Real Salt Lake 1 at Houston Dynamo 5
May 31, 2017; Houston, Texas; BBVA Compass Stadium
Real Salt Lake (4-9-2, 14 points); Houston Dynamo (7-5-2, 23 points)
Man of the Match: Joao Plata had the goal – his second in two matches – but Jefferson Savarino provided the biggest offensive boost. In the first half, he put all four of his shots on target and was aggressive going forward throughout the match. He added a chance created as well, but it wasn’t enough to stage a comeback at any point in the match.
Telling Stat: The road hasn’t been kind to RSL this season, dropping to 1-6-1 this season while being outscored 20-5 away from home. It’s still a process to get to where Head Coach Mike Petke wants to be, but even he was at a loss for words after the match and couldn’t find many positives to take from the lopsided defeat.
What You Missed: This game would have been much closer in the early-going if not for some tremendous saves from Tyler Deric. The Houston goalkeeper made five first-half saves and none were particularly routine. Any one of those could have changed the momentum at 1-0 or 2-0, but when Houston scored a third just before halftime it took some of the life out of RSL.
So What: Real Salt Lake remains away to face FC Dallas on Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. In addition to the absences of Nick Rimando with the U.S. National Team and Justen Glad, Brooks Lennon, Danny Acosta and Sebastian Saucedo with the U.S. U-20 National Team, RSL will also lose Jefferson Savarino to international duty. He will seek his first cap with Venezuela on Saturday against the U.S. National Team at Rio Tinto Stadium.
