SANDY, Utah (Saturday, April 16, 2016) – Real Salt Lake won its third consecutive match and remained perfect at Rio Tinto Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday.
FW Juan Manuel Martinez scored his first goal of the season, with FW Joao Plata continuing his streak with a goal or an assist in each of RSL’s first six matches. GK Nick Rimando finished the match with four saves for his second consecutive shutout as RSL improved to 4-0-2 to equal FC Dallas (4-1-2) at the top of the Western Conference standings.
Vancouver had the first good chance of the match in the fifth minute, with Octavio Rivero getting in behind the defense up the offensive right side and shooting past Rimando, but it skipped outside the far post.
In another scramble in the ninth minute, DF Aaron Maund saved a would-be scoring chance. Rimando charged off his line to defend a ball up the middle and the shot from Cristian Techera deflected into the air. Kekuta Manneh gave chase and got a shot away but it was defended by Maund at the post to keep Whitecaps FC off the board.
RSL didn’t get its first shot until the 19th minute, a shot from outside the box by Martinez that missed the mark. By the end of the half, Salt Lake outshot Vancouver 6-5, but the Claret-and-Cobalt didn’t put any on frame while Whitecaps FC forced three saves in a scoreless first half.
The second half saw Vancouver again go on the offensive, with Nicolas Mezquida getting out on the run only to have his shot saved by a sprawling Rimando and cleared to the sideline in the 50th minute. Vancouver continued to threaten with a series of corner kicks, but Maund and DF Justen Glad defended to keep the ‘Caps off the board.
In the 55th minute, RSL finally broke through.
Plata played to the edge of the box, then put Martinez in up the left side. He cut back to his right foot and blasted a shot past Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted for his first goal of the season to put Salt Lake up 1-0. It was Plata’s fourth assist of the year and extended his streak of six consecutive matches with a goal or an assist.
Martinez nearly added to his total in the 74th minute, dancing his way around a double-team in the midfield before pressing into the attacking third and ripping a shot from the top of the box that forced a tremendous save from Ousted, leaving the score at 1-0.
In the 82nd minute, Plata had a shot cleared off the line by Tim Parker. Plata burst up the left side and his blast beat Ousted, but Parker slid in to make the goal-line clearance, keeping Plata from his fifth goal of the season.
Rimando was forced into another stellar save in the 84th minute, diving to his right to stop a laser from Manneh, as he fired from the edge of the box through traffic in search of the equalizer.
That would be the last chance for Vancouver to equalize and RSL held on for the 1-0 victory.
Real Salt Lake will hit the road next week to face the LA Galaxy on April 23 at the StubHub Center, in Carson, Calif.
GAME NOTES – RSLvVAN
- MF Javier Morales (illness, rib injury) and MF Sunday Stephen (ankle) both missed the match on Saturday due to injury.
- GK Nick Rimando played in his 399th career MLS match. His next appearance will make him just the second player in MLS history to reach 400 matches, joining Kevin Hartman (416 career matches).
- FW Joao Plata now has scored or assisted in each of Real Salt Lake’s first six matches, giving him four goals and four assists on the season. Additionally, he scored in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals, giving him five goals and four assists in the last seven matches across all competitions.
REAL SALT LAKE 1-0 VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Juan Manuel Martinez (Joao Plata) 55’
Misconduct Summary:
RSL: Kyle Beckerman (Caution; Foul) 71’
VAN: Kendall Waston (Caution; Foul) 79’
VAN: Octavio Rivero (Caution; Foul) 92+’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Justen Glad, Aaron Maund, Demar Phillips; Kyle Beckerman, John Stertzer; Juan Manuel Martinez, Luke Mulholland (Jordan Allen 75’), Joao Plata; Yura Movsisyan (Devon Sandoval 90’).
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Danilo Acosta, Olmes Garcia, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4-2-3-1): David Ousted; Fraser Aird (Erik Hurtado 83’), Kendall Waston, Tim Parker, Jordan Harvey; Andrew Jacobson (Masato Kudo 78’), Matias Laba; Cristian Techera, Nicolas Mezquida (Christian Bolanos 61’), Kekuta Manneh; Octavio Rivero.
Substitutes not used: Paolo Tornaghi, Sam Adekugbe, Pa-Modou Kah, Russell Teibert.
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistant Referees: Brian Dunn, Eduardo Mariscal
Fourth Official: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 19,720
Weather: Cloudy and 55
