Penalty 'changes game' while RSL rallies for another draw with Whitecaps

SANDY — Nat Borchers wasn’t afraid to get right to the heart of the matter Saturday night following Real Salt Lake’s 1-1 home draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The veteran defender chased down Vancouver forward Darren Mattocks after a poor RSL giveaway just after the 70th minute in front of 20,265 fans at sold- out Rio Tinto Stadium. Borchers nearly caught the speedy Akron graduate, and slid in for a tackle, knocking the ball away for a corner kick. RSL coach Jeff Cassar called it "fantastic defending."

The head official thought otherwise.

Referee Edvin Jurisevic signaled a foul on Borchers — not enough for a yellow card, but enough to award a penalty to Vancouver — and Mattocks stepped up to the spot and converted it. Though RSL (7-4-8, 29 points) would equalize on Joao Plata’s goal less than 10 minutes later, the damage was done. RSL would take its second straight home draw with Vancouver (6-4-9, 27 points) in 2014.

Naturally, Borchers defended his actions after the match.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty, obviously,” Borchers said. “I think in that situation the linesman and the referee need to be 100 percent sure if they are going to make that call. I feel like I got the ball first, and unfortunately, (Jurisevic) didn’t think that way.”

Cassar agreed with his defensive stalwart. Cassar confronted Jurisevic after the match about the call, asking him, "Are you sure about that call?"

Jurisevic responded with, “I’m pretty sure,” according to Cassar. But that wasn’t enough for the first-year head coach.

“It’s a PK in the box in a big game; you need to be sure,” Cassar said. “You can’t be almost right on these types of calls.

“Maybe in the middle of the field, you can get away with that. But not a PK. It changes the game; it changes momentum.”

RSL’s response, however, was one of the highlights of the game, Cassar added. Team captain and U.S. international Kyle Beckerman took a masterful couple of touches from Luke Mulholland and Javier Morales — then whipped in a pass to a screaming, sprinting Plata in the 81st minute that the Ecuadorian forward blasted just inside the far post.

Plata’s goal was the first goal for an RSL striker since Robbie Findley scored against Atlanta in the U.S. Open Cup on June 14.

“I knew he was wide open,” Beckerman said of Plata. “So I just played it and he did the rest.”

Findley nearly pulled RSL ahead in stoppage time, finding himself on a fast break and a one-on-one situation with Vancouver goalkeeper David Ousted. Findley leaped up as Ousted charged off his line, and the RSL forward, who was making his first appearance since June 28 at Chivas USA, tried to clear the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net.

Ousted took the ball off his face, and the shot soared high.

“It felt like we were going to get another one,” Beckerman said. “I really felt like it brought some life to the crowd. I figured we’d get another chance, which we did. But the keeper made a big save. We’ve got to keep working, keep trying to get better.”

The game seemed split in half. There was the match that led up to the penalty kick, and then the final 15 minutes — which saw a scuffle at the midfield line, six of the game’s seven yellow cards handed out, and Plata’s equalizer.

RSL controlled 64 percent of possession throughout the match and outshot the Whitecaps 16-9, including a 4-1 edge in shots on goal. Vancouver’s only shot on goal was Mattocks’ penalty, a ball that the Akron product sent left as goalkeeper Nick Rimando dived the other way.

Salt Lake’s opportunity for revenge comes quick as RSL prepares for a Thursday night match against the Montreal Impact in the team’s annual Pioneer Day fireworks fixture.

“At the end of the day, neither team lost ground or made up ground,” Cassar said. “We got a point, and a couple of teams lost today. We picked up a point; we wanted three, and we got one.”

Contributing: Rod Zundel

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