Tucson, Arizona (Wednesday, February 19, 2020) – Real Salt Lake suffered its first defeat of preseason on Wednesday, falling 4-0 to the Houston Dynamo in the second match of the 2020 Visit Tucson Sun Cup at Kino North Stadium.
In a scoreless but chippy first half, both teams found opportunities to score late in the half. On one end, a Houston free kick from just outside the box found its way past RSL’s wall, but Zac MacMath made a diving save to keep the Dynamo off the board. Minutes later, Justin Meram led a break up the left side and found Giuseppe Rossi for a shot from close range, but Marko Maric made the point blank save and the match went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.
Houston scored in the 53rd minute on a goal from Mauro Manotas and extended the lead to 3-0 by the 68th minute with goals from Tommy McNamara and Niko Hansen. Douglas Martinez had a chance to get RSL on the scoreboard, but his effort in the 79th minute was tipped over the bar. Finally in the 81st minute, Christian Ramirez capped off the scoring to make it 4-0.
UP NEXT: Real Salt Lake closes out the 2020 Visit Tucson Sun Cup on Saturday against Phoenix Rising FC at Casino Arizona Field in Scottsdale, Arizona at 7 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed live on the KSLTV app.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
HOU: Mauro Manotas (Memo Rodriguez) 53rd minute – On a ball played in from the left wing, Mauro Manotas fired a first-time shot into the net for the 1-0 lead.
HOU: Tommy McNamara (Mauro Manotas), 60th minute – Houston played the ball through the midfield before finding Tommy McNamara at the edge of the 18. He curled a shot inside the far post to extend the Houston lead to 2-0.
HOU: Niko Hansen, 68th minute – Niko Hansen cut into the middle and lifted a shot into the corner to make it 3-0.
HOU: Christian Ramirez (Niko Hansen), 81st minute – Christian Ramirez got into space in the box and fired his shot into the net for the final 4-0 tally.
NOTES:
- Nine of the players who started on Saturday in RSL’s 0-0 draw with Sporting Kansas City did not see action on Wednesday. Justin Meram played 63 minutes while Zac MacMath played 90.
Match: Real Salt Lake vs. Houston Dynamo
Date: February 19, 2020
Venue: Kino Stadium; Tucson, Arizona
Weather: Mostly Sunny and 73
Scoring Summary:1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Houston Dynamo 0 4 4
HOU: Mauro Manotas (Memo Rodriguez) 53’
HOU: Tommy McNamara (Mauro Manotas) 60’
HOU: Niko Hansen 68’
HOU: Christian Ramirez (Niko Hansen) 81’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1) – Zac MacMath; Alvin Jones, Taylor Peay, Erik Holt, Ashtone Morgan (Christopher Garcia 85’); Everton Luiz, Nick Besler; Maikel Chang (Douglas Martinez 63’), Pablo Ruiz (Luis Arriaga 71’), Justin Meram (Julian Vazquez 63’); Giuseppe Rossi (Milan Iloski 71’).
Houston Dynamo: Marko Marić; Adam Lundkvist (Sam Junqua 58), Maynor Figueroa (Kyle Adams 46), Alejandro Fuenmayor (Victor Cabrera 72), Jose Bizama (Zarek Valentin 46); Matías Vera (Isidro Martinez), Boniek García (C) (Niko Hansen), Tomás Martínez (Marcelo Palomino 64); Memo Rodriguez (Michael Salazar 72), Mauro Manotas (Christian Ramirez 72), Tommy McNamara (Darwin Ceren 69)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
HOU: Memo Rodriguez (Caution) 18’
