RSL vs. Sounders: Highlights, stats and quotes

Riding a four-match unbeaten streak, the Seattle Sounders were dealt a somewhat humbling 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake that extended their winless streak in Sandy, Utah to 14 games.

Highlights

Stats

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 0 – Real Salt Lake 2

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Venue: America First Field

Referee: Ismir Pekmic

Assistants: Logan Brown, Diego Blas

Fourth Official: Brad Jensen

VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero

Weather: 65 degrees and clear

SCORING SUMMARY 

RSL – Andres Gomez (Matt Crooks, Diego Luna) 27’

RSL – Diego Luna 58’ 

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY 

SEA – Cody Baker (caution) 55’

SEA – Cristian Roldan (caution) 85’

RSL – Andres Gomez (caution) 86’

RSL – Fidel Barajas (caution) 90’+2’

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Sota Kitahara, Jackson Ragen (Yeimar 83’), Jonathan Bell, Cody Baker (Reed Baker-Whiting 65’); Danny Leyva, João Paulo (Cristian Roldan 46’), Georgi Minoungou*, Albert Rusnák (Jordan Morris 65’), Léo Chú (Paul Rothrock 21’); Danny Musovski 

Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Alex Roldan, Kalani Kossa-Rienzi*, Dylan Teves

*Tacoma Defiance player on short-term loan 

Total shots: 9

Shots on goal: 2

Fouls: 11

Offside: 1

Corner-Kicks: 6

Saves: 7 

Real Salt Lake – Gavin Beavers; Andrew Brody (Alexandros Katranis 46’), Brayan Vera, Justen Glad, Philip Quinton; Braian Ojeda (Nelson Palacio 85’), Diego Luna (Fidel Barajas 72’), Andres Gomez, Emeka Eneli, Matt Crooks (Maikel Chang 77’); Cristian Arango (Anderson Julio 72’)

Substitutes not used: Zac MacMath, Bryan Oviedo, Bertin Jacquesson, Tommy Silva 

Total shots: 21

Shots on goal: 9

Fouls: 8

Offside: 1

Corner-kicks: 11

Saves: 2

Quotes

Brian Schmetzer

H”istorically we haven’t won here since 2011. Before the game, I told the guys ‘the odds are stacking up in our favor. At some point we have to get a result here.’ In the first half, we let them out. They got out in transition. Cody needs to keep him going to endline. It was one mistake. The group was doing what they needed to do. Georgi is super talented. Danny Musovski put in some effort. Our chances in the first half … I’m not sure why Albert Rusnák doesn’t take a touch there.

“In second half, it started OK. Georgi had some good moments. Referee stops the game because the guy had a head injury. That was odd and we fall asleep. Vera dribbles around four guys. It’s those two plays that killed us. We have to own that. We switched to 442 to see if we could generate attack. I have to own that. It didn’t work.”

“[Léo Chú’s injury] altered some of our plans for halftime. You deal with that. Injuries will happen. That did put us in a little disadvantage.” 

“[Léo Chú has an] adductor injury. We’ll give you more update when we have an MRI.”

“We put a pretty attacking squad out there. Those are good attacking players. Do they do enough defending? That’s where some of the young players have to understand that MLS is hard. To win away from home you have to defend. You saw Chicho chasing Georgi to end line. He’s super talented. We have another dribbler we hope to see on Sunday in de la Vega. We’ll see how that shakes out. Georgi has played his way into a question about signing him for the year. If it’s an extended injury that helps his chances. He’s got another chance to do something in Open Cup.”

“[Raúl Ruidíaz] has a stubbed toe. He got a cortisone shot today. He’s feeling better. I expect him to start against Vancouver.”

“[Obed Vargas] has a strained calf. Out of abundance of caution we didn’t take him on this trip.”

“[Danny Leyva] was paired up with two experienced guys. He finds passes. … All the kids worked. They tried. It just wasn’t enough tonight because of those two moments.”

“It is a tough place to play. Maybe it should be a bigger rivalry. You have to credit Pablo. They are playing with a ton of confidence.”

“I don’t think it’s going to steamroll. What I said is we have a chance at a six-point week and we have to move forward. Pablo didn’t rotate as much as we did. Those two day turnarounds are very tiring. We’ll measure ourselves at home in a couple of weeks.”

Danny Leyva

“We saw with the goals what they’re really good in transition. The first 5-10 minutes of the second half we started strong but as the game opened up we started to chase. There was just those two transition moments were we have to do better.

“It was a rotated lineup. We have a lot of of games. It’s a chance for everyone to play, we have to be ready to do the job. RSK are a good team. That’s why they caused us problems.”

“I believe it was a tough match. But coming from a win with Portland — which was a hard game — that gave us a lot of confidence and motivation. When we come into a match like this, we know everyone needs to be ready to play. When we are in this situation, trying to get up in the standings, it’s important to have that type of motivation. Today we didn’t accomplish that so the message is to keep working hard and try to get the results.”

“When you lose, it’s not a setback but not the direction we want to go. We have to do better. We have to change a lot of things and fix thing that didn’t go right. Especially playing at home, we have to try to make a statement. Every time you come from a loss it’s important to get a win.”

Sota Kitahara

“Momentum. They were able to gain momentum after the second goal and build off that. We lost our tempo. Lost our heads a little bit.”

“I can play anywhere. I’m available to play anywhere at any time. That’s my position on the team. It’s a tough result but we knew they were in first place. We wanted to keep it going with this tight schedule. It’s just about turning our heads to the next game.”

“Personally, I’m always ready to be in any position. Our whole team knows their time is going to come. When they’re needed on the field, they have to perform. We’re always ready to play.”