Nick Rimando makes a save in the 2nd half. (Getty Images)
There was a lot of good, a little bad, and just a tiny bit of the ugly in Real Salt Lake's 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers last night at Rio Tinto Stadium. For the most part, it was a rather dominating performance by the Claret and Cobalt, but Portland showed strong and pulled a goal back in the second half to make the final minutes rather anxious for the sell out crowd.
The biggest question of the night was this: how would RSL manage goals without Alvaro Saborio? The Costa Rican international injured his shoulder in the end of the CCL win at Tauro FC earlier in the week. Coach Kreis said after the match that Sabo really wanted to play, and in fact wanted to start, but that the risk of further damaging injury was too great. That's why he's the manager and I'm not. Thankfully.
From the opening minutes it looked like RSL was going to put on a fine display of attacking football, despite their long trip to Panama earlier in the week. They stroked the ball around quite a bit and looked very confident in possession. In the 13th minute it looked like Javier Morales and Fabian Espindola were about to pull apart the Timbers defense, but the Portland men yielded a free kick outside of their own area instead. RSL set up the kick, and Kyle Beckerman made a dummy run at it, which was probably anticipated by Portland. Then Morales charged the ball but instead of shooting, he deftly back-heeled it to Espindola, who blasted the shot through the Portland defense and into the goal to make it 1-0 to RSL. There's just one word for that kick: cheeky. It was outstanding to see live as well.
Portland had their chances as well though. They really deserve a lot of credit. The last time they visited the RioT they just looked incompetent. Last night they really came to play and gave the RSL defense a couple of fits. In the 18th minute Rodney Wallace put a header on target following a corner kick, and Nick Rimando got a bit of a palm to it, but only knocked it into limbo near the line. Will Johnson was the hero of the day though as he confidently cleared the ball away from the RSL goal. He never looked worried. It happened about 10 yards from me though, and I sure was worried.
Luckily for RSL, they got an insurance goal late in the half. Portland again gave up a free kick right outside of their box, and again Morales was there to threaten with it. There was no trickery this time though as the Argentinian hammered the kick over the defense and into the top of the net to make it 2-0 at halftime.
The second half proceeded along the lines of the first for awhile, but RSL continued to be frustrated in their search for goals from open play. They did have a couple of good chances though. In the 54th minute Beckerman slammed a shot that for all the world looked like it was headed in, but ended up wide of the post. Then in 57th minute Portland's Joe Bendik earned his paycheck by absolutely stoning Espindola from short range. Finally in the 60th Paulo Jr had a nice look but dragged his shot wide of the far post.
In the 61st minute Portland was able to make RSL pay somewhat for missing those chances. Sal Zizzo sent a nice ball into the box from thirty plus yards that managed to fight Bright Dike. The Portland forward then headed the ball into the top of the goal over a leaping Rimando to make it 2-1 with a half hour to go.
The Timbers did quite well looking for an equalizer, but in the end solid defense and excellent game management ruled the day for RSL. They put in Yordany Alvarez as an extra holding type midfielder, which greatly increased RSL's ability to possess and keep the ball away from Portland. They really didn't push up much either, limiting the Timbers' ability to counter attack.
The men in green did create two chances to fancy an equalizer though. In the 82nd minute Frank Songo'o hit a gorgeous free kick on the RSL goal that Rimando just managed to tip over the bar (Pictured above). Then in the 85th minute another Dike header deflected off the bar and bounced away to seal all 3 points for RSL.
I think the biggest plus on the night for RSL was getting Morales and Espindola amongst the goals. Even though they weren't from the run of play, their confidence should be boosted. Also special credit MUST be given to Nick Rimando who made a couple of incredible saves, including the late one off the Songo'o free kick. Also of note, Jamison Olave picked up a yellow card late on, and will miss the next match against Chivas USA due to yellow card accumulation.
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