The New York Red Bulls fell to Real Salt Lake, 3-0, Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. The loss dropped New York to 6-6-12 this season, as it stayed on 30 points and maintained a third place tie with Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference.
The Red Bulls’ next match is on Saturday, Aug. 13, when they face Eastern Conference rival, the Chicago Fire, at Red Bull Arena at 7:30 PM (TV: MSG). For tickets, call 1.877.RBSOCCER or log onto www.newyorkredbulls.com.
New York tested goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the seventh minute. Thierry Henry gathered possession and drove towards goal before sliding it to Juan Agudelo, whose chip was parried away by Rimando. Six minutes later, Real Salt Lake’s Andy Williams tried to catch Frank Rost off of his line after a Rost corner kick clearance, but the German goalkeeper dove to his right to poke the attempt out of bounds.
Despite Rost’s efforts, the hosts took the lead on the ensuing play. Defender Nat Borchers was the first to Kyle Beckerman’s in-swinging corner kick delivery and he headed it in from the six yard box.
Real Salt Lake doubled its lead a minute from halftime. Beckerman was again involved, knocking it to an on-rushing Luis Gil. Gil had enough space to hit a low shot from outside of the box that beat Rost and settled inside the far netting.
The Red Bulls made two changes at halftime with Stephen Keel replacing Dax McCarty and Bouna Coundoul coming in for Rost, who left the game with a right quadriceps injury. New York had chances, with defender Roy Miller shooting just by the right post and Agudelo getting free on a corner kick and flashing his header off target.
Real Salt Lake sealed the win in the 77th minute when New York’s Roy Miller was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty box. Alvaro Saborio stepped up and put his spot kick past Coundoul to finish the scoring.
Midfielder Dane Richards missed Saturday’s match, serving a one-game red card suspension, while Teemu Tainio sat out due to flu-like symptoms after traveling with the team to Salt Lake City.
Scoring Summary:
RSL: Nat Borchers 2 (Kyle Beckerman 6) 13’
RSL: Luis Gil 1 (Kyle Beckerman 7) 44’
RSL: Alvaro Saborio 6 (penalty kick) 77’
Disciplinary Summary:
NY: Rafa Marquez (caution) 76’
RSL: Will Johnson (caution) 84’
New York Red Bulls (6-6-12, 30 pts.) – Frank Rost (GK) (Bouna Coundoul 46’), Chris Albright, Rafa Marquez, Tim Ream, Roy Miller, Jan Gunnar Solli (John Rooney 69’), Mehdi Ballouchy, Dax McCarty (Stephen Keel 46’), Joel Lindpere, Juan Agudelo, Thierry Henry
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler Lassiter, Matt Kassel, Corey Hertzog
Real Salt Lake (10-5-6, 36 pts.) – Nick Rimando (GK), Robbie Russell, Nat Borchers, Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams (Arturo Alvarez 82’), Kyle Beckerman, Luis Gil (Collen Warner 67’), Will Johnson (Jean Alexandre 87’), Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola
Substitutes Not Used:Tim Melia (GK), Chris Agorsor, Tony Beltran, Rauwshan McKenzie
Referee: Elias Bazakos
Referee’s Assistants: Ian Anderson, Eric Boria
4th Referee: Tyler Ploeger
Attendance: 19,081
