After defeating the New England Revolution 2-1 Wednesday, Real Salt Lake traveled to Canada to take on the Montreal Impact. RSL got off to a bright start with lots of high pressure on Montreal’s defense, and led to an early own goal. Full back Lovel Palmer hit a long range shot that deflected off Ferarri, over his goal keeper’s head, and into the back of his own net. 1-0 RSL.

RSL had multiple chances through Devon Sandoval, Sebastian Velasquez and Olmes Garcia, but good saves from Troy Perkins or firing their shots just wide kept them up just one goal. Sandoval and Garcia gave the Impact defense fits with their runs off the ball and physical play, leaving room for Javier Morales and Sebastian Velasquez in the midfield. Olmes Garcia in particular never stopped running on any chance making it hard for the Montreal’s defenders to keep track of him.

Despite their offensive chances, the defense lacked leadership with the absence of Nat Borchers, who was out with the flu. Chris Schuler and Kwame Watson-Siriboe starting along side each other, and Lovel Palmer started in place of Tony Beltran with Chris Wingert starting on the other side. Justin Mapp fired a cross into the box and picked out a wide open Felipe who powered it home, drawing the teams on level terms just before half time.

From a corner, Javier Morales found Olmes Garcia, who headed it backwards to a probing Kyle Beckerman who passed it past Troy Perkins to put the away team up 2-1.

The lead was short lived, however, as Marco Di Vaio controversially scored three minutes later. In the run of play Di Vaio seemed onsides, but after looking at the replay it was clear that he was almost half a body off.

It looked like Joao Plata, who came on as a late sub, would score the game winner in the 85th minute as Morales played a perfectly weighted pass to him, but Plata fired it straight at the keeper.

Montreal then earned a corner in one of the last plays of the game which found an unmarked Ferarri who made no mistake in scoring the game winner in the last minute of stoppage time. The game ended 3-2 for Montreal despite RSL’s control of the majority of the game.

As with most Real Salt Lake games this season, the first half was slow and fairly uneventful. The most notable thing was Carlos Salcedo making his first start. Salcedo came through the RSL academy and is the first academy product to play in an MLS game with the senior team. Salcedo earned his first yellow card of his professional career in the 37th minute with a dangerous high boot to New England’s Chris Tierney.

New England seemed content with sitting back and defending in the first half, but RSL put on subs Sebastian Velasquez and Olmes Garcia to spark the attack, which they did! New England came out strong in the second half. RSL defender, Chris Schuler, went in for the challenge, missing the ball, and allowing Kelyn Rowe to send a cross in to Ryan Guy who volleyed it past Nick Rimando to score the game’s opening goal.

Real finally put themselves onto the board when Velasquez took a shot which Bobby Shuttleworth parried into the path of a lurking Devon Sandoval. Devon power slid the ball past Shuttleworth, pulling his team onto level terms.

From a corner, Javier Morales picked out Kyle Beckerman at the top of New England’s 18 yard box. RSL’s captain did a good job of keeping his volley on frame forcing Shuttleworth into another athletic save. However, it once again fell into the path of an RSL player. This time Olmes Garcia, in a similar fashion as Sandoval’s goal, somehow managed to turn and get a shot off while falling backwards. RSL were up 2-1!

The game got even more intense in stoppage time. A New England free kick caused confusion in the box, and the referee gave Carlos Salcedo a second yellow for a handball even though he wasn’t actually even involved in the play. It was Tony Beltran who had his arm somewhat extended and a soft penalty was called against Real.

As Saer Sene stepped up to take the PK, the fans in the stadium were the loudest they had been all night, urging their team to get the draw. As Sene powered the ball low to the right, Nick Rimando did what Nick Rimando does and saved it! All you could hear in the stadium was the RSL players celebrating with Rimando.

RSL travel to Canada to take on Montreal this Saturday.

Real Salt Lake bounced back from their loss at home last week in a big way as the team hosted Star Wars night against Vancouver Whitecaps at Rio Tinto Stadium.

RSL controlled possession in the first half, but the final pass and lethal finish wasn’t there, and both teams went into half time on level terms. With Alvaro Saborio and Robbie Findley out due to injury, the team really seemed to be struggling to find the back of the net. The attacking trio of Javier Morales, Devon Sandoval, and Joao Plata were making good passes and runs, but the finishing touch was missing. The most dangerous chance for RSL came in the 39th minute when a corner from Morales found the head of Schuler who failed to keep his shot on frame.

Photo credit to the Salt Lake Tribune

Jedi Master Jason Kreis must have given his team quite the pep talk at half time, because RSL came out of the gates fast. In the 47th minute, RSL goalkeeper, Nick Rimando, started the counter attack from a goal kick that found the path of a speedy Joao Plata. Plata took two touches before crossing the ball to an onrushing Luis Gil who, using the force, headed the ball in, giving RSL the lead! Gil unfortunately suffered a right ankle contusion and had to be subbed off after a few minutes.

Vancouver had a chance of their own after the goal. Cory Hertzog beat Nick Rimando and slid the ball past him. It looked as if the ball was going in until Nat Borchers heroically slid and cleared the ball off the goal line!

RSL weren’t done scoring, though. Joao Plata was once again involved in the attack as he craftily slipped the ball into Javier Morales. Javier kept his composure and cooly finished to the low left of Joe Cannon in the 72nd minute. The score would stay at 2-0 and the fans went home much happier than last week.

It should also be noted that Nick Rimando registered his 7th assist, and 4th game winning assist.

Real Salt Lake managed to go through the entire 2012 season without conceding a goal in in first 15 minutes. On Saturday, they had already conceded two by that point. After Salt Lake had played Colorado and conceded a goal in the first 5 minutes, Head Coach Jason Kreis focused on having his team come out of the gates with lots of high energy, but his team didn’t give him that Saturday night.

After some bad defensive marking and untimely slips. RSL found themselves in a deep hole. Despite the offensive power and creativity from players like Javier Morales and Olmes Garcia, Real failed to find the back of the net. The crossbar and posts became Carlos Cuddicini’s new best friend as they denied RSL’s attackers of obvious chances.

When tonight’s LA Galaxy lineup was released, I was scratching my head. I knew some of the players were hurt but holy cow. This was a lineup I would expect for a CCL game, not a game against Real Salt Lake. LA’s lineup was: Rowe; Franklin, DeLaGarza, Gonzalez, Cochrane; Jimenez, Sarvas, Juninho, Magee; Rugg, McBean. That’s right. No Dunivant, Keane, Donovan or Cudicini. I had faith the young guys could pull off a win if they tried hard enough but I wasn’t going to get my expectations up. It’s a good thing I’m not a betting person…

Look at Magee’s beautiful hair.

First half, honestly, I was hardly paying attention and then BAM, in the 6th minute Mike Magee scored off a Juninho free kick and was tied for the Golden Boot with six goals. HELLO JURGEN KLINNSMAN. PAGING KLINNSMAN! Isn’t it about time y’all noticed the invincible Mike Magee? Just saying. Now back to the game; for the time being LA was WINNING. Yes, they were winning and it was awesome.

Then LA made me shut my mouth and the young guns showed what they were made of. In the 13th minute Charlie Rugg, the rookie, found the back of the net and put LA up 2-0. At this point in time my jaw was dropped and I was bowing down to LA Galaxy’s coaching staff for picking up some incredible rookies. The rest of the first 45 LA had plenty of chances but couldn’t finish. I wasn’t mad at all though because they were winning 2-0 against RSL. I was actually really happy. LA went into the half leading 2-0 and they knew they needed to pace themselves in the second half so the altitude wouldn’t take such a toll.

In the opening minutes of the second half Jack McBean took a hard knock and had to be subbed out. Gyasi Zardes was subbed in and he was the third LA Galaxy rookie to make his MLS debut in this game. Yes, another rookie, and a pretty amazing rookie at that. In the 78th minute Zardes had a terrific run and played the ball to Jimenez who had a chance but hit the near post. As I was beginning to think LA had this game in the bag, RSL turned it up in stoppage time. I can’t even begin to explain how they didn’t score in the 93rd minute. LA must have had an angel helping move the goal or something, it was crazy! When the final whistle blew LA had come away with a 2-0 win that surprised a lot of people.

I gotta say, at the beginning of this game as I said, my expectations were not high. But right now I take back everything I was thinking. The rookies, and the veterans played tough and they meshed really well. Brian Rowe showed up to play for that clean sheet. His play was solid tonight, and might give Cudicini a challenge for the starting spot. At the beginning of the year people were wondering how LA was going to “make it” without Beckham, and at the time Donovan. I think tonight Bruce Arena showed the rest of MLS to never underestimate the LA Galaxy team. It doesn’t matter if the big names aren’t in the lineup or even on the team, they can still kick some major booty.

LA’s next game will be May 5th against Houston. This is a game I’m looking forward to.

The first half of this game RSL’s play was similar to the first half of the Colorado Rapids game last week: Slow. They had the majority of the possession, but still only registered one shot, while Vancouver had 10. RSL is still trying to get their players back from injury, so I don’t think most of the fans were surprised. However, Javier Morales made his first start of the season, adding a much needed creative punch to the offense.

Nick Rimando very much kept his team in the game during the first half, making stellar saves as he consistently does. Luis Gil also greatly improved his performance from the previous week, linking up well with Javier Morales.

In the 56th minute, Olmes Garcia was subbed in for Joao Plata. Ten minutes later, he scored an absolute screamer, making his debut goal a memorable one. Garcia won a long ball, played a 1-2 with Javier Morales, and curving his shot into the upper right corner of the goal, beating a leaping Joe Cannon. The young Colombian celebrated by revealing an undershirt with a friend who had recently passed away, and received a yellow card for it.

The RSL players struggled with their footing on Vancouver’s less than ideal artificial surface. In the 84th minute, Nat Borchers slipped inside the penalty area while controlling the ball, and accidentally handled the ball, making the ref call a soft penalty against them that Camillo put past Nick Rimando.

RSL play their next game at home against Chivas USA at 7 PM MT.

It was just not RSL’s night.

An early Atiba Harris goal and a missed penalty told the story of the second round of the Rocky Mountain Cup between Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids. Abdoulie Mensally pulled into the middle during a mix up in the box, leaving Harris open for the goal in the fifth minute. Just after, a light penalty was called against Colorado when Dillon Powers pulled down Kyle Beckerman. Alvaro Saborio, who was questionable whether or not he would play tonight, stepped up to take it, but young Colorado keeper Clint Irwin saved it.

That frustration basically summed up the rest of the game for RSL. They had the majority of the possession, but it amounted to nothing. Nick Rimando was his usual self, making great saves that kept his team within reach.

Javier Morales and Olmes Garcia seemed to bring more attacking prowess to the second half , but the Rapids kept RSL off the score sheet. The game left fans asking where the RSL from last week was. Perhaps it was the Saborio-Sandoval duo in the first half, or just playing on the road.

To retain the Rocky Mountain Cup, Real must win the next game against Colorado Aug. 3.

RSL travel to the Vancouver Whitecaps for their next game.

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Real Salt Lake got their second win of the season against the team that eliminated them from the playoffs. Alvaro Saborio is back from national team duty, but hadn’t trained all week due to a a knee injury he picked up when Costa Rica played Jamaica, and wasn’t available for selection for this game. Rookie draft pick Devon Sandoval started in place of Saborio along with Robbie Findley. Right after the first whistle, RSL began their attack. Lots of shots on goal eventually led to a Robbie Findley goal in the 8th minute, breaking the 408 minute goalless streak for RSL against Seattle, and marked Findley’s first goal since coming back to RSL from Nottingham Forrest.

As seen in the 2012 playoffs, Michael Gspurning, much like Nick Rimando, had heroic saves throughout the game to keep his team from going down 3 or 4 goals in the first half, but he couldn’t stop Luis Gil’s diving header in the 35th minute. A short corner from Sebastian Velasquez to Ned Grabavoy resulted in a cross to a wide open Gil, who flew through the air and scored.

The 20,000+ fans at Rio Tinto stadium raised the noise level and fueled the home team to a dominate first half performance, going into half time leading 2-0. The second half was good up until the last 15 minutes of the game, when the team seemed to run out of steam a little bit, but the young attack was relentless, outshooting Seattle 25-8. However, Seattle managed to pull back a goal in the 57th minute off a Brad Evans volley that beat Nick Rimando.

The fans were loud the eintre game, but when Javier Morales came on to make his 2013 MLS debut, the stadium erupted! Chants of, “Javi! Javi! Javi! Javi!” echoed through the stadium and lifted the team to a convincing and reassuring victory.

The streak had to come to an end eventually, didn’t it? The Seattle Sounders traveled to Real Salt Lake Saturday, losing 2-1 at Rio Tinto and marking an end to our 75 straight MLS matches without a loss in two consecutive matches.  We can kiss our 408-minute shutout streak goodbye. Adios. Sayonara.

A diving header from Luis Gil gave RSl the 2-0 lead before the half. Salt Lake controlled most of the first half, constantly challenging Sounders keep Michael Gspurning within the first 10 minutes. For Real, injuries came early as Robbie Findley was taken out in the 12^th minute with a left adductor strain, minutes after scoring the first goal for RSL.

His first goal of the season, Brad Evans brought Seattle up in the second half providing a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately the first half was a forgettable one as the Sounders struggled to find their footing on the pitch.

The second half showed a little more power from the Sounders as DeAndre Yedlin pushed high while Martins and Eddie Johnson constantly stretched out the RSL backline, however, RSL rookie Devon Sandoval forced himself through Seattle’s shaky defense, leaving opportunities for his teammates.

Kudos to Michael Gspurning who kept the rave green army in check, making a total of six saves, surpassing last year’s career high in a regular season match.

The Sounders shift their focus back to CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday as the semi-final match against Santos Laguna takes place at Century Link Field.

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Real Salt Lake has played at two stadiums they have never won in twice in three weeks. Add on five starters being called up to international duty and injured back-ups and you definitely don’t have an ideal situation. Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman have good replacements in Josh Saunders and Yordany Alvarez, but with Nat Borchers still possibly out, Kenny Mansally and Tony Beltran being called up to their national teams, Rich Balchan and Carlos Salcedo being injured, the backline was in question as the team took on Dallas.

The biggest question, however, was who was going to score goals while Alvaro Saborio was with Costa Rica. Robbie Findley would most likely start up top, but with whom? Jason Kreis was concerned with Joao Plata’s fitness levels, but the other options were rookie draft pick Devon Sandoval and newly acquired Olmes Garcia, so Kreis rewarded Plata for his work and gave him the start. However, this question remains unanswered. Alvaro Saborio is still the only one who has scored for RSL this year.

A make-shift lineup held their own in the first half, and even threatened Dallas’ goal. The second half it all seemed to fall apart. The defense was often caught out of shape which led to Dallas’ first goal- a bending shot by Castillo. The second goal could have been entirely avoided with some better communication between Lovell Palmer and Josh Saunders. Saunders took a heavy first touch off a back pass from Palmer was picked off by Jackson and slotted into the RSL net. Olmes Garcia and Devon Sandoval provided some welcome attacking prowess, but a Yordany Alvarez red card made it impossible for RSL to score.