SANDY, Utah – Twice Real Salt Lake took the lead against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. Twice those leads were wiped away in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw.
That fact, plus a red card handed to youngster Jordan Allen for a studs-up challenge late in the game that put the brakes on a possible rally, had RSL admitting the season is still a work in progress.
“We’re not there yet,” RSL head coach Jeff Cassar said in his postgame comments. “We’re not there as a team, in both facets at the same time. I think we’re getting better. We’re getting fitter, but we’re doing things that you can lose games on. We need to correct that in a hurry.”
RSL took a 1-0 lead on an Olmes Garcia goal on a perfectly executed set-piece play and then went up 2-1 on a Sebastian Jaime goal in the first minute of the second half. But the visitors equalized on two separate occasions, thanks in part to defenses lapses by RSL.
Hector Jimenez was able to thread a cross through several RSL defenders in the box for a Tony Tchani goal in the 42nd minute. And then Federico Higuain had plenty of space to send a cross from the right wing to the far post for an Ethan Finlay equalizer in the 62nd minute. The Allen red in the 77th minute was RSL’s third in just the last two games.
“[We’re] not doing ourselves any favors,” RSL midfielder Luke Mulholland said in the locker room postgame. “Red cards are obviously a big concern, and then tonight as well the second goal mimicked the first goal. Obviously there are going to be times when the opposing team gets in dangerous positions, but once that happens, we’ve got to mark, get tight and not have an easy tap-in.”
RSL started the match bright, narrowly missing a couple of close calls within the first few minutes. They even got on the board first through an innovative set-piece play that seemed to come straight off the schoolyard.
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Mulholland played the ball to captain Kyle Beckerman who played a clever chip to forward Joao Plata. Plata sent a header across the face of goal to a charging Garcia who slotted the ball home.
“All credit to the coaches for that one,” Mulholland said. “We’ve practiced that a few times, last year and then this year. It was Kyle that suggested doing it then and there on the field. So we tried it, and it came off. First time trying it, and it came off. So I think it was all surprises, with each other, that it happened.”
Despite the positives, RSL’s chance for a second win in their last three games went by the boards.
“If you start giving them opportunities to score,” Cassar said, “whether it’s not keeping 11 men on the field, PKs or poor choices, It’s going to come back to haunt you, and it did today.”
Tyler Gray covers Real Salt Lake for MLSsoccer.com.
