RSL Academy Fall in Tightly-Contested Match

The Real Salt Lake Academy U-15 continued group play of the Augsburg Whitsun Tournament, hosted by FC Augsburg, with a 1-0 loss to Italian powerhouse, Juventus FC. 

Off the first whistle Karlos Flores looked to score another goal within the opening minute, but his solo run was stopped just shy of the penalty area. Then, just three minutes later a thunderstorm forced the game into a weather delay. Coming out of the break the game clock was reset to zero. 

The two sides traded blows back and forth, neither putting up too dangerous of an opportunity early in the first half. In the tenth minute Omar Marquez nearly opened things up on the break away, but his shot skipped inches wide of the left post. He almost did it again, but the Juventus defender was able to stick a foot out and block his shot. The Italian side aggressively pushed forward, but RSL was able to thwart their advances, ending the first half deadlocked at 0-0. 

RSL started the second half with a string of dangerous opportunities, but the defense was able to break up the shots inside the penalty box. In the 33rd minute Juventus netted the eventual game winner. After being awarded a free kick just outside the box, Juventus banged in a shot which bounced around the box, before eventually getting tapped in. The Claret-and-Cobalt were awarded a few chances, with seconds left on the clock, but were unable to equalize, ending the match with a 1-0 loss. 

The Real Salt Lake Academy have one game remaining in the group stage of the tournament against Young Boys from Switzerland at 10:00 a.m. MT. Based on results of the final game the teams will be sorted into placement matches for Sunday.