR: Kevin Stott
AVAR: Apolinar Mariscal