TUCSON, Arizona (Sunday, February 14, 2016) – Real Salt Lake saw its most cohesive offensive performance of the preseason and got a goal from FW Yura Movsisyan to earn a 1-0 win over Seongnam FC on Sunday in Tucson, Arizona. RSL is now 2-2-0 in preseason action with all four matches ending in a 1-0 result.
GK Jeff Attinella was rarely tested throughout the match, as RSL was able to handle the South Korean club’s 4-1-4-1 formation that often featured waves of attack designed to outman and outnumber the defense.
In the first half of the match, RSL was able to find FW Olmes Garcia in behind the defense with regularity, although the defense was able to recover before Garcia or his teammates were able to register a shot in most occurrences. Midway through the half, it was MF Amass Amankona and FW Abdoulie Mansally (who was deployed on the wing rather than his more typical left back position) combining in the box to create pressure, but the shot in the 26th minute was saved to keep the match scoreless.
To start the second half, RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar brought on a unit that more closely resembles a projected starting lineup and the new group quickly got Real Salt Lake on the board.
In the 50th minute, MF Sunday Stephen Obayan won the ball in the midfield and quickly played to MF Kyle Beckerman. He moved the ball to the right side to FW Juan Manuel Martinez, who played a quick pass to FW Joao Plata and Movsisyan in the box. Plata dummied the pass, running through to allow the ball to roll to Movsisyan and the newly minted RSL striker collected the pass with one touch before launching it into the net for his first goal of preseason and a 1-0 lead.
The defense held steady the rest of the way and created several near chances for RSL in the attack, but none were able to replicate the danger of Movsisyan’s opening salvo and Salt Lake held on for the 1-0 win.
Real Salt Lake’s next match is Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. MT at Kino Sports Complex against the New England Revolution. The match will be streamed live on RSL.com.
REAL SALT LAKE 1-0 SEONGNAM FC
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2016
Tucson, Arizona
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Seongnam FC 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Yura Movsisyan (Juan Manuel Martinez, Kyle Beckerman) 50’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Jeff Attinella; Boyd Okuwonu (Tony Beltran, 46’), Justen Glad (Jamison Olave, 46’), Phanuel Kavita (Jerry Akaminko, 46’), Chris Wingert (Demar Phillips, 46’); John Stertzer (Kyle Beckerman, 46’), Danilo Acosta (Sunday Stephen Obayan, 32’), Amass Amankona (Javier Morales, 46’); Emery Welshman (Juan Manuel Martinez, 46’), Olmes Garcia (Yura Movsisyan, 46’), Abdoulie Mansally (Joao Plata, 46’).
