Refreshed Real Salt Lake Defeats San Jose At Rio Tinto Stadium
Jun 18, 2022, 9:30 PM
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
SANDY, Utah – After a week off, Real Salt Lake looked refreshed and it showed with a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Real Salt Lake picked up goals from Marcelo Silva and Jefferson Savarino, while Zac McMath secured the clean sheet over San Jose.
In the first 15 minutes of the match, RSL had two really good chances to get a goal early. The first one was an overplayed ball in the box that the striker couldn’t get to in time. Shortly after, Sergio Cordova had a chance in the box but the ball was deflected out of bounds by the San Jose defender. Finally, on the corner kick following Cordova’s chance, the header opportunity missed slightly.
The attack opportunities kept coming as Tate Schmitt served the ball into the box but it was too high for Cordova to get a foot on the ball. In the 20th minute, Bobby Wood suffered an injury and Pablo Mastroeni was forced to use one of his five substitutions in the first half. Rubio Rubin came on for the injured Wood.
After multiple opportunities, the Claret and Cobalt found the back of the net in the 22nd minute when Jefferson Savarino’s corner kick skipped through traffic to Marcelo Silva, who found the back of the net in the bottom left side. It’s the second goal of the season for the RSL captain, giving the home side a 1-0 lead.
Marcelo Silva gets #RSL on the board first.
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 19, 2022
Just before halftime, Savarino had a goal but it was called back due to being offside. RSL took a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
The attacking mindset came out in the second half for RSL. Rubin had a clear shot on goal that deflected off the goalkeeper. Sergio Cordova had a shot off the rebound that was also collected by the San Jose keeper.
The next 20 minutes was quiet when it came to chances as both teams continued to fight for possession in the midfield. Pablo Mastroeni elected to use two substitutions for the defensive midfield, bringing in Everton Luiz and Nick Besler for Jasper Loffelsend and Scott Caldwell in the 76th minute.
In the 81st minute, Savarino re-opened his MLS account with a beautiful strike that deflected off the far post and went into the back of the net, giving RSL a 2-0 lead.
Jefferson Savarino re-opened his MLS account with a beautiful goal. It’s 2-0 #RSL
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 19, 2022
Mastroeni’s final two substitutions came right after the goal with Maikel Chang and Anderson Julio replacing Cordova and Savarino. RSL was able to hold off San Jose in the final minutes of the match.
With the win, Real Salt Lake added three points to their total of 28 points on the season. They will return to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, June 25 against the Columbus Crew at 8:00 PM MT on KSLSports.com, the KSL TV app and the KSL Sports app.
