HARRISON, NJ (Wednesday, June 24, 2015) – Real Salt Lake was down to nine men for 35 minutes on Wednesday night against the New York Red Bulls, but it was a goal in the fourth minute that made the difference as RSL dropped a 1-0 road result as it continues through a stretch of six matches in 19 days.
The Red Bulls took an early lead through Mike Grella’s fourth goal of the season just four minutes into the match and while RSL faced 24 shots on the night, the defense blocked nine of them and GK Nick Rimando finished with seven saves in the losing effort. MF Javier Morales was red-carded in the first half while DF Demar Phillips was sent off in the second as RSL fought against adversity to keep the match close.
In the fourth minute, Kemar Lawrence got free up the left side and crossed to the middle for Sean Davis. He touched the ball through to Grella unmarked at the far post for a tap-in, putting New York up 1-0 before RSL was able to garner any possession in the match.
RSL managed the game through the rest of the half and was able to create some scoring chances of its own, but Luis Robles held them off.
In the 40th minute, RSL fell deeper in the hole when Morales was shown a red card for a tactical foul on Felipe Martins. On a long free-kick from Morales, Robles snagged the ball out of the air and slung it across midfield to Felipe Martins streaking into RSL’s half. Morales caught up to Martins and tackled him from the side and after RSL regained possession, referee David Gantar sounded the whistle at the behest of fourth official Jose Carlos Rivero. After discussing the call with Rivero, Gantar showed a red card to Morales, ejecting the midfielder and leaving RSL down to 10 men.
It went from bad to worse for RSL early in the second half when Phillips was shown a red card, too. Phillips won possession from Grella in the defensive third, but took a heavy touch and went in hard on a tackle on Connor Lade to earn his ejection from Gantar in the 55th minute, leaving RSL down the nine men.
However, New York was unable to capitalize and add to the lead as a resilient Salt Lake team kept the defense tight to limit scoring chances for the Red Bulls and the match ended in a 1-0 loss.
RSL 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 – NYvRSL
- MF Kyle Beckerman missed the match while serving a one-match suspension for yellow-card accumulation. For New York, MF Sacha Kljestan missed the match while serving a one-match suspension for a red card over the weekend against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
- RSL also played without injured DF Jamison Olave and DF Chris Schuler, DF Elias Vasquez who is with the Guatemala National Team while experiencing visa issues, and FW Alvaro Saborio who was facing team discipline, according to Technical Director Craig Waibel.
- This was the second match this season that saw RSL finish with nine men. The previous came in a 1-0 defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps FC on April 18.
NEW YORK RED BULLS 1-0 REAL SALT LAKE
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
RED BULL ARENA
Goals by Period 1 2 F
New York Red Bulls 1 0 1
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
NY: Mike Grella (Sean Davis, Kemar Lawrence) 4’
Misconduct Summary:
RSL: Javier Morales (Red; Tactical Foul) 40’
RSL: Demar Phillips (Red; Serious Foul Play) 55’
Lineups:
New York Red Bulls (4-3-3): Luis Robles; Connor Lade (Chris Duvall 67’), Matt Miazga, Damien Perrinelle, Kemar Lawrence (Manolo Sanchez 87’); Dax McCarty, Felipe Martins, Sean Davis; Mike Grella, Anatole Abang, Bradley Wright-Phillips (Sal Zizzo 63’).
Substitutes not used: Kyle Reynish, Leo Stolz, Ronald Zubar, Dane Richard.
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Aaron Maund, Justen Glad (Olmes Garcia 85’), Demar Phillips; John Stertzer, Luke Mulholland, Javier Morales; Sebastian Jaime (Luis Gil 70’), Devon Sandoval, Joao Plata (Jordan Allen 59’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Abdoulie Mansally, Phanuel Kavita, Pecka.
Referee: David Gantar
Assistant Referees: Phillipe Briere, Eric Weisbrod
4th Official: Jose Carlos Rivero
Attendance: 15,844
Weather: Partly cloudy and 82
