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SANDY — One in a million.
Those were the odds Real Salt Lake coach Mike Petke gave his team of qualifying for the Major League Soccer postseason after last week’s 3-0 loss at Portland that kept them all-but out of the postseason. RSL (14-13-7, 49 points) were just one point ahead of the LA Galaxy for the final playoff berth from the western conference and with the Galaxy yet to play one final home game against already-eliminated Houston.
“Overall, second half, I’m proud of the guys. Now it is what it is,” Petke said from just outside the locker room at the Timbers’ Providence Park in Portland. “There’s a one-in-a-million chance now that we get to the playoffs. That’s it.”
For about 70 minutes Sunday after, Real Salt Lake was below the playoff line.
But like an angel of hope, Mauro Manotas delivered the most improbable of outcomes.
Build a statue outside of Rio Tinto Stadium in his honor — RSL is headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Manotas drew a penalty kick for the Dynamo (10-16-8, 38 points), equalizing from the spot in the 73rd minute, to help the Dynamo to an emphatic come-from-behind win over the Galaxy 3-2 on the final day of the regular season.
Manotas scored two goals for the Dynamo, including an 80th-minute strike on the counterattack to give his side the first lead of the match.
The Galaxy (13-12-9, 48 points) nearly had a chance in the end, too. LA out-shot Houston 19-13, but put just seven shots on target — including two goals. Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis made five saves, and even saw a stoppage-time equalized waived offside to send thrills and shrills from Carson, California that reverberated all the way to the Wasatch Front.
Never in doubt 😘 pic.twitter.com/1oNqPb6NlL
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) October 28, 2018
Ola Kamara had a first-half brace that gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead at the break. But Houston quickly pulled one back with Romell Quioto’s goal 17 minutes into the second half, and the Dynamo took just enough life to pull off the improbable comeback and end the season on a high note.
The Galaxy conceded three goals in the final 35 minutes of what proved to be their regular season finale to hand RSL a playoff berth — and first-round knockout match with expansion Los Angeles FC at 8:30 p.m. MT Thursday, Nov. 1. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and UniMas.
It was a scenario few conceived — even among RSL's players, who also vocally hoped for a miracle from Houston.
“We had a really good feeling this week, coming in,” midfielder Kyle Beckerman said in Portland. “Good practice. We just weren’t able to get it done on the weekend. It’s not a good place to be.
“We’re going to be the biggest Houston Dynamo fans there’s ever been and we’ll be rooting them on and hopefully they can help us out.”
A self-described "control freak," Petke was hosting a staff barbecue during the Galaxy-Dynamo match Sunday, he told Sirius XM radio after the match. He tended to the grilling, wandered in and out of his office, and tried to distract himself from thinking about the most unlikely result, he admitted.
"Going down 2-0, it didn’t look like it was meant to be," Petke told 'Counter Attack' on Sirius XM FC channel 157. "I watched a lot of the second half. I pried myself away from my office and into the TV room and watched a lot of the second half — and it was a pretty (expletive) exciting second half.”
Real Salt Lake played its final week of the regular season practicing without a match to look forward. The club trained all week at the Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman and announced its team awards Wednesday.
They prepared as if they had a game, and scouted three potential first-round playoff opponents — LAFC being among them, Petke said. The five days of prep could pay off when the club travels to the Los Angeles newcomers either Wednesday or Thursday.
"How prepared are they? We prepared the heck out of them in training … and the players have responded," Petke said. "Now we have 2-3 more days to really harp on them, and I think our players will be even more prepared come game time."
Among the end-of-season honorees was first-year midfielder Damir Kreilach, who took home team MVP honors after scoring a team-high 12 goals with eight assists in 31 starts since joining Salt Lake in the offseason from Union Berlin in the German second division.
Brooks Lennon, the converted winger-turned-right-back, was named the club’s defensive player of the year, and team captain Kyle Beckerman took home the Jordan Guernsey humanitarian of the year award a year after starting the Beckerman’s Book Club at Ensign Elementary School and promoting reading and literacy in the local community.
