MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Duels To 1-1 Draw With San Jose

Published on July 4, 2009 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah -- A costly own goal from Chris Leitch in stoppage time allowed Real Salt Lake to salvage a 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday night. Any expectations RSL entertained of claiming three points at home against San Jose quickly melted away under a flurry of bad touches and missed shots. But the Earthquakes came up a bigger mistake to cost themselves a shot at their first road victory of the season.

The Earthquakes had taken the lead on an Arturo Alvarez goal in the 63rd minute, and playing shorthanded seemed to have finally caught up to Real Salt Lake after Fabian Espindola was sent off in the 77th minute. But RSL got the fortunate break to grab the late tie.

San Jose proved to be more aggressive on the attack in the early minutes. While RSL struggled to make connecting passes from the midfield, the Earthquakes pushed forward into Real's half with relative ease.

That tenacity nearly paid off in the seventh minute when Alvarez crossed the ball to Ryan Johnson on the right wing. Johnson got his head under it well enough to get off a shot, but his attempt sailed high over the crossbar.

RSL did not get its first shot of the half until the 22nd minute. Javier Morales swung a corner kick out to Espindola deep in the area. Espindola had more than enough space to operate and uncorked a clean header, but his shot sailed too high above the crossbar to pose much of a threat.

The best chance for RSL to get something done came in the 36th minute thanks to some deft passing between Espindola and Yura Movsisyan.

From the left side of the midfield circle, Espindola slotted the ball to Movsisyan. Initially, the ball went past him but Movsisyan recovered and backtracked to the ball. He latched onto it and sent it forward to a streaking Espindola.

With just 'keeper Joe Cannon to beat, Espindola appeared to be in prime position to put the Claret-and-Cobalt on the board. But Cannon successfully challenged the Real striker and abruptly blocked the ball as Espindola tried to go around him.

San Jose nearly broke the scoreless slugfest in the 49th minute. Pablo Campos dribbled around Nat Borchers just outside the 6-yard box and unleashed a low right-footer once he got a clear look. RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando stretched out at the near post and snatched up Campos' shot to make a crucial save.

Espindola nearly put RSL on the board a pair of times as the half wore on.

He crossed into the goalmouth in the 57th minute, forcing Cannon to tip the ball over the crossbar and set up the first of three consecutive corner kicks over the next three minutes for the Utah side.

Then Espindola got loose and penetrated down the left side of the area in the 60th minute. He unleashed a hard left-footed shot that sailed high by a few inches.

The Earthquakes finally went up 1-0 in the 63rd minute when Campos fed a streaking Alvarez in the central area. Alvarez threaded the ball perfectly between Rimando and the right post to finally give San Jose the advantage.

RSL struggled to find a response. Cannon came up big just two minutes later when Morales struck a bending free kick around the wall, but Cannon dove beautifully to his left to make the save.

Then in the 74th minute on a corner kick, Morales swung the ball into a crowd of players along the top of the 6-yard box. Findley got his head under it, but his shot ended up being too high to seriously challenge Cannon in the net.

Things went from bad to worse for RSL in the 77th minute. Espindola was sent off with a red card when he retaliated on a tackle made by Brandon McDonald by taking him down with a leg sweep. Not only did it put Real down a man, but they also lost the player who had been creating most of their chances.

The red card was the culmination of heated tempers that had been boiling over in the few minutes leading up to that point. McDonald himself had been issued a yellow card only a couple minutes earlier after making a reckless tackle.

A seeming defeat for RSL was reversed in the first minute of stoppage time when Leitch tried to knock the ball away from Morales at the edge of the San Jose penalty area and instead ended up poking it past Cannon and inside the post into his own net.

Real nearly came up with the victory in the final minute of injury time as Robbie Findley got through the defense and by Cannon, but Jason Hernandez was able to get back and clear the ball off the line to preserve the draw for San Jose.

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Major League Soccer Stories from July 4, 2009


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