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The hex is broken.
Ever since Real Salt Lake joined MLS in 2005, the team has never beaten the Houston Dynamo at home. The Dynamo moved from San Jose, and from the Western Conference to the East, since RSL came into the league. But the hex has remained in place.
Until now.
RSL extended its season-opening, 10-game unbeaten streak to historic lengths with a 5-0-5 record attained in a 5-2 win Sunday at the Houston Dynamo. The run marks the second-longest regular-season unbeaten streak in team history, a 14-game span that stretches back to 2013.
RSL moved to 5-9-5 all-time against the Dynamo — a record that spans intra-conference rivalries and unbalanced scheduling. Sunday’s win is only the second time in franchise history that RSL has earned a result in the Bayou City.
Though head coach Jeff Cassar was hardly thinking about the historic nature of the occasion in the postgame press conference.
“I’m already starting to think about our next game right now,” Cassar told the media after the win. “But I am really happy for the guys. This was our first game in the heat and I thought we dealt with it really well. There’s some things that we can work on still, but it’s good to get that little monkey off our back and getting three points is most important.”
Javier Morales scored his first-ever hat trick as a professional soccer player. The 34-year-old Argentine has played for eight clubs in 16 seasons as a pro, and his goal roughly 15 seconds into the match was the fastest in team history — and fourth-fastest in Major League Soccer history.
“Even in the low divisions I never had (a hat trick),” Morales said. “This was my first time, but I’m happy. I’m always happy to score a goal; I think I needed it. Those three goals came when I really needed it.” He also tallied an assist with his hat trick.
The win puts Real Salt Lake in second place in the Western Conference, trailing the league-leading Seattle Sounders by two points — with a game in hand over its Pacific Northwest rival. But it wasn’t without a couple of singular performances and road drama.
Alvaro Saborio was the last RSL player to record a hat trick, when he did so against the New York Red Bulls last year. The Costa Rican international also bagged a goal and an assist in the match, which will likely be his last for RSL until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Los Ticos is expected to announce its roster early this week.
U.S. men’s national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann will also release his 30-man roster Monday — a move that will almost assuredly include RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman.
Rimando stopped a penalty kick in his likely RSL send-off, a move his coach called “massive.” But he said scoring the first goal less than 20 seconds after the opening whistle was key to the game.
“That was the fastest goal I’ve ever seen,” Rimando said. “It doesn’t surprise me with the way Javier [Morales] sees the ball. The way Sabo trapped the ball, and the movement in the first half. He does that in practice a lot where he’ll act like he’s going to hit it hard, and then do that. Never on me, though.”
Even Houston coach Dominic Kinnear credited the Argentine midfielder for his opportunistic scoring chance.
“We have to give Morales credit,” he said. “I mean, it’s a great goal by him. He put it pretty much where he wanted to put it. It takes good skill to do that, especially first touch of the game. Obviously the ball bounced to midfield and bounced in their favor and I don’t think we were close enough to some people. I give Morales credit for that, but I don’t think he should have a wide-open look with 20 seconds on the board.”
The win wasn’t all roses, though. RSL defender Chris Wingert went down following a knee to the head a few minutes before halftime. Abdoulie Mansally replaced him for the second half, and reports said the St. John’s alum would be re-evaluated by team physicians in Salt Lake City.
With the win in the rearview mirror, RSL looks ahead to a two-game homestand that includes a Rocky Mountain Cup match against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. But relief is the main feeling in the team’s locker room.
“Finally you know? This is the first time we’ve won here,” Morales said. “It’s hot and humid, and tough to play here. So we're really happy.” Sean Walker is a local news writer at KSL.com and Real Salt Lake beat reporter. Follow him on Twitter @ReporterSean.
