A Tale Of The Final Third
Real Salt Lake dropped a 1 – 0 result against Colorado Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
A hodge podge of an RSL lineup were unable to cope with a stalwart Colorado defense. The side still will retain the Rocky Mountain Cup, having won the season series 2-1.
Justin Braun saw his first start for the Claret and Cobalt. He showed remarkably well for someone who has been on the bench for most of the season. Braun was responsible for the most dangerous ball in the first half. Jonny Steele played the ball in from the left wing into the box and Braun got a diving header to it. A beautiful chance was only denied by a beautiful stop from Matt Pickens.
Colorado maintained pressure for the first half and capitalized in the 38th minute. A sloppy clearance fell to Nane who had all the time in the world to set up a shot that pinged off the crossbar into the goal.
The beginning of the second half saw Saborio exit the game to have Fabian Espindola come in. Sabo got his first meaningful rest in a few weeks.
The final third was the big let down for RSL in Denver. One good chance in the first half and another in the second were both missed. Morales got the ball at his feet with an almost free net in front of him but Drew Moor was able to close the door and managed a spin to stop the follow-up shot.
Emiliano Bonfigli and Will Johnson replaced Braun and Steele respectively but did not see much action for the last half hour of the game. The Rapids were able to force RSL into one-on-one battles that stopped any meaningful attack on goal.
The take away from this game was that sloppy first touches lead to nothing. RSL will need to fix that verses a more than competent Vancouver this coming week
Category: Game Review
