On a night that looked to be colder than it really was, Real Salt Lake came out much like they usually do at home. They created several solid scoring opportunities in the first ten minutes against the New England Revolution, but unfortunately those chances resulted in shots that either went just high, just wide, or straight to the keeper—keeping RSL off the score board early.
RSL’s attack started to slow down at that point and New England began creating some chances of their own. On one of those attacks, a late tackle by Chris Wingert took down Sainey Nyassi near midfield. The hit looked very soft to the pro-RSL crowd with Nyassi nursing the call trying to earn a yellow card on Wingert. The ref eventually called a stretcher over for him and Nyassi waited for it to get there before getting up and walking off the pitch. From that point on, every time Nyassi would touch the ball the crowd would let him have it, showering him with Boos.
The rest of the first half would hold much of the same with play on both sides getting rather choppy. Real would continue to struggle with their final touch and New England struggled to get any type of rhythm in their attack. The ref quickly lost control of the match as tempers flared in frustration. The situation would come to a head on an RSL set piece in which both Yura Movsisyan and Jay Heaps received yellows for jostling with each other in the box. Quickly after the set piece was taken the ref would call it a half.
The teams came out in the second half similar to the first, with RSL creating several early chances but again missing that final touch. New England looked shell-shocked for most of this initial bombardment and bunkered down on defense, looking content to try to keep a clean sheet and claim one point on the road.
Finally in the 53rd minute, Columbian scoring sensation Jamison Olave came through huge with a header, opening the flood gate for Real Salt Lake. The play was setup by a well-placed Javier Morales corner kick, with Olave doing what he does best for RSL when in the attacking third: He lowered his head, muscled his way to the ball, and drove it home with a powerful header.
Two minutes later Morales would deliver another great corner, playing the ball long to Clint Mathis on the back side of the goal. Mathis converted it for his first RSL goal since rejoining the team last year by one-timing the cross with his left foot. His powerful blast would leave NE keeper Brad Knighton flat-footed as the ball found the upper corner of the near post.
To the crowd’s delight, RSL wouldn’t let up after two goals even with Morales being subbed out in favor of Ned Grabavoy. Yura Movsisyan was the happy recipient of the third goal of the night, finally notching his first one of the season. The play was setup by Mathis who, after receiving the ball from Yura, dribbled through two players and laid off a perfect pass back to Yura for a 1v1 with the keeper. Yura did the rest, putting the ball in the back of the net on the far side of the goal. Yura was quickly subbed out after his goal in favor of giving Luis Miguel Escalada some time to gel with his new team. Moments later Andy Williams would also come in, replacing Mathis who left to a standing ovation.
It took another 10 minutes for RSL to get their fourth goal, but it was one of the more encouraging ones I have seen this young season for the RSL coaches. Two Real subs got in on the action with Grabavoy playing a beautiful ball to Escalada with the outside of his left foot, fooling Revolution defenders, and leaving Escalada unmarked running onto the ball at the top of the penalty box. Escalada would calmly sink his shot into the far corner, beating Knighton for the fourth time in thirty minutes of play. It would be Escalada’s first career MLS goal and Grabavoy’s first assist for Real Salt Lake.
Not to be outdone, fellow substitute Andy Williams would score Real Salt Lake’s fifth goal of the match by placing a curling shot into the back of the net off a set piece from the left side of the 18. Knighton was out of position on the play and Williams made him pay, putting the ball above him into the far upper corner of the net.
Williams again got involved in the 89th minute to cap off the game with an assist. Robbie Findley was the recipient of this play, receiving a great ball in stride for his own 1v1 chance against New England’s keeper. Knighton looked like a deer in the headlights trying to figure out how to stop the inevitable sixth goal of the match, and left the near post open for Findley who buried it neatly to finish off a dream match for Real.
The game would thus end in a historic fashion, much to the delight of the Salt Lake faithful. Yura would have his first goal of the season, Grabavoy his first positive RSL stat, Escalada his first MLS goal, and Nick Rimando his first recorded clean sheet of the 2009 campaign. RSL would also have its first game of more than five goals scored and would tie an MLS record with six goals scored in one half.
A true night of firsts. Let’s hope they follow them up with seconds soon.
-Truhlk
Boz Match Fotoz 4.25.09...
Boz's RSL Art Gallery II
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