After a demoralizing 3-1 defeat at the hands of rocky mountain-rival Colorado Rapids Saturday, Real Salt Lake came home to Rio Tinto Stadium and redeemed themselves with a 1-0 victory against the LA Galaxy and former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard in quarterfinal matchup in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
In a game without much dangerous possession around either six-yard box, RSL defender Aaron Maund was able to break the deadlock in the 87th minute with a snap-down header thanks to a nice curled-in ball from Javier Morales.
RSL Succeeds Against Brightest Stars
Tuesday’s win was just the next step in a line of decent results for RSL against some of Major League Soccer’s brightest new stars from the great pillars of world soccer. Names such as Gerrard, Ricardo Kaka, David Villa and Sebastian Giovinco have all graced the turf at Rio Tinto, and all but one were sent home with a loss (the lone survivor being Kaka whose Orlando City SC side escaped with a 1-1 draw on Independence Day).
Let’s begin with Tuesday’s defeat of the Galaxy. After sitting the first 45 minutes on the bench, Gerrard started the second half for Los Angeles but was less than impressive in his first match against MLS competition. Gerrard’s best chance to put his stamp on the game came in the 54th minute when he had a breakaway run leading to a 1-on-1 opportunity against backup RSL keeper Jeff Attinella. Gerrard put in a downward shot towards the right post but Attinella was able to get down quickly and put a hand on it.
After that Gerrard was able to put in a few dangerous through balls to fellow forward Robbie Keane, but he was flagged offside on numerous occasions. Gerrard had one last chance to equalize in stoppage time with a free kick about 10 yards outside of RSL’s penalty box, but the service was less than stellar as Attinella was able to snag it out of the air and preserve the 1-0 victory for the claret and cobalt.
Back on July 4th, Ricardo Kaka was able to put in the most productive performance of a former European superstar in Rio Tinto Stadium. In just the 4th minute, Kaka was able to slip through two RSL defenders and slot home a curling shot past Attinella to take an early lead for the visitors. Unfortunately for Kaka, his night would end in the 45th minute when he was shown the first straight red card of his illustrious career for stomping on Javier Morales after tackling him from behind. RSL was unable to take advantage of an extra man in the second half as they drew Orlando City 1-1.
Rewind several weeks back to May 23rd when Jason Kreis made his return to Salt Lake City with NYCFC and Spaniard superstar David Villa in tow. Villa didn’t do much throughout the night, but what he did do was dangerous. He nearly recorded an assist early in the first half when his free kick found the foot of Mix Diskerud who pinged a curling shot off of the crossbar. Later, Villa went for goal in the late stages of the first half, narrowly missing the top right corner of Nick Rimando’s goal. Finally, Villa nearly put his squad back in the game when he found space in the penalty box and laid a perfectly weighted ball across to Andrew Jacobsen who fired a shot just wide of the left post. Villa and company were not able to challenge Rimando enough as they left Salt Lake City with a 2-0 defeat.
Finally, we look back to the first month of the season when Toronto FC and former Juventus striker Sebastian Giovinco came to town on March 29th. Like Gerrard, Giovinco had his best chance to score with a 1-on-1 opportunity against Attinella. And, like Gerrard, Giovinco was stonewalled by the backup keeper. The “Atomic Ant” was far from done though. In the 71st minute Giovinco whipped in a free kick that found the knee of teammate Benoit Cheyrou, only to find the chest of Attinella. Giovinco’s final chance came in the 78th minute when he stung a knuckling free kick towards the far post. Again, Attinella came up big with a save that helped RSL on their way to a 2-1 victory.
Perhaps unfortunately for RSL, their next match against a superstar-led team won’t be until September 19th when the very same LA Galaxy squad roll in for an MLS showdown with their brand new weapon in Giovanni Dos Santos (who was officially signed Tuesday night just after their defeat at the hands of RSL). Can RSL continue this string of results against the best players the league has to offer?
