SANDY, Utah (Saturday, September 19, 2020) – Real Salt Lake (3-4-5, 14 points) fell 2-1 at the hands of Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday night, seeing the club drop its second consecutive home match.
Justin Meram notched his third goal of the 2020 season in the loss while Chris Garcia made his professional debut for RSL.
Postgame quotes from RSL v VAN.
RSL began the game with large spells of possession and several chances on goal to test goalkeeper Thomas Hasal but nothing found the back of the net despite 14 shots attempted. From the visitors, Vancouver failed to register a shot on frame in the first half as RSL’s strong defensive effort solidified a scoreless first half.
In the 53rd minute, Vancouver found the night’s opening goal through David Milinkovic whose first-time effort at the near post left Andrew Putna going the opposite direction with no chance to make a save. In the 63rd minute, RSL was reduced to 10 men whenKyle Beckerman was given a second yellow card after video review. RSL clawed its way back into the match and found its equalizer through Meram who headed home a cross from Maikel Chang in the 81st minute.
It would be Vancouver who had the last say in the match when in the 84th minute Lucas Cavallini bundled home a goal inside the six-yard box to seal the 2-1 victory.
UP NEXT: Real Salt Lake will remain at home to welcome the LA Galaxy to Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday, September 23. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. MT.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
VAN: David Milinkovic (Cristian Dajome, Fredy Montero), 53rd minute: Montero sent a through-ball over the top of the RSL defense into the run of Dajome who squared the ball across the face of goal to Milinkovic. Milinkovic’s first-time effort snuck just inside the near post for the first goal of the night.
RSL: Justin Meram (Maikel Chang), 81st minute: Recycling the ball to a wide position, Chang found himself in space to cross the ball to the backpost that met the head of Meram who nodded home his third of the season to equalize at 1-1.
VAN: Lucas Cavallini (Fredy Montero, Michael Baldismo), 84th minute: A long switch to Montero saw the Colombian corral the ball before sending a low cross into the box. The cross found the run of Cavallini who bundled home the game-winning goal.
NOTES:
- 17-year-old RSL Academy product Christopher Garcia made his professional debut, entering the match in second-half stoppage time.
- Forward Douglas Martinez was unavailable while serving a red card suspension.
- Giuseppe Rossi and Sam Johnson were unavailable due to injury.
- With his start on Saturday, Kyle Beckerman has 494 career MLS regular season appearances, putting him six appearance away from becoming the first field player in MLS history to play in 500 regular season matches.
Match: Real Salt Lake vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Date: September 19, 2020
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
Attendance: 3,409
Weather: Cloudy and 68 degrees
Scoring Summary:1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Whitecaps FC 0 2 2
VAN: David Milinkovic (Cristian Dajome, Fredy Montero) 53’
RSL: Justin Meram (Maikel Chang) 81’
VAN: Lucas Cavallini (Fredy Montero, Michael Baldismo) 84’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Andrew Putna; Aaron Herrera, Marcelo Silva, Nedum Onuoha, Donny Toia (Corey Baird 71’); Kyle Beckerman, Pablo Ruiz; Maikel Chang (Christopher Garcia 90’+8), Albert Rusnàk, Justin Meram (Jeizon Ramirez 90’+1); Damir Kreilach.
Subs not used: Zac MacMath, Justen Glad, Erik Holt, Nick Besler, Everton Luiz, Milan Iloski
Whitecaps FC (4-5-1): Thomas Hasal; Jake Nerwinski, Ranko Veselinovic; Derek Cornelius, Cristian Gutierrez; Janio Bikel (Michael Baldismo 59’), Russell Tiebert (Leonard Owusu 73’), Cristian Dajome, David Milinkovic (Lucas Cavallini 59’), Ali Adnan; Fredy Montero (Andy Rose 87’)
Subs not used: Bryan Meredith, Erik Godoy, Ryan Raposo, Tosaint Ricketts, Theo Bair
Stats Summary: RSL / VAN
Shots: 25 / 8
Shots on Goal: 4 / 3
Saves: 1 / 3
Corner Kicks: 10 / 6
Fouls: 12 / 9
Offside: 0 / 2
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Kyle Beckerman (caution) 8’
VAN: Janio Bikel (caution) 15’
VAN: Ali Adnan (caution) 41’
RSL: Kyle Beckerman (second caution) 63’
RSL: Dony Toia (caution) 68’
VAN: Thomas Hasal (caution) 90’+1
RSL: Corey Baird (caution) 90’+2
OFFICIALS:
Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistant Referees: Eric Weisbrod, Chris Elliott
4th Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
