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SANDY -- After a loss to Portland a week ago, Real Salt Lake returned home Saturday in hopes for a win. They beat Chivas USA 1-0 at Rio Tinto, but something unexpected happened in the 37th minute.
Chivas USA forward Marcos Mondaini took down RSL midfielder Javier Morales on a tackle from behind leaving him down on the field and players from both rosters frantically waving over medical attention almost instantly.
"It's difficult to deal with," said Coach Jason Kreis. "You could see the emotions on a lot of the players faces that were on the field and it's difficult for them to get past it."
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Real Salt Lake beats Chivas 1-0; Morales taken off field in stretcher
Will Johnson put in a high volley in the 87th minute and Real Salt Lake stretched its home unbeaten streak in MLS to 28 games with a 1-0 victory over Chivas USA on Saturday.Mondaini was issued a straight red card in the 38th minute and was escorted off the field while onlookers watched and waited to see what had happened to Morales.
After almost eight minutes, medical crews wheeled Morales off the field on a stretcher. As he was wheeled off, Morales had his shirt pulled up over his face clearly struggling with what had just happened.
As he was wheeled past the Chivas USA bench, Coach Robin Fraser bent down and said something to him. It was apparent that the injury was affecting every player, regardless of what jersey they were wearing.
RSL players were in shock by what they saw and were clearly upset at what had happened. The feeling that was left on the field after the injury for the few minutes remaining in the first half and into the second half affected their emotions for the remainder of the game.
"It's tough. He's the best player on our team. He's one of the best in the league so it's not only bad for us, it's bad for the league that he's not going to be playing and my heart goes out to him," said an emotional Kyle Beckerman.
"It definitely made the game a bit strange for everybody with a tackle like that and then you see Javier's ankle twisted in a position that you just don't want to see," said defender Nat Borchers.
It was determined that Morales' left ankle is dislocated, fractured and has torn ligaments. Morales will have surgery on Monday and will be out of play for at least four months.
"It's tough. He's the best player on our team. He's one of the best in the league so it's not only bad for us, it's bad for the league that he's not going to be playing and my heart goes out to him," said an emotional Kyle Beckerman.
Going into this game, Morales had played 360 minutes this season, scored two goals, had two assists and three shots on goal.
Despite the injury, RSL took the win off a goal by midfielder Will Johnson in the 87th minute leaving RSL with only a few minutes to hold the lead for the win.
RSL will return to home field next Saturday to face the Houston Dynamo at 7:00 p.m.
