RSL SUFFERS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN 1-4 LOSS AT D.C. UNITED
United Striker Dwayne De Rosario’s First Half Hat Trick Sends Utah Side to Heavy Defeat;
RSL Bumped Back Down to Third in Western Conference Standings after L.A. Galaxy, Sounders FC Wins;
MF Javier Morales Makes First 18-man Gameday Roster since Ankle Injury in Early May
WASHINGTON (Saturday, September 24, 2011)–Real Salt Lake (15-8-6, 51 pts.) saw its MLS season-best five-match winning streak snapped in thorough fashion tonight in the Nation’s Capital, as D.C. United (9-8-11, 38 pts.) used a standout performance from FW Dwayne De Rosario to defeat RSL 4-1 in front of 16,367 fans at RFK Stadium.
In the third match of a six-game, 20-day stretch, Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis opted to rotate his starting line-up with the hopes that some fresh legs would be able to provide a road result. The visitors seemed to get things going on even footing in the early moments, but the home team’s rout would soon get started in the 13th minute, when De Rosario’s diagonal ball behind the RSL backline put MF Andy Najar through on goal, the winger finishing his 1-v-1 chance against RSL netminder Nick Rimando to the near post to push United ahead early.
From there on out it was all De Rosario, as the Canadian international scored the fastest hat trick in MLS history on a header (22’), a 25-yard first-time rocket (27’) and a 30-yard free kick (31’) to all but salt away the match after just a half-hour.
With the result out of reach, Real Salt Lake accomplished its adjusted feat of winning the second 45 minutes courtesy of FW Álvaro Saborío’s finish in the 86th minute, the striker collecting a well-timed ball over the top from FW Paulo Jr. before finishing into the roof of the net. While he did not enter the game, another bright spot for Real Salt Lake was the presence on the bench of playmaker MF Javier Morales, who made the 18-man gameday roster for the first time since suffering a devastating ankle injury back on May 7 vs. Chivas USA.
Real Salt Lake’s loss combined with the Los Angeles Galaxy’s (61 pts.) last-gasp win at the Columbus Crew put the gap between the two sides back at 10 points, while Seattle Sounders FC’s 3-1 win over regional rival Vancouver allowed Seattle (54 pts.) to reclaim second place all to itself, breaking its stalemate with RSL – which holds a game in hand on each side down the stretch.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes
- Along with its overall winning streak being snapped, tonight’s loss halted Real Salt Lake’s bid to string together its first-ever four match winning streak on the road. RSL is now 5-6-3 away from Rio Tinto Stadium in 2011, with the Utahns set to play three of its final five contests on the road (10/1 @ LA, 10/6 @ VAN and 10/14 @ COL).
- Before Real Salt Lake heads to the west coast for its crucial clash against Los Angeles next Saturday, the Claret-and-Cobalt will first get back to business at home this Wednesday, Sept. 28, when the Chicago Fire (5-8-15, 30 pts.) will head to Rio Tinto Stadium for a 7:00 p.m. MT kickoff.
- FW Álvaro Saborío continued the back-and-forth battle with fellow striker Fabian Espindola for RSL’s Golden Boot lead, the Costa Rican international’s 10th tally of the season late in the match breaking their stalemate atop the team’s scoring chart. Saborío’s second straight double-digit goal haul in MLS play (12 goals in 2010) marked just the fourth an RSL player has bagged 10 goals or more in a single season, joining Robbie Findley with 12 in 2009 and Jeff Cunningham with 16 in 2006. The goal allowed Saborío to climb into a tie for 5th place on the league-wide Golden Boot chart with one month to go, a chase now lead by De Rosario’s 13 tallies.
- United’s early offensive outburst marked the third time in team history that Real Salt Lake had allowed at least four goals in a half, and only the second time since Jason Kreis took over as coach in 2007 (4 goals in 1st half on 8/16/08 @ HOU; 6 goals in 2nd half on 8/26/06 ). The
- Tonight’s contest marked the second straight in which a player made his Real Salt Lake debut, with DF Blake Wagner doing the honors during tonight’s contest. The sixth-year MLS professional was slotted in on the left side of the backline in order to allow DF Robbie Russell some rest after his eight straight starts dating back to Aug. 3 @ Sporting Kansas City.
- On the other side of the defense, DF Chris Wingert made his return to the line-up with a full 90-minute effort. The veteran back had missed RSL’s last six matches after suffering a broken right wrist back on Aug. 13 at Toronto FC.
- The assist on the Saborío goal by FW Paulo Jr. was the Brazilian’s fourth of the campaign in just 398 minutes of action, placing him one behind MF Collen Warner for second place on the squad, still lead by MF Kyle Beckerman’s nine helpers.
RSL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
D.C. UNITED 4 : 1 REAL SALT LAKE
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the game:
I’m disappointed. Obviously with the scoreline I’m very disappointed that we reacted the way we did giving up the first goal. I actually thought we started okay and looked fairly dangerous and were moving the ball pretty nicely and I really kind of had the feeling that things were going to go well. And then the first goal comes and the reactions just weren’t good enough. It just never felt like it was a 4-0 half to me. I felt like they scored on every chance they had which was odd. So, I walk away thinking I’ve got a lot of work to do to break down that video and see where the faults lie. The one thing I can say is I’m pleased that we came out in the second half and did better and won the half which as a manager was all I could ask for at halftime.
On the play of Dwayne De Rosario:
[Dwayne De Rosario] was brilliant. He was brilliant. It was one of those nights where if you give a player like that a yard, then he’s going to punish you. And I think he punished us every time that we gave him a yard. So, hats off to him.
On not playing Javier Morales:
I felt like the game was lost and that there was probably nothing positive that could come out of playing [Javier Morales] out there. I felt like it was just too big of a risk. Also, frankly I kind of wanted his first minutes to be at home, so I would have used him tonight in very few circumstances and obviously it wasn’t going to happen so we’ll look for Wednesday.
REAL SALT LAKE DEFENDER NAT BORCHERS
On the game:
I think we won five games in a row and I think it’s safe to say we weren’t five-games-in-a-row-good. We didn’t play that well through that stretch. Tonight, I really don’t think that we were 4-1 bad. I think they came out with more energy. [Dwayne De Rosario] just had a phenomenal game. He lit us up, and when you’re down four goals in the first half it’s tough to scrape back. There are some positives though. We came into the locker room and we said, ‘look, we’re going win this second half and that’s our goal.’ We responded well in that we did that.
On the lineup changes:
I would argue that this is the same team that beat Cruz Azul last year at home and this is basically the same group that did that with a few changes. We expect a lot from our guys who come in off the bench, so we definitely need to work on a few things to get better.
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On the game:
When [Dwayne] De Rosario is on, he’s certainly a dangerous player and I thought [D.C. United] played to their style – sit back and then strike. When DeRo’s like that they’re a pretty dangerous team.
On the game getting away in the first half:
[D.C. United] had four shots and four goals -- pretty good shots too. So you take your hat off to them and we tried to forget about it and win the second half. We just wanted to get a tie or a win in the second half and forget about it. So, we did that and we ended on a positive.
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On Dwayne De Rosario’s performance:
We can talk about Dwayne [De Rosario], but both Andy [Najar] and Dwayne had exceptional performances. The thing with DeRo is that I am not even surprised anymore with some of the stuff he does. I’ve seen it as a fan of his and I’ve also seen it being on the other side for ten years. This is what he does and this is why we wanted him. He’s just been exceptional and the guys have jumped on his back as well and rode the wave today. The great thing about Dwayne is that he will forget about this [performance] and move on and try to do it again. But even for him, I’m sure it was a very memorable game.
On the team’s performance:
Taking away the individual efforts – because I thought there was some really good stuff out there – as a team, as a group it was a really good performance. What we asked of them all week was that the only way we were going to get a result today was with a complete group effort, everybody doing their part. I thought we got away from that the last week, and on Wednesday, especially after we had two goals. We got away from the team concept; we started doing things that were a little bit hopeful and they ended up costing us. Looking back at this game [against Real Salt Lake] I was most happy with the way we defended and moved our defensive shape. Also, let’s be honest with ourselves, it wasn’t Real Salt Lake out there that had a five-game winning streak. We need to keep that in the back of our heads, but I’m glad we punished them for putting that team out there.
On Real Salt Lake’s lineup changes:
I was surprised when I came in and saw that [lineup change]. But that was their choice. Is it disrespectful? I guess you could look at it that way. I think the players looked at it that way and maybe that charged them up a little more. Again, I thought it was a good response to a very emotional tie on Wednesday.
On achieving consistency:
I’ve tried everything and it’s been up and down. It’s a little bit of who we are right now. But at some point that has got to change, and hopefully it’s this week. At some point it’ll just click. We have to forget about any success we had as quickly as possible and focus on doing our job consistently. That’s the trick this week.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
Overall thoughts on the match:
It was a great result against a fit and confident Real Salt Lake team. We won balls and were able to open [Real Salt Lake] up and capitalize on chances. That first goal was a great effort by Andy [Najar]. It was a great run and a good finish. I think that goal gave us a good boost of confidence, and we just kept going at them. We kept our shape, and that’s what Ben [Olsen] wanted us to do – we stuck to our game plan.
On scoring early:
It builds your confidence more and more when you score early. When you’re up 2-0, you start to feel a bit positive. But we were up 2-0 [against Chivas], and they came back, we just continued with our hard work and discipline on the defensive side and that’s what led to our goals going forward.
On completing his hat trick:
I felt like I was in a good spot tonight. We were aggressive early on and it paid off. Everyone worked hard to put the team in a good position, and I was able to finish some of those chances.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER ANDY NAJAR
Thoughts on the match:
We are so excited about the match. It was a great effort from the team, so everyone is pleased.
On his opening goal:
There was space in the middle [of the field], so I went that way and I saw [Dwyane De Rosario] and I ran diagonal [to him]. I got a great pass from [De Rosario] and was able to set up the ‘keeper.
On his chemistry with Dwayne De Rosario:
I enjoy playing with him because he’s a good player and he helps me get more experience. It’s a lot of fun to play next to him and I really enjoy it.
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