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MLS Real Salt Lake

RSL Falls 4-1 to Santos Laguna in XanGo Cup 2008

July 10, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SALT LAKE CITY (Wednesday, July 9, 2008) - Real Salt Lake dropped its first international friendly since the 2006 campaign tonight at Rice-Eccles Stadium, as Club Santos Laguna displayed the form that won them the Mexican Clausura title this spring in a 4-1 win over RSL in the third annual XanGo Cup exhibition showcase. RSL's 18-year-old midfielder Alex Nimo scored his first professional goal in the 69th minute to cut the score to 2-1, but goals 10 minutes apart by Santos' Gregorio Torres and Andony Hernandez in the final quarter-hour would seal the result for the visitors, who will travel east to begin SuperLiga play at the New England Revolution on Sunday. Real Salt Lake, whose career record against international competition fell to 4-3-2 with tonight's loss, will return to MLS regular season play this Saturday when the Columbus Crew make their lone visit of the 2008 season to the Wasatch Front for a 7:00 p.m. MT kick-off at Rice-Eccles Stadium (HDNet, KALL 700 Sports & Ke Buena 1600-AM).

For the full MLSnet.com recap of tonight's match, please click on the link below:

http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080710&content_id=171609&vkey=news_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=t121

XanGo Cup 2008

Club Santos Laguna (MEX) vs. Real Salt Lake July 9, 2008 -- Rice-Eccles Stadium

Scoring Summary: SAN -- Own Goal (David Horst) 13 SAN -- Oribe Peralta 1 (Agustin Herrera) 34 RSL -- Alex Nimo 1 (Andy Williams) 69 SAN -- Gregorio Torres 1 (Christian Benitez) 74 SAN -- Andony Hernandez 1 (Christian Benitez) 84

Club Santos Laguna -- Oswaldo Sanchez (Miguel Becerra 66), Jorge Ivan Estrada, Rafael Figueroa (Jose Antonio Patlan 58), Osmar Mares (Juan de Dios Alvarado 76), Fernando Ortiz (Juan Pablo Santiago 46), Fernando Arce (Jorge Barrera 46), Edgar Castillo (Gregorio Torres 58), Juan Pablo Rodriguez (Johnnie Garcia 46), Francisco Torres (Andony Hernandez 58), Agustin Herrera (Christian Benitez 46), Oribe Peralta

Substitutes Not Used: None

Real Salt Lake -- Chris Seitz, Dustin Kirby (Tony Beltran 46), David Horst, Matias Mantilla (Nat Borchers 62), Chris Wingert, Alex Nimo, Dema Kovalenko (Ian Joy 61), Javier Morales (Andy Williams 46), Kyle Beckerman (Kevin Reiman 46), Yura Movsisyan (Kenny Deuchar 61), Tino Nunez (Kenny Cutler 46)

Substitutes Not Used: Robbie Findley, Kyle Reynish

Real Salt Lake

Club Santos Laguna

Total shots:

13

(3 tied with 2)

16

(Fernando Arce 4)

Shots on goal:

7

(Alex Nimo 2)

8

(Fernando Arce 2)

Fouls:

13

(David Horst 3, Alex Nimo 3)

13

(Johnnie Garcia 3)

Offsides:

4

(4 tied with 1)

5

(Agustin Herrera 4)

Corner kicks:

8

(Andy Williams 4)

3

(Juan Pablo Rodriguez 3)

Saves:

5

(Chris Seitz 5)

5

(Oswaldo Sanchez 3)

Misconduct Summary:

Referee: Richard Heron Referee's Assistants: Feliciano Palomino; Tyler Ploeger 4th official: Brett Stephens Time of game: 1:46 Attendance: 12,333 Weather: Sunny -and- 91 degrees

All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

RSL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET - XANGO CUP 2008

REAL SALT LAKE 1 : 4 CLUB SANTOS LAGUNA

REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS

On how RSL's early own goal affected the team:

"I think that a couple of the younger guys were rattled from minute one. We went into this game to try to learn some things about ourselves, and we did that. One of them is that some of our younger players aren't quite ready."

On preparing for Saturday's League match against Columbus:

"We had to focus on this game as a training exercise to prepare us for Saturday night. In the end, we could look at this as a positive thing and that it was a statement to us - if our good players don't come out and show up and give a real strong effort, they're going to get their butts kicked. We're not good enough yet to go into games and relax and think we're going to go out and have some fun and knock the ball around and be successful."

On how RSL measures up to his preseason expectations:

"I think we're a little bit behind where I would have thought we would be. I've said all along that my focus in the offseason was to make a competitive team and a team that played attractive soccer. I think we've succeeded on both those fronts. The results and the end product hasn't been quite good enough yet."

REAL SALT LAKE MF KYLE BECKERMAN

Overall thoughts on the match:

"Most of us have played against Mexican teams before so we knew they were going to possess the ball, it's what they're known for. In the first half we got behind in the game, but we held with them and forced Oswaldo [Sanchez] to make some big saves to keep us from tying it up. In the second half, you start making a lot of subs and we're down two goals, but I thought we did some good things. Obviously we need to patch some things up, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that (Santos) is a really good team."

REAL SALT LAKE MF ALEX NIMO

On his first major minutes with the RSL first-team:

"It was a good game against a good team. It was my first game in front of so many people and I was kind of nervous for the first 10 or 20 minutes. I shouldn't be nervous, but it happens to every player - I'm a rookie and that's my first real game with the first team in front of the fans and a lot of people haven't seen me play. But now I've done it, so I'm looking forward to many more games and stepping on the field."

On his first professional goal:

"It was a good ball from Andy (Williams). I was in the right spot and made a looping run and nobody had me... I guess the little guy, no one was paying attention to me. So I was in the right place and just put it away."

Check out the Real Salt Lake Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from July 10, 2008


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