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SANDY — FC Dallas entered Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday night on a eight-game winless streak and left with a nine-game winless streak as Real Salt Lake’s Nat Borchers hit the back of the net during stoppage time to give RSL a 3-2 victory.
It definitely wasn’t an easy victory for RSL with FC Dallas notching two equalizers that almost ended the match in a draw.
Salt Lake, though, ultimately walked away with all three points.
“Credit to Dallas — I think they really, really fought hard tonight. There was no give up in them and it made our night difficult for sure,” said RSL head coach Jason Kreis.
Borchers agreed with Kreis.
“It was a roller-coaster second half and obviously we scored and we thought 1-0 would be good enough because it usually is for us," said Borchers. "And credit to (FC Dallas), they pushed for it and came back and scored two goals on us.”
But RSL was ready for what FC Dallas would bring and knew that the club would bring quite the battle.
“We don’t shy away from battles and definitely aren’t afraid to get into games like this," said Borchers. "If that’s the way it has to be played, that’s the way it has to be for us. We can win games 1-0. We can win games 3-2 — it’s just the type of team we are."
The first two goals came from Costa Rican striker Alvaro Saborio, who was just happy to be scoring again.
His coach was happy too.
“I’m really pleased for Sabo,” said Kreis. “It’s been a difficult stretch where he hasn’t been scoring with the regularity that he would like or the fans would like, but he’s been putting in the work so I’m appreciative that he continues to work hard and takes his chances.”
The 19,341 fans in attendance at Rio Tinto Saturday night got to see a bit of a different group playing together on the pitch with a couple of the regulars still fighting injury and a couple away with the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Despite the absence of those players, the RSL roster still meshed well and was able to rally to get the three points from FC Dallas.
“I’m pleased with the resiliency of the group and pleased that you can be resilient even when you’re missing guys like Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Javier Morales, and Chris Wingert. That’s four very, very strong leaders and they weren’t out there tonight so to do without them and have the guys react like they did is a very, very good sign,” said Kreis.
RSL will be on another MLS break for three weeks before returning to Rio Tinto to host Western Conference opponent, the L.A. Galaxy, on June 16. However, RSL will see action in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup beginning next Tuesday, as it hosts the Minnesota Stars at Rio Tinto.
“With this break that we have, we need games so it’s an opportunity for us to win this first round and get ourselves another game to keep ourselves in the flow,” said Kreis.
The RSL roster will still be without captain Kyle Beckerman and goalkeeper Nick Rimando for the U.S. Open Cup games but will have them back for the L.A. Galaxy match in mid June.
Saborio and Will Johnson will now also join their national teams, Costa Rica and Canada, and will not be present for the Galaxy match.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
