Response noted: Real Salt Lake thumps New England 4-1 in regular-season home finale

SANDY — If RSL coach Mike Petke was worried about the message his team would send for the final two matches after a 4-1 thumping by Portland prior to Major League Soccer’s international break, the worry lasted less than five minutes Thursday night.

A few new faces and five starters on the bench later, the kids, as they say, proved to be alright.

Damir Kreilach had a goal and two assists, and Corey Baird added a goal and an assist in the first half as Real Salt Lake rolled to a resounding victory over visiting New England 4-1 in the regular-season home finale Thursday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“That game stung. That game stung because it’s not indicative of who we are,” Petke said of the home drubbing by Portland. “As a team, it just was a strange, strange scenario and a night — and I took full blame for it.

“It was important to have a response tonight, and these guys responded.”

With their season hanging on the brink and team captain Kyle Beckerman watching in street clothes for yellow-card accumulation, Nick Besler and Sebastian Saucedo each scored a goal to lead Real Salt Lake (14-12-7, 49 points), which gave itself a four-point edge on the LA Galaxy for the west’s final playoff spot with one game remaining (Los Angeles has two).

“The last game against Portland was not so good,” Kreilach said after the match. “We want to try to give the best of us in Portland, to take three points, and get into the playoffs.”

Kelyn Rowe pulled one back for New England (9-13-11, 38 points), heading home a goal off of Diego Fagundez’s free kick in the 69th minute to prevent the shutout.

Before most of RSL fans had settled into the building in a rare mid-week match to end the regular season’s home slate, Besler had already given Salt Lake the early advantage against a New England team that came in with confidence after a 2-0 win over limping Orlando City SC — the Revs’ first victory since Sept. 5.

After Rimando and Co. easily cleared the Revs’ corner kick attempt, Damir Kreilach was off to the races. The Croatian international took the ball in transition, then sent a through-ball to the high-flying Baird, who sprinted down the right wing and crossed a shot that Besler redirected into the back of the net for Baird’s fifth assist of the year.

“It was so important,” Kreilach said of the early goal. “We wanted to open the game with an early goal, and we did it. Goals change the games, and we scored in the (fourth) minute, and it was an advantage for us in confidence. After that, we played every ball forward and put pressure in — and it was a great performance.

“But now it’s behind us. We have two days to prepare for the next game.”

Bofo Saucedo doubled the advantage just 10 minutes later. This time, Baird crossed the ball into the box to Kreilach, who feigned a header and nodded the ball back to Saucedo for a scorching goal from just inside the box and the 2-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the match.

Baird got his own before half-hour mark. The rookie casually strolled up to a midfield pass from Luke Mulholland, easily out-raced the New England back line, and slotted home his eighth goal of the season in the 28th minute that put Salt Lake up 3-0.

New England tried to pull one back when Teal Bunbury drew a foul in the box by new RSL defender Chinedum Onouha in the 35th minute. But the Revs striker’s penalty-kick attempt was pushed wide by goalkeeper Nick Rimando, and RSL easily cleared the ensuing corner kick to escape the first half with a shutout.

New England coach Brad Friedel called the Revs’ first-half performance “simply pathetic” against the “second team” of RSL in the absence of standout midfielders like Kyle Beckerman and Sunny Stephen.

“I don’t care what kind of point you are in the season, whether in the playoffs or out of the playoffs,” Friedel said at halftime. “That was an absolutely and completely unacceptable performance.

“It’s just a simple case of being out-worked.”

Even as RSL played without five starters and provided a “second team” on the pitch on the final night of the regular season at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club didn’t play like it.

It was as if they had seen the Revs for the previous 10 days — which perhaps in some ways they had, according to Petke.

“We had them in on Friday of last week, showed them a short film of how New England plays, then had an intrasquad scrimmage,” Petke explained. “They mimicked exactly what we saw tonight, exactly what we had to expect, and they did it unbelievably. They are a big reason why we got this result tonight.”

It didn’t get much better for New England after the break.

Kreilach scored a goal off a corner kick in the 50th minute, a strike that was initially ruled offside before video review overturned the foul and awarded RSL a 4-0 advantage.

Rowe pulled back a goal in the 69th minute to cut Revs' deficit to 4-1. But it was too little, too late for the visitors who have won just two matches since September began.

“The destiny is in our hands still, and we’ll see what happens,” Petke said. “The next two days aren’t about on the field. It’s all about talking them into the game, preparing mentally, making sure these guys bounce back physically, and I don’t think there needs to be much motivation to these guys.

“They understand it’s the last game of the season, and we have a great opportunity ahead of us.”

Next up

Real Salt Lake wraps up the regular season Sunday at Portland Timbers FC. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. MT on KSL.com and the KSL TV app.

The Revs host Montreal at 2 p.m. MT Sunday.

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