Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Real Salt Lake capped off its third game in eight days with a 2-1 loss at the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at BC Place.
After Vancouver’s Gershon Koffie scored a screamer from distance to give the host Whitecaps a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute, Javier Morales scored his team-best third goal of the season at the end of first-half regulation. The midfield maestro bent in a free kick from just outside the box that went around the wall and past a diving David Ousted for the equalizer.
But the upset bid wouldn’t last long. Cristian Techera took an opportunistic shot from inside the 6-yard box after RSL defender Elias Vasquez chested the ball away from goalkeeper Nick Rimando, and Techera put the Whitecaps (7-5-2) up for good in the 78th minute.
RSL (4-5-5) finishes the three-games-in-eight-day stretch with one win and two losses, beating New York City FC 2-0 at home last Saturday and rounding up May with losses at the L.A. Galaxy and Vancouver.
The Salt Lake side opens June at home with the first of the three-match Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry series with Colorado on June 7. The club also kicks off its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup campaign at home June 16 against USL side Seattle Sounders 2.
Here are a few thoughts from RSL’s two-loss week, including the 2-1 defeat to Vancouver.
Real Salt Lake pulled out several young guns for its trip to British Columbia, including offering defender Justen Glad the first MLS start of his career. The 18-year-old homegrown signing from the RSL-Arizona Academy went the full 90 minutes in his career opener. But he also picked up a yellow card for tugging on his opponent’s shirt to try to stop a counter.
“I thought (Glad) did very well, a great job,” RSL coach Jeff Cassar told ESPN 700 radio after the match. “It’s not an easy task to have to defend these wide players for Vancouver. With him, I am really pleased.”
RSL’s experienced players held up against one of the top teams in the Western Conference. Morales scored his third goal of the season, tied for the most on the team with Alvaro Saborio. Of the club’s 12 goals scored in 2015, Morales has scored or assisted on six of them — proving the 35-year-old midfielder is still a vital cog in the RSL midfield.
The Whitecaps jumped into a tie for first place in the Western Conference with the win over RSL, which fell further behind in its race for the playoffs. The Salt Lake club is currently one spot out of MLS’s expanded playoffs, and only four points ahead of last-place Colorado. No panic necessary; there is still a lot of soccer left to be played in the season — and the local team is only six points off of the Whitecaps and Seattle in an incredibly tight West race. But RSL can’t afford to keep dropping points, and it will need to make up the space through the grueling summer months.
That doesn’t mean winning every time RSL goes out on the road. But a couple of draws against opponents from the West would be nice.
“Today, maybe the first half wasn’t good enough. But the second half, we deserved at least a draw,” RSL midfielder Morales told media. “The goalkeeper made a lot of saves, and maybe if we score one of those goals, we even think about getting three points.”
Joao Plata made his first appearance with the starting XI in 2015, going 70 minutes with the forward line after a broken fifth metatarsal sidelined him on the first day of preseason training. The match also marked the first start for Sebastian Jaime since March 29, after the Argentine striker suffered a deep bone bruise in the 2-1 win over Toronto FC.
Plata didn’t get a shot off in the game, one where Vancouver outshot RSL 20-12. But the Ecuadorian national teamer was fouled five times as he ran at the Whitecaps defender and tried to spread the field for his teammates.
With regulars like Saborio, Luis Gil and Tony Beltran on the bench, and Jamison Olave sidelined after picking up a red card in the 1-0 loss at the Galaxy on Wednesday, RSL put several new faces into the lineup — and nearly came away with a point.
“I think we did enough to get a result here, and we also did enough to walk out of here with nothing,” Cassar told ESPN 700.
Almost may not count for much for RSL fans. But the squad is getting healthy — just in time for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, which will likely see players from RSL called up to their respective national teams.
