FC Dallas have had their way with Real Salt Lake this season. First it was the 2-2 draw in which Carlos Ruiz headed home a loose ball in front of the net in the dying seconds of the game stealing a road point and leaving the RSL fans dissapointed after Jeff Cunningham had an impressive double. Then the two teams met in May in Frisco where Chris Gbandi's stunning goal gave the Hoops a 2-1 win over Jason Kreis' RSL. Since then, Jeff Cunningham has been shipped north of the border to Toronto in exchange for Alecko Eskandarian. RSL have yet to win a game, but their 6 draws have kept them tied for last in the West, and the league, with the Galaxy with 6 points. FC Dallas currently lead the West, but they'll want 3 points to keep off a surging Houston to whom they lost to two weeks ago.
Without Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz on international duty, and dynamic striker Kenny Cooper with a broken leg, FC Dallas would look to Juan Toja, Abe Thompson, and Dominic Oduro for goals, all of whom had found the net this season. Jason Kreis in need of a win put out a new formation with Eskandarian playing the lone striker and Adu and Klein supporting him on the wings. Nick Rimando had shaken off his poor start to the season and has posted two shutouts of Eastern Conference teams on the road in his last two games.
The game began with Dallas in total control of possesion. Arturo Alvarez was having his way with Willis Forko on the right wing, Alvarez had 6 shots on the night. He created a number of quality chances that Rimando did well to keep out of the net. Salt Lake's best chance of the first half came when Alecko Eskandarian chose to take a long range shot that was batted away by Dario Sala instead of playing the ball to Freddy Adu who had space and likely was the best option on the play. Whether Eskandarian thought he would surprise Sala, or he just thought he could place the shot well enough, neither happened and it led to frustration from Freddy Adu and the fans at the stadium.
Halftime Score: RSL - 0 FCD - 0
The second half started with some inspired play by Salt Lake. RSL had much of the possesion and some quality chances were created. RSL's best chance of the night came when Andy Williams whipped in a beautiful cross to Eskandarian who vollied it but it was kicked away by Sala on just one of his spectacular saves on the night. Later in the half Freddy Adu broke free on the wing, took it down the endline and blasted a shot which Dario Sala deflected away. With stoppage time drawing nearer and a 0-0 draw looming, Atiba Harris attacked the goal and was brought down by Clarence Goodson at the top of the 18, the referee ruled no foul. The no-call shook Jason Kreis from his usual concentrated demeanor and his loss of composure caused referee Ricardo Salazar to eject him from the match. This was after Alecko Eskandarian and Marcelo Saragosa got into a shoving match in the middle of the field. The 16,000 fans who showed up to support RSL were upset as they seemed to be on their way to a 3rd straight 0-0 draw, but this time at home. But things turned from bad to worse deep into stoppage time where Dario Sala sent a long ball down the field in hope of forcing a mistake by the RSL defense, the punt was headed on by Marcelo Saragosa, collected by Dominic Oduro, and then blasted past RSL kepper Nick Rimando. The goal marked the second time this season RSL have lost points to FC Dallas at home in stoppage time.
Final Score: FCD - 1 RSL - 0
Attendance: 16, 278
No comments:
Post a Comment