Too many times this season, Real Salt Lake has been hurt by opponents late in the game.
But on Wednesday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, RSL struck back with a goal from Javier Morales and earned a 2-2 tie against the Los Angeles Galaxy. It was the kind of result that shows the kind of improvements Real have made this year; Salt Lake is no longer a team that folds up and stops working after something doesn't go its way.
"There hasn't really been a game really where I could come in here and say I wasn't pleased with the work rate for a long, long time," coach Jason Kreis said in a post-game interview. "That is ultimately the best thing we've seen this season, is that the mentality and work rate has really turned around, and I'm very pleased with that."
Still, after scoring the first goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 56th minute, Real allowed the Galaxy to score two consecutive goals just six minutes apart: a Landon Donovan penalty kick in the 79th minute, and a Gavin Glinton tally in the 85th minute that gave L.A. a 2-1 lead.
"We just didn't have that killer instinct to put them away," midfielder Andy Williams said. "If you leave an animal wounded, it will come back and bite you, and that's what happened."
Real dominated the game, holding possession and outplaying the Galaxy for the first 70 minutes. RSL took 12 shots before the final 20 minutes, while LA took only four. It was a strong enough performance, aided by newcomer Yuri Movsisyan, to give Salt Lake an early second-half lead on a Carey Talley penalty kick.
Movsisyan created the penalty situation after playing the ball away from Galaxy 'keeper Joe Cannon. Cannon had been scrambling on the ground for control, but instead tripped Movsisyan up inside the goal area to end his chance.
"I thought I was going to score on that one, but at the last second he had my leg and there was nowhere for me to go," Movsisyan said.
Alecko Eskandarian believes Real should have owned a much bigger lead when the Galaxy woke up and started playing well late in the second half.
"It was kind of a roller coaster," Eskandarian said. "We had the game in hand, and we were unlucky not to get two or three goals in the first 60 or 70 minutes. And then LA comes back and scores two goals, and all of the sudden we're down."
But just 30 seconds after Glinton's go-ahead goal, Morales tied it up 2-2 with a 25-yard freekick. Morales' strike curved around the wall and dodged past Cannon before hitting the net.
"It would have been easy to put our heads down and let this one slip away, but we showed a lot of heart and character in coming back and getting the equalizer and almost the winner at the end," Eskandarian said.
For his part, Morales just was pleased to contribute. He had come on as an 84th-minute substitute, just before Glinton's goal put the Galaxy into the lead.
"I'm happy because it's nice to get the tie for us; I thought that was the least we deserved after looking at the entire game," Morales said. "I came on with a lot of desire to do something, and I knew we didn't have a lot of time, so I just did what I could to get us a result."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
