REAL SALT LAKE FALLS 3-0 AT PORTLAND
PORTLAND, Oregon (Sat., July 13, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (12-4-7 / 43 points / t-1st West) fell at Portland Timbers 3-0 to kick off this week’s three-match road trip. The loss marks the first time in 129 days that RSL has failed to collect points on the road, putting an end to the second-longest road unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer history (10 Matches).
The Claret-and-Cobalt were on the back foot from the start, conceding its fastest goal in all competitions this year as Felipe Mora scored just 118 seconds into the affair. Despite enjoying more than 65% of possession and more than doubling Portland in passing (350-173) in the first half, Head Coach Pablo Mastroenis’s side hit the locker room down 1-0.
Coming out for the second 45, lightning struck twice for Portland as it, once again, scored within three minutes of the referee’s whistle to begin play. Fighting to get on the board, 21-year-old Kingston, Jamaica-born attacking midfielder **Matthew Bell** was substituted on in the 71st minute to make his Major League Soccer debut. The first-round draft selection from Marshall impressed in his 19 minutes, collecting a team-high two key passes en route to completing 11 of 12 attempts.
RSL’s most threatening opportunity came in the 75th minute, when RSL Captain and MLS Golden Boot leader **Chicho Arango** rose up to win a header in the center of the box, his attempt clipping the woodwork and deflecting out of play, denying the Colombian countryman a spot in the RSL history books - his next goal will break the franchise’s single-season goal mark (17 - Saborio, 2012).
Portland would go on to cement its victory with a 90th-minute dagger from Evander. Despite the 3-0 loss, RSL remains tied for first place in the Western Conference with 43 points - matching both LA Galaxy and LAFC - maintaining the West’s best goal differential (+18) ahead of road matchups with LAFC and Colorado on Wednesday and Saturday. Following the road trip, RSL will kick off its 2024 Leagues Cup campaign on August 1 against Atlas FC (Liga MX) at America First Field.
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
POR - 2’ - Felipe Mora (Santiago Moreno): Just settling into the match in the second minute, Portland slowly advanced down the right side of the RSL attacking third. With the ball at Santiago Moreno’s feet, he played a one-two with Juan Mosquera that sent him deep into the corner. His defender slipping, Mora quickly turned and played a low ball across the face of goal with pace. Rushing the near post, Felipe Mora got to it first and deposited the point-blank tap-in with his right foot. The goal is the fastest conceded by RSL this season in all competitions, coming just one week after Matt Crooks scored the fourth-fastest goal in Real Salt Lake history (0:43).
POR - 48’ - Santiago Moreno (Jonathan Rodríguez): In a deja vu moment, Portland came out from the halftime break and scored within three minutes of starting play for the second time. Mosquera advanced up the right wing before playing a high, curling cross to the head of Jonathan Rodríguez at the far side of the box. Rodríguez’s header flew towards the corner of the net before Zac MacMath saved it back into play. Kicked back across the face of goal in the traffic of the box, it came once again to Rodríguez on the left side of the box who then lofted a short cross to the center of the box for Evander. Rising up, Evander cleverly headed it downwards to Moreno who blasted a one-time shot on the half volley into the back of the net.
POR - 90’ - Evander (Antony): Adding insult to injury, Portland cemented their win with a third goal in the 90th minute. As Antony controlled it on the right side of the midfield, he broke through with a dribble move to find himself streaking at goal with velocity. Reaching the box as he drew the attention of multiple defenders, Antony calmly laid off to Evander at the top of the box. He took one touch and struck it with his left, narrowly beating MacMath to the near post with a well-placed ball.
NOTES FROM RSL 0 : 3 PORTLAND TIMBERS
- Chicho Arango is shut out and remains at 17 goals this season, tied for the franchise single-season record set by Alvaro Saborio more than a decade ago in 2012. RSL’s captain needs just one goal in the final 11 reg. season games this year to break and claim sole possession of the all-time single-season RSL scoring mark.
- Veteran RSL FW Anderson Julio notched his 100th career MLS regular-season appearance with the Claret-and-Cobalt tonight, just a few matches after teammate Andrew Brody previously surpassed the century mark.
- First-round MLS draft pick 21-year-old Matthew Bell, a Jamaican international selected from Marshall University, subs on in the 71st minute to make his MLS debut. In his 19 minutes, Bell collected a team-high two key passes. Bell is now the seventh debutant for RSL this year at the MLS level (Fidel Barajas, Matt Crooks, Noel Caliskan, Alex Katranis, Philip Quinton and Tommy Silva) and the 211th player to see MLS action in RSL’s 20-year, 637-game history.
- Felipe Mora’s goal for Portland just 118 seconds into the match is now the fastest goal conceded by RSL this season, unseating Indiana Vassilev’s (STL) third-minute strike against the Claret-and-Cobalt in the 3-1 victory over St. Louis on March 30.
- FW Andrés Gómez was booked tonight for the fifth time this season, and will miss Wednesday’s LAFC trip as he serves a caution accumulation suspension; Chicho Arango and Emeka Eneli were also booked tonight, placing each of them on the precipice of suspension, each just one caution away from the disciplinary procedure
