Kansas City, KS (Saturday, April 29, 2017) – Real Salt Lake (2-5-2 8pts) couldn’t find the back of the net against the staunch defense of Sporting Kansas City, falling 3-0 at a rainy Children’s Mercy Park.
Dealing with a plethora of injuries, RSL fell early when Sporting’s Benny Feilhaber curled a wonderful shot off of RSL GK Matt VanOekel’s far post in the 17th minute.
As the game’s physicality grew, the Claret-and-Cobalt couldn’t find the equalizer while they held the better of the possession in the final 15 minutes of the first half.
Sporting doubled itslead just six minutes into the second half through striker Dom Dwyer, who found the ball at his feet with acres of space and a goal mouth to aim at as he stung the shot past VanOekel.
Sporting found its third and final goal in the 95th minute as RSL pressed to find a goal as Gerso Fernandes poked into the open net as DF Chris Wingert tried to close down the shot.
VanOekel finished the match with four saves as he was kept busy throughout the night.
RSL pressed Sporting through the remainder of the second half and came close on several occasions but wasn’t able to find the goals they needed to take points away from Children’s Mercy Park.
RSL now sits 2-2-0 since Head Coach Mike Petke took over.
UP NEXT: The Claret-and-Cobalt returns home to take on Western Conference opponent FC Dallas (7:30 pm MT kickoff) at Rio Tinto Stadium. This will be the first meeting between the two sides in 2017 and will be the return of longtime RSL MF Javier Morales. RSL and FC Dallas played to a deadlocked 1-1-1 series in 2016.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
SKC – Benny Feilhaber (Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza), 17th minute: A beautifully chipped ball from Espinoza found Zusi at the corner of the area. Zusi then played a short pass to an onrushing Feilhaber who curled a wonderfully-weighted shot off the far post and past RSL goalkeeper Matt VanOekel.
SKC – Dom Dwyer, 52nd minute: A floated ball into the defensive third of RSL fell to the feet of Dwyer, who shook his defender and calmly slotted home the game’s second goal from just outside the penalty area.
SKC – Gerso Fernandes (Soony Saad) 90+5th minute: A scrum in the box led to the ball at the feet of Fernandes as RSL goalkeeper Matt VanOekel tried to close down the shot. Fernandes evaded VanOekel and poked home into the open net for the game’s third goal.
KEY SAVES AND DEFENSIVE STOPS:
SKC – Seth Sinovic, 14th minute: As RSL was sustaining possession in the attacking half, RSL MF Brooks Lennon found himself in position to deliver a cross. Sinovic closed down the space and deflected the attempted cross out for a corner kick.
SKC – Tim Melia, 30th minute: RSL FW Joao Plata attempted a curling shot bound for the back post. Melia read the shot and collected the ball kindly to make the save.
RSL – Matt Van Oekel, 59th minute: A through ball from midfield sent Dom Dwyer in on goal against RSL GK Matt Van Oekel. He came off his line to make himself a presence and as Dwyer attempted a chipped shot towards the back post, Van Oekel unconventionally headed the attempt away from danger.
RSL – Matt VanOekel and Chris Schuler, 64th minute: Sporting midfielder Gerso Fernandes took Schuler one-on-one towards goal. Schuler did well to drive Fernandes towards the near post as VanOekel closed down the angle, sliding low to his left to knock the ball away.
RSL – Matt VanOekel, 75th minute: A through ball from just outside the penalty area was directed for SKC striker Dom Dwyer. The 50/50 ball was won by a sliding Van Oekel who beat Dwyer to the ball to punch it away.
RSL – Matt VanOekel, 84th minute: SKC striker Dom Dwyer found the ball on his left foot and decided to try and find his second goal of the match as he aimed at the far post. VanOekel was up to the task as he dove low to his left to parry the shot around the post for a corner kick.
NOTES:
- DF Chris Wingert served as captain in place of injured MF Kyle Beckerman (calf). Beckerman joined an injury report that included GK Nick Rimando (hamstring), DF Justen Glad (knee), DF Tony Beltran (calf), DF David Horst (knee), FW Jordan Allen (hamstring) and FW Chad Barrett (knee).
- FW Ricardo Velazco and DF Aaron Maund played on loan with Real Monarchs on Saturdayin a 2-1 win over Swope Park Rangers. Both players started with Maund going 60 minutes and Valezco going the full 90 minutes with the Monarchs.
- MF Sunny returned to the lineup after missing several weeks with a hamstring injury.
- Sporting’s 3-0 win against RSL was their first win against RSL in seven regular season matches against the Claret-and-Cobalt.
Match: Real Salt Lake at Sporting Kansas City
Date: April 29, 2017
Venue: Children’s Mercy Park; Kansas City, Kansas
Attendance: 18,648
Weather: Rain and 46 degrees
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Sporting Kansas City 1 2 3
SKC – Benny Feilhaber (Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza) 17’
SKC – Dom Dwyer (Matt Besler) 51’
SKC – Gerso Fernandes (Soony Saad) 90+5’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Matt VanOekel; Danilo Acosta (Sebastian Saucedo 71’), Chris Wingert, Chris Schuler, Demar Phillips; Luke Mulholland (Jose Hernandez 85’), Sunny, Albert Rusnak; Brooks Lennon, Joao Plata, Yura Movsisyan (Luis Silva 60’)
Subs not used: Lalo Fernandez, Reagan Dunk, Justin Schmidt, Omar Holness,
Sporting Kansas City: (4-3-3): Tim Melia; Graham Zusi, Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Roger Espinoza (Soni Mustivar 71’), Illie Sanchez, Benny Feilhaber; Gerso Fernandez, Jimmy Medranda (Daniel Salloi 79’), Dominic Dwyer (Soony Saad 90+1’)
Subs not used: Adrian Zendejas, Kevin Ellis, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Latif Blessing
Stats Summary: SKC/RSL
Shots: 10 / 14
Shots on Goal: 7 / 2
Saves: 2 / 4
Corner Kicks: 6 / 6
Fouls: 7 / 15
Offside: 4 / 3
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL – Luke Mulholland (caution) 39’
SKC – Benny Feilhaber (caution) 49’
RSL – Demar Phillips (caution) 51’
RSL – Yura Movsisyan (caution) 55’
SKC – Roger Espinoza (caution) 55’
SKC – Graham Zusi (caution) 69’
SKC – Gerso Fernandez (caution) 84’
RSL – Brooks Lennon (caution) 85’
OFFICIALS:
Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero
Assistant Referees: Anthony Vasoli, Jose Da Silva
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
