Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Real Salt Lake entered Saturday night's match with Montreal having tallied 30 of their 34 points at Rio Tinto Stadium. Knowing that road matches were looming this week at LAFC and Houston, three points were a must.
Instead, RSL was only able to muster a 26th minute penalty kick goal from Joao Plata in their 1-1 draw with Montreal.
Real Salt Lake outplayed the Impact for much of the match but were unable to solve Montreal keeper Evan Bush, who came up with five big saves against the RSL attack. Montreal got the equalizer in the 55th minute from defender Jukka Raitala, who scored his first goal in Major League Soccer.
Here are My Hat Trick of Thoughts on Real Salt Lake and Montreal:
A Match of Missed Chances
Real Salt Lake outplayed Montreal for much of the match, and certainly created more goal scoring chances. Much credit goes to Montreal keeper Bush, but there were certainly goals to be had for RSL. The best chance might have come on a set piece/corner kick when Albert Rusnak lofted a perfect ball to Kyle Beckerman, who found himself alone at the top of the six yard box. Beckerman's diving header went wide of an open goal.
Early in the season Real Salt Lake struggled to create enough chances, now those chances are being created but not being finished. As a result, Saturday night was a single point instead of three points at home.
Marcelo was Missed
While the match result was one point in the draw, the game could very easily have been a loss for RSL. Montreal missed on a number of chances because of heavy and poor touches. The biggest reason for those opportunities for the Impact came from their ability to get in behind the RSL backline, namely the centerbacks. Justin Glad and Nick Besler were exposed on a number of runs from Ignacio Piatti, Alejandro Silva, Matteo Mancuso and Quincy Amarikwa.
Whether it was the heat and smoke or a lack of playing time together in back, something was amiss. In addition, Marcelo Silva wasn't in the starting lineup or among the reserves, and after the match Mike Petke didn't go into great detail about why. One thing is for certain though: If RSL wants to have any shot at getting points on the road Wednesday night against LAFC, (one of Major League Soccer's most potent attacks), they'll need a better effort from the backline.
Plata's Play Continues to be Stellar
A month ago he saw himself relegated to the bench in favor of Sebastian Saucedo and saw his name in trade talks. As a response, Plata has stepped up his play and the result has been outstanding soccer. Plata has tallied 4 goals and 2 assists in less than a month of matches. Saturday night he converted on a penalty kick set up by his work inside the penalty area. Right now Plata is making Petke's choice in the attack an easy one on a weekly basis: start No. 10.
Competition is one heck of a motivator.
* * *
It will be a busy week for Petke's team: Wednesday night in Los Angeles against LAFC, and Saturday night in Houston against the Dynamo. You can catch my broadcast Wednesday night at 8:00 on ESPN 700.
