KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Saturday, April 11, 2015) – Real Salt Lake maintained its undefeated 2015 campaign with a well-earned road point at Sporting Park, drawing 0-0 against Sporting Kansas City in a rematch of MLS Cup 2013 Saturday night. The clean sheet is RSL’s third of the young season – all on the road – in only five total games, with the shutout also marking the club’s 100th in 324 all-time regular-season matches over 11 seasons.
Real Salt Lake (2-0-3, 9 pts, West #3) returns to action at home next Saturday against the red-hot Vancouver Whitecaps at Rio Tinto Stadium, seeking to extend the club-record 18-game sellout streak. Vancouver (4-1-1, 13 points, West #1 entering tonight’s match against San Jose.
GK Nick Rimando was called on for his first – and only – save of the match in the sixth minute, on a scramble on the right side that ended with Jalil Anibaba taking a low-angle shot that was gloved away by Rimando, Major League Soccer’s all-time shutout king, now with 118 career clean sheets. RSL DF Elias Vasquez made his first-ever appearance tonight, starting and playing 90 minutes in place of a resting Chris Schuler, as the Guatemalan national teamer excelled in his club/league debut.
Kansas City would hold most of the first-half possession, outshooting RSL 6-2, and nearly started the second half with a goal. Sporting saw a pair of near-misses from close range to open the second stanza, as MF Krisztian Nemeth got his head to a ball from Benny Feilhaber at the edge of the six-yard box, but his shot hit the post. MF Jacob Peterson got to the rebound, but his second-chance effort missed wide and the match remained scoreless.
In the 55th minute, Sporting Kansas City appeared to take the lead on a ball in from Feilhaber on the right side that Dom Dwyer cut past Rimando and into the net, but Dwyer was flagged offside and the goal was waved off.
RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman threatened the KC net in the 58th minute when he thumped a free kick past the diving Luis Marin, but the 35-yard bomb missed wide for a goal kick. In the game’s waning minutes, RSL’s defense – led by DF Jamison Olave – defused any real opportunities for Kansas City but was unable to create any of its own.
RSL’s next match will be back at Rio Tinto Stadium for the first time since topping Toronto FC 2-1 with an 89th minute goal from FW Jordan Allen on March 29. Saturday’s match will be the first of three this season against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the only one at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – SKC-RSL
- DF Chris Schuler was held out of the match as a precautionary measure after fighting through a knock in RSL’s 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes last week at Avaya Stadium.
- DF Elias Vasquez started in his first MLS match. The 22-year-old has 27 caps for the Guatemalan National Team, including two last month in friendlies against Canada and El Salvador.
- MF Luis Gil returned to the starting lineup after missing a 2-1 win over Toronto FC while away with the U.S. U-23 National Team and then coming off the bench in a 1-0 win over San Jose. He started the match as a wide forward in RSL’s 4-3-3 formation.
- RSL has now secured road points in 18 of its last 23 games across all competitions with the Captain Kyle Beckerman & GK Nick Rimando in the lineup.
- Seven of tonight’s starting XI for RSL have appeared for their respective full national teams (only Olave/Colombia, Mulholland/England, Morales/Argentina and Garcia/Colombia missing), while DF Demar Phillips – making just his second RSL/MLS appearance off the bench – is a regular for Jamaica.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY 0-0 REAL SALT LAKE
SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015
SPORTING PARK
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Sporting Kansas City 0 0 0
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
None.
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Tony Beltran (Yellow; Foul) – 44’
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Yellow; Argument) – 61’
SKC – Servando Carrasco (Yellow; Argument) – 61’
RSL – Kyle Beckerman (Yellow; Dissent) – 64’
RSL – Abdoulie Mansally (Yellow) – 80’
Lineups:
Sporting Kansas City (4-3-3): Luis Marin; Jalil Anibaba, Matt Besler, Ike Opara (Kevin Ellis – 84’), Marcel de Jong; Benny Feilhaber, Roger Espinoza, Servando Carrasco; Krisztian Nemeth, Jacob Peterson (Bernardo Anor – 77’), Dom Dwyer
Substitutes not used: Tim Melia, Soni Mustivar, Amadou Dia, Jimmy Medranda, Paulo Nagamura.
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave, Elias Vasquez, Abdoulie Mansally; Kyle Beckerman (C), Luke Mulholland (John Stertzer – 92+), Javier Morales; Luis Gil (Jordan Allen – 65’), Alvaro Saborio, Olmes Garcia (Demar Phillips – 87’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Sebastian Saucedo, Devon Sandoval, Aaron Maund.
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Assistant Referees: Gregory Barkey, Kyle Atkins
4th Official: Chris Penso
Attendance: 20,087
Weather: 61 and partly cloudy
