Real Salt Lake outplayed the Los Angeles Galaxy through the first 70 minutes Wednesday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, but when the rollercoaster ride of the final 20 minutes ended, the teams had to settle for a 2-2 tie.
A pair of penalty kicks, one by each team, were followed by a pair of eye-popping goals from each side that evened the score. Carey Talley and Landon Donovan traded spot kicks, before goals from Gavin Glinton of the Galaxy and RSL's Javier Morales barely a minute apart provided the final outcome.
However, while both teams could feel happy about their respective comebacks for the tie, it doesn't do either any good in the chase for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The single point left the teams still at the bottom of the MLS overall table, RSL with 20 points and the Galaxy with 18. The Chicago Fire still sit in eighth place with 30 points; any combination of six points won by the Fire or lost by Real will eliminate the Utah club from playoff consideration.
It took both teams a couple of minutes to warm up on the offensive side, as both teams were unable to field their best side. The Galaxy were still hampered by their laundry list of absences to injury, most notably David Beckham, whose once-scheduled appearance attracted the largest crowd of the season to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
But when Real did start shooting, Alecko Eskandarian made it look good. With defenders surrounding him, Eskandarian was able to hold the Galaxy off for a string of five touches before turning and shooting the ball, making Joe Cannon earn the first save of the game in the third minute.
Edson Buddle also came close in the early going. In the 10th minute, Buddle posted up against Ritchie Kotschau in the area before taking a short shot on the turn towards the right post. RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando barely got a hand on it, enough to push the ball against the post as the game remained scoreless.
In his first game with RSL, Yura Movsisyan made a mark by outrunning L.A.'s defense to a ball along the right sideline and earning the home team a corner kick. Eskandarian's corner kick bounced around, then Movsisyan shot a rocket from 12 yards away that Cannon barely got a hand on in pushing the ball wide, the ball skimming the outside of the post on its way out.
Real's offense ramped up as the first half wore on, and Rimando had plenty of time to catch his breath. Salt Lake punished the Galaxy in the 33rd minute after Eskandarian played a beautiful diagonal ball across to Kyle Beckerman, who attacked into the penalty area and jinked his defender a couple of times before shooting it high and against the face of the crossbar.
At halftime, the Galaxy replaced Buddle with Gavin Glinton. Buddle had aggravated a left hamstring injury, and as he had been the focal point of the LA attack in the opening 45 minutes, things didn't look good for the visitors, who came into the game losers of eight of their last nine.
Movsisyan made his mark again, this time in the 55th minute when Cannon scrambled on the turf to gather in a loose ball but could not find the handle. Movsisyan played it away from Cannon, but was tripped up inside the area and earned a penalty kick for Real. Carey Talley stepped up to the spot, and hit the back of the net in the 56th minute to give Real a 1-0 lead.
The Galaxy tried to come back just minutes later when Donovan defied all odds to remain on sides on a run up the right sideline. Donovan crossed the ball through the penalty area towards an on-rushing Glinton, but Rimando punched it out of the box before Glinton could one-touch it into an easy goal.
Real coach Jason Kreis began making substitutions in the 66th minute, replacing Movsisyan (doubtless struggling with the high-altitude air) with Chris Brown. Brown started making an impact right away, taking a pair of shots right away. But it did not stop the Galaxy from coming alive in the 70th minute.
L.A. began stringing passes together and putting pressure on the RSL goal as the final 20 minutes started ticking away. Things worked out well as Jean-Martial Kipre took down Mike Randolph inside the box, after the young left back did well to keep possession going forward, and surrendered a penalty kick to the Galaxy.
Donovan took the shot, and after missing his last two attempts, including in the 2-1 loss to RSL on Sept. 1, this time put the ball past Rimando to make the game 1-1 in the 79th minute.
But the Galaxy were not finished. In the 85th minute, Donovan ran the ball into Real's defensive third then played a beautiful through ball to Glinton. Glinton took advantage of his one-on-one against Rimando and slotting low past the 'keeper's right side and gave the Galaxy a 2-1 lead.
But the lead did not last. Javier Morales has come on as a substitute just before the go-ahead goal, and after RSL won a free kick above the middle of the Galaxy's penalty area, the Argentinean bent the ball around the wall and into the upper right corner to make it a 2-2 tie.
Morales continued to cause havoc for the Galaxy over the final minutes. He picked out Kyle Brown in the center of the area with a cross for a clear header, but with Cannon at his mercy, Brown put it right into the 'keeper's chest.
Then in stoppage time Morales found Chris Brown for a header. This time it beat Cannon, but not Kelly Gray, who chested it across the goal while standing on the goal line, keeping it just far enough out of the goal for Cannon to recover and the punch the ball away to safety.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
