SANDY, Utah (Sunday, June 21, 2015) – Real Salt Lake needed a win of any kind. But a stoppage-time victory over Western Conference rivals Sporting Kansas City was even sweeter as RSL got a 93rd-minute goal from FW Olmes Garcia to outlast SKC 2-1 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Along with Garcia’s dramatic goal, FW Sebastian Jaime scored his first goal in an RSL uniform and MF Javier Morales added two assists to his club-record total as the Claret-and-Cobalt improved to 5-5-6 on the season. GK Nick Rimando finished with four saves to earn his fourth win of the season.
RSL nearly got out to an early lead when DF Justen Glad got on the end of a corner from Morales, but his 10th-minute header was saved off the line by Tim Melia.
In the 15th minute, Melia would have no answer for Jaime. After Morales was brought down on the run by Matt Besler, RSL had a free kick in the attacking third. Morales sent the ball looping toward the far post and Jaime snapped a header that caught the bottom of the crossbar and bounced over the line for his first MLS goal, giving RSL the early 1-0 advantage.
RSL nearly added to its lead in the 26th minute when FW Joao Plata swung a ball in from the left side to find FW Devon Sandoval in behind the Kansas City defense, but his header hit the post and eventually was cleared by Sporting.
The offensive barrage continued in the 28th minute when RSL got out on the break and had a couple of cracks to notch another goal, but in the end Plata’s shot went just wide of the post.
Against the run of play, Kansas City found the equalizer in the 30th minute through Dom Dwyer. Sporting played the ball on the left wing, then Benny Feilhaber led Dwyer into the box with a through ball and he punched it into the net to make it 1-1.
RSL finished the half outshooting SKC 8-5 and had 10 corner kicks, tying a franchise record for a half, but the match remained knotted at 1-1.
As the second half picked up, the game tilted toward Sporting Kansas City in the early-going and Dwyer nearly added his second goal in the 64th minute with a header, but Rimando dove to his right to make an incredible save.
In the 76th minute, Sandoval fought off his defender and got in on goal, but his shot was deflected just over the bar for a corner kick. On the ensuing corner kick, MF Kyle Beckerman got his head to the ball and missed just high and the score remained 1-1.
Then with the match winding down, Garcia provided the final piece of magic in second-half stoppage time to give RSL the win. Taking a pass from Morales, Garcia carried the ball into the box on the left side and shot for the far post. It took a deflection off Kevin Ellis and caromed past Melia for his first goal of the season and RSL saw the match out for a 2-1 victory.
The match starts a busy stretch for Salt Lake that will see the club play five matches in 14 days, with the next coming Wednesday for the RSL’s first visit to Red Bull Arena since 2013. The match against the New York Red Bulls kicks off at 5:30 p.m. MT with live local coverage on KMYU. RSL then returns home to face Columbus Crew SC on Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium, kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. MT.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – RSLvSKC
- FW Sebastian Jaime, a Designated Player signing last summer, scored his first goal for Real Salt Lake in the 15th minute.
- RSL’s 10 first-half corners tied a franchise record. It was reached three other times, most recently on August 3, 2011 against Sporting Kansas City.
- With his yellow card on Sunday, RSL MF Kyle Beckerman will miss Wednesday’s match at Red Bull Arena against the New York Red Bulls due to yellow card accumulation. Beckerman’s 82nd all-time yellow card moved him past Pablo Mastroeni for the all-time MLS lead.
- FW Alvaro Saborio missed the match for RSL due to a personal matter.
REAL SALT LAKE 2-1 SPORTING KANSAS CITY
SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 1 2
Sporting Kansas City 1 0 1
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Sebastian Jaime (Javier Morales) 15’
SKC: Dom Dwyer (Benny Feilhaber) 30’
RSL: Olmes Garcia (Javier Morales) 93+’
Misconduct Summary:
SKC: Soni Mustivar (Yellow; Foul) 8’
SKC: Matt Besler (Yellow; Foul) 14’
RSL: Javier Morales (Yellow; Foul) 15’
RSL: Demar Phillips (Yellow; Foul) 18’
RSL: Kyle Beckerman (Yellow; Foul) 47’
RSL: Sebastian Jaime (Yellow; Foul) 51’
RSL: Olmes Garcia (Yellow; Excessive Celebration 93+’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Aaron Maund, Justen Glad, Demar Phillips; Kyle Beckerman (C), Luke Mulholland (Luis Gil 70’), Javier Morales; Sebastian Jaime (Jordan Allen 69’), Devon Sandoval, Joao Plata (Olmes Garcia 83’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Phanuel Kavita, John Stertzer, Sebastian Saucedo.
Sporting Kansas City (4-3-3): Tim Melia; Jalil Anibaba, Kevin Ellis, Matt Besler (C), Amadou Dia (Saad Abdul-Salaam 91+); Benny Feilhaber, Roger Espinoza, Soni Mustivar; Krisztian Nemeth (Jacob Peterson 75’), Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi.
Substitutes not used: Jon Kempin, Servando Carrasco, Marcel de Jong, Connor Hallisey, Chance Myers.
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referees: Jeff Hosking, Marco Arruda
4th Official: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 19,155
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 86
