Looking for a way to solve some recent offensive woes, Real Salt Lake looked at an exhibition match against Mexican club Santos Laguna as a chance to work out the kinks ahead of Saturday's MLS match against the Columbus Crew.
RSL saw some improvement, but not enough to offset a defense that ended up being easily overwhelmed by the recently crowned Mexican Clausura champions at Rice-Eccles Stadium, suffering a 4-1 defeat to Santos in the third annual XanGo Cup on Wednesday night. With the loss, RSL is now 1-2-1 in XanGo Cup matches since the event was first held in 2006.
Santos wasted no time seizing control of tempo with a flurry of shots in the first few minutes. The Mexican club's attack climaxed when Fernando Arce twice tried to fire the ball past backup goalkeeper Chris Seitz in less than a minute. Seitz came up with a nice pair of catches to block both would-be goals.
It turned out to be for nought when a defensive mistake cost RSL in the 12th minute. Rookie defender David Horst coughed up an own goal on a bad clearance attempt to give Santos a 1-0 lead. Horst intercepted a cross into the six-yard box, but flicked the ball backward into his own net when he tried to get it out of danger.
RSL had trouble erasing the early mistake simply because the club could not get its slumbering offense to wake up. Real did not get their first shot on goal until the 26th minute when Yura Movsisyan curled around a Santos defender at the top of the area and slung the ball toward the far post.
Movsisyan could not get RSL on the board, however, after goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez pushed the ball wide with his outstretched fingertips.
Meanwhile, Seitz had to make an array of incredible saves in a futile effort to keep Santos from turning it into a blowout before halftime.
Agustin Herrera looked to have a sure goal in the 21st minute when he got his head under a cross into the middle of the penalty area. Seitz responded with a fantastic leap to knock the ball out of the air before it could reach the frame.
Seitz forced a corner kick in the 30th minute when he met Herrera on a drive at the near post. Herrera tried to dribble and thread the ball past Seitz, but the RSL Olympic hopeful knocked it clear past the endline. The ensuing corner kick came to nothing.
Herrera finally succeeded in besting Seitz in the 34th minute when he crossed to fellow forward Oribe Peralta. Peralta uncorked a bullet that sailed right over Seitz's head to give Santos a 2-0 lead.
With each side allowed nine substitutions, both clubs subbed players in liberally throughout the second half. The switches in personnel initially seemed to benefit RSL on the defensive end. Santos did not produce its first shot of the half until the 63rd minute.
But it didn't do much for the offense. The RSL side was whistled for offside three times while getting off a single shot during the first part of the second half.
Things finally turned positive in the 70th minute when Andy Williams crossed the ball to an open Alex Nimo in the goal area. Nimo drilled an easy header to push RSL to within a goal of Santos.
But momentum generated from his goal proved to be short-lived. Santos midfielder Gregorio Torres popped the ball up and over Seitz as he dived forward to block it, giving the Mexican club a 3-1 lead in the 74th minute.
Santos padded its lead in the 85th minute when Andony Hernandez spotted up in front of the six-yard box and threaded the ball past Seitz for an easy goal.
John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
