Against one of the most powerful road teams in the league, and after falling behind in the first half, Real Salt Lake earned their second victory of the season Saturday night with a 2-1 win against the Kansas City Wizards at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
A pair of substitutions from RSL coach John Ellinger -- designed to bolster his side's attack -- had every bit of the desired effect as Mehdi Ballouchy and Jeff Cunningham scored two minutes apart to answer Ryan Pore's first-half goal and give Real their first two consecutive wins of the season.
RSL coach John Ellinger made the first substitution of the game in the 59th minute, replacing Atiba Harris with Cunningham in an effort to increase his offensive punch. Kansas City's Bob Gansler made a similar move in the 63rd minute, replacing Scott Sealy with Yura Movsisyan. Ellinger upped the ante one more step in the 69th minute, replacing defender Nelson Akwari with forward Andy Williams.
RSL's offensive push tied it up in the 78th minute. Klein played the ball into the penalty from the right wing of the midfield to the top of the box to Ballouchy, who hit the net from straightaway to tie the score.
Then, in the 80th minute, Kreis found Cunningham in the right side of the box. Cunningham faked the defense to the outside, played to the endline then took a narrow-angle shot that hit the ground-floor netting of the goal just inside the left post for the eventual match-winner.
From the beginning, RSL's passing seemed suspect as both teams played a direct style. Right back Kevin Novak was able to create an excellent scoring opportunity for Real Salt Lake in the ninth minute. Novak worked the ball uncontested up the right side before slotting the ball through a pair of defenders to Harris, whose shot was deflected back to Novak. Another shot deflected to a pair of Real players, but the Kansas City defense cleared.
In the 23rd minute, Kansas City found a great scoring opportunity when Davy Arnaud outplayed Novak and took a shot from 10 yards out to the left of the right post. RSL goalkeeper Scott Garlick, however, bailed his team out with a smart save. Arnaud seemed to have another chance just seconds later, but the play was over before it began as Arnaud was whistled for a foul.
RSL came just inches away in the 26th minute when Chris Klein took a free kick from 35 yards out, even with the right side of the penalty area. Klein's kick hopped over the wall and Nelson Akwari ran under it, but his header went off the top of his head and just over the crossbar.
Pore scored the first goal of the game in the 27th minute after a diagonal run towards the goal area from the left and an assist from Arnaud. Garlick could not decide if he should come out or stay on his line, and Pore slotted the ball past his left foot for a goal.
Arnaud was shown a yellow card moments later after an egregious foul that could have earned a red card. RSL nearly evened the score moments later, but Ballouchy was marked too tight by Nick Garcia and the ball sailed over the crossbar.
Ballouchy's superior ball-handling skills led to a scoring chance in the 36th minute; Ballouchy refused to be knocked off the ball in the midfield, and he played the ball forward to Kreis. But Kreis was marked tightly and brought down, earning a corner kick in the process. Ballouchy struck the corner, but no RSL player could get his head on it.
In the 38th minute, Klein took a free kick from the left, 35 yards out. The ball sailed through the penalty area and went off Kansas City goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi's hands, but the Wizards were awarded a goal kick. Then in the 41st, Ballouchy sent a corner kick from the right to Klein, whose header hit the left post.
Just after halftime, Garcia committed a foul, taking down Ballouchy and taking a yellow card. Kreis took the free kick from 32 yards out straightaway, but the shot flew over the crossbar.
After the second-half changes, the offensive punch began to pay off when Williams played it through a defenders legs in the box and earned a corner kick for RSL. Williams also took the corner, and Cunningham struggled to control, but the defense cleared it away.
Kreis also created a chance with his play on the right; he got it to Cunningham on the left, who found midfielder Carey Talley outside the box. Talley's cross, however, fell harmlessly.
Then Real found the magic they were looking for. Ballouchy hit first to pull the home side level, then Cunningham scored the second -- his third goal off the bench in the last two matches -- and over the final minutes, RSL held the Wizards at bay to secure their victory and move out of last place in the Western Conference.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
