Plata, defense draw praises after RSL's home tie with Red Bulls


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SANDY — For nearly an hour, Real Salt Lake’s four-man back line contained the offensive threats of Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill and MLS leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips.

Head coach Jeff Cassar and his players, then, wouldn’t prefer to focus on the one brilliant moment when Henry found the equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night.

And a few more games like that, RSL is confident it can produce better results.

“It’s always tough dropping points at home,” defender Nat Borchers said. “But there’s always the other side of it, where we had a great second half and we created some great chances. We just have to keep pushing through it. This is the summer. It’s hot and guys’ legs are a little heavy. I think we’re doing the right things; that just means we’re going to keep creating chances and get those goals.”

The home side will focus on the fact that they scored early, forcing a team like New York to come out on the attack. Joao Plata scored in the 18th minute after Javier Morales saw his shot right after a corner kick saved by Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. But RSL defender Chris Wingert corralled the rebound and laid the ball off to Plata, who netted his ninth goal of the season.

“It’s easy to set up that one,” Wingert said. “A two-yard pass, and then let him do the work. It was an unbelievable finish; he’s feeling it.”

Plata has found the back of the net on nine of his 32 shots taken in 2014, scoring at a rate of 28 percent. A year ago, the diminutive Ecuadorian was scoring on only eight percent.

RSL's Joao Plata runs down the ball as Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls play Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
RSL's Joao Plata runs down the ball as Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls play Wednesday, July 30, 2014, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. (Photo: Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)

“It’s no surprise,” Wingert said of his teammate. “I told my dad last year he would be a goal-scorer. He didn’t have big numbers last year, but you can see with the way he finishes in practice. He hits the heck out of the ball, he’s sharp around the goal and he has an unbelievable fighting spirit. The guy competes like crazy, even when we play ping pong.”

Finding those numbers proved big for RSL in the absence of injured striker Alvaro Saborio. Plata now leads the team in goals, as well as with 20 shots on goal.

“He’s just deadly right now,” Cassar said of Plata. “Most of his shots are on target. Tonight was no exception. He’s hungry, and he wants to keep scoring. I thought both him and (strike partner Olmes Garcia) were great together; it really put a lot of pressure on New York.”

The defense, too, did its job throughout the game. Borchers and his partner in central defense Chris Schuler man-marked New York’s elite duo of Henry and Wright-Phillips, breaking the latter’s streak of five games with at least one goal scored.

“We were aggressive getting forward, and they have a lot of really good players,” Wingert said. “I thought we did a fairly good job of dealing with them. But a classy goal by a classy player, and we had a little bit of trouble.”

RSL hits the midway point of a stretch that includes six home games in seven matches. And Cassar noted he’s been pleased with the team’s performance, if not the results.

“I thought attacking-wise we were very good, and really on both sides of the ball tonight,” Cassar said. “I couldn’t ask for more from our players. They had one shot on goal tonight, so defensively we were very strong. On a different night, we probably could’ve had two or three.”

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