SUNRISE, FL - Real Salt Lake picked up where it left off on its 2008 preseason exhibition schedule earlier today by collecting its third win in as many tries, this time rolling to a 3-1 victory over the Florida International University Panthers. Real Salt Lake received a goal apiece from rookie striker Tino Nunez and trialist FW Indra Sahdan Daud in addition to an own goal courtesy of the Panthers in a contest that was thoroughly controlled by the MLS side from the get-go. Real Salt Lake was hoping to continue its preseason win streak this afternoon in a planned scrimmage against Guatemalan power CD Municipal, but the contest was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict.
It was all Real Salt Lake from the start, but it would be a defensive miscue on FIU's part that would put the MLS side on top just past the quarter-hour mark. MF Andy Williams' low cross from the right flank was re-directed at the top of the goal box by FW Kyle Brown, but before his shot could reach the target it was re-directed again by a sliding FIU defender, this time past moonlighting 'keeper Kyle Reynish and into goal to give RSL a 1-0 lead.
Nunez would enter the match in the 33rd minute in place of fellow striker Yura Movsisyan, and it wouldn't take long for the UC-Santa Barbara product to produce, as just four minutes later he would provide the game's eventual winning tally. RSL MF Kevin Reiman started the play down the left flank before playing Brown into the area, where the striker was able to achieve the left endline and elude a sliding challenge before picking out Nunez near the top of the six-yard box. Nunez's lunging header at Brown's cross was solid, the ball nestling into the far right netting to push the RSL advantage to 2-0.
The bulk of the Real Salt Lake roster changed at halftime, but the squad's control over the match would not, as a new cast of characters picked up the relentless attack after the break. It was the Singaporean international Indra that pushed the RSL cushion to 3-0 in the 53rd minute, as he swooped into the penalty area unmarked to finish off a rebound chance created when another Nunez effort was saved by guest 'keeper Chris Seitz. FIU would get one back in the 81st minute, an 8-yard half-chance finish in front of goal off a cross from the right flank getting the collegians on the board, but that's all the Panthers would muster as the match finished up 3-1 in favor of RSL.
Match Notes
• With RSL suffering from a temporary lack of central defenders, the squad looked to a face familiar to both teams - assistant coach Robin Fraser - to fill in some minutes on the squad's four-man backline this morning. Fraser, an FIU standout from 1984-88, started in the back alongside Matias Mantilla and put in a solid 33 minutes before being spelled by Dustin Kirby.
• That performance should mark Fraser's last of the preseason, as newly-acquired DF Nat Borchers checked into RSL's camp on Friday night.
• Today's contest marked the first game action with RSL for Argentine MF Matias Cordoba, who manned the left side of the midfield for the second half of today's scrimmage.
• It's good to know your enemy, but RSL took that premise a step further by having goalkeepers Chris Seitz and Kyle Reynish moonlight between the posts for FIU, with Reynish taking his turn for the Panthers in the first half and Seitz doing the honors in the second stanza.
• RSL's other goalkeeper, incumbent starter Nick Rimando, had an excused absence for the beginning of the camp, as the veteran stayed behind in Salt Lake City to spend time with his wife, Jacqui, and the couple's first child, son Jett Nicholas, after his birth last Monday. With mother, child, and father all doing well, the veteran netminder is scheduled to rejoin his teammates in Florida later this evening.
• RSL has welcomed a third trialist to its Florida camp, former MLS player and Jamaican National Team member Craig Ziadie, who played in 76 contests (65 starts) for D.C. United and MetroStars from 2001-2004.
Real Salt Lake 3 : 1 Florida Int'l Univ.
RSL Spring Exhibition #3
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunrise, Fla.
Scoring Summary
RSL - (own goal) 16
RSL - Tino Nunez 2 (Kyle Brown 3) 37
RSL - Indra Sahdan Daud 1 (unassisted) 53
FIU - (n/a) 81
Discipline Summary
None
1st Half RSL Line-up: GK-Chris Seitz; DF-Craig Ziadie, DF-Robin Fraser (Dustin Kirby 33), DF-Matías Mantilla, DF-Tony Beltran; MF-Alex Nimo, MF-Nathan Sturgis, MF-Andy Williams, MF-Kevin Reiman; FW-Yura Movsisyan (Tino Nunez 33), FW-Kyle Brown.
2nd Half RSL Line-up: GK-Kyle Reynish; DF-Chris Wingert, DF-Dustin Kirby, DF-Carey Talley, DF-Ian Joy; MF-Salim Bullen, MF-Kenny Cutler, MF-Javier Morales, MF-Matias Cordoba; FW-Tino Nunez (Fabian Espíndola 65), FW-Indra Sahdan Daud
