RSL Loses Beckerman, Defeats Chivas

Real Salt Lake earned a 2-1 road win but lost Captain Kyle Beckerman to injury Saturday night at Chivas USA.

Real did not look great throughout the match and surely earned the ire of Coach Jason Kreis; however, the side did escape with a victory. Real is still perfect in May and on a four-match win streak.

“We’re on a pretty good run right now,” Chris Wingert said. “The management has done a good job of providing a lot of great players. We have more than 11 starters and that’s the key.”

Tainting the win is the early injury to Captain Kyle Beckerman, who went down with a foot sprain early in the match.

Scoring

Chris Wingert got on the board for the first time of his MLS career in the 45th minute. Javier Morales drove the ball down along the goal line and shot it past Chivas’ keeper. The ball struck the far post and shot out into the box. Wingert beat a Chivas player to the rebound and one-timed it into the net.

Justin Braun, a graduate of Utah’s Skyline High School, equalized the match in the 80th minute when he broke free of Nat Borchers at the top of the box. He turned and put the ball off Rimando’s outstretched hand and into the net.

Fabian Espindola scored on a breakaway in the 89th minute to give Real a 2-1 lead that they never relinquished. Andy Williams lobbed a ball from the backfield to Alvaro Saborio who touched it forward to a streaking Espindola. Espindola seemed to come out of thin air and was surprisingly behind the entire Chivas defense. He drove forward and put the ball past Chivas’ keeper for the game winner.

Game Notes

Real came into the match 1-7-1 all time at Chivas USA since both were MLS expansion teams in 2005.

Ned Grabavoy returned to the lineup and started in place of Will Johnson (who was in Argentina playing with the Canadian National Team).

Pablo Campos got the start with Alvaro Saborio up front. Espindola entered for Campos in the 78th minute. This was Espindola’s first appearance since his practice injury a few weeks back. He made an immediate impact with a great hustle play and earned a free kick by drawing a foul on a Chivas player. He also scored the game winner mentioned above.

Real played better than Chivas early but did not get a shot in the first 20 minutes. In contrast, Rimando had to make two diving saves in the same time period to keep the match 0-0.

Beckerman went off the field in the 19th minute with a left foot sprain. He was re-taped but was unable to get back into the match. Jean Alexandre subbed in for him in the 25th minute.

Andy Williams received a yellow card in the 40th minute for kicking through the ball and into Chivas’ Marcelo Saragosa. Saragosa had deliberately kicked Nick Rimando in the head earlier in the half.

Andy Williams was shaken up in 52nd minute when he took a hit to the head. He played the remainder of the match, but the Chivas player he collided with left immediately and went directly to the locker room.

RSL did not get many chances in the 1st half. I suspect they received a major tongue-lashing from Kreis at halftime. They seemed to have a lot more effort in the 2nd half.

Jean Alexandre received a yellow card in the 65th minute for a retaliation on an elbow taken by Saborio.

Nelson Gonzalez entered during stoppage time for Saborio to add a defensive presence.

Real’s 2nd road win on the season ties last season’s total road victories – a good sign that Real is improving on last season.

Man of the Match

Chris Wingert – he scored his first goal and played incredible defense. He made quite a few great plays that saved goals and put pressure on Chivas.

Tags: Beckerman, Campos, Chivas, Espindola, Road, Win, Wingert

Category: Game Review