Playing a man down for nearly an hour, Real Salt Lake overcame two separate deficits to keep their playoff hopes alive by defeating Western Conference leader FC Dallas 3-2 at a chilly Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night.
A pair of goals from Carlos Ruiz -- wrapped around a goal from Andy Williams and a red card shown to Carey Talley -- put FC Dallas into the lead at the break. But Chris Klein and Jason Kreis scored 10 minutes apart midway through the second half to give RSL the victory.
With the chance to clinch a playoff spot with a victory, Dallas got on the scoreboard only four minutes into the match. Abe Thompson sent a defense-splitting ball through to Ronnie O'Brien, who slipped a brisk cross to Ruiz who needed only to tap in for his first goal in 11 games.
Real Salt Lake responded and were nearly rewarded in the eighth minute through a glancing header from Klein. Mehdi Ballouchy sent a free kick from the middle of the park high into the penalty area where Klein redirected the chance, but did not put enough touch on it as it sailed wide of the far post.
RSL drew level through Williams in the 13th minute after a flurry of action in front of the Hoops goal. Kreis turned his man just outside of the area and rifled a blast that a diving Dario Sala deflected away from goal. The deflection fell to Williams, who sublimely chipped the ball over Sala and high into the far side netting.
As the action continued to flow end-to-end at a furious pace, Ruiz looked to put Dallas back in the lead as he dribbled through the RSL defense. After breaking past the Salt Lake backline, Ruiz uncorked his shot that was stopped by the leg of an airborne Garlick.
In the 27th minute O'Brien stood up Carey Talley at midfield, resulting in Talley falling to the turf and O'Brien receiving a yellow card on the play. But six minutes later Talley swept O'Brien's legs out from behind and was sent off for the infraction by referee Ricardo Salazar.
Just before the intermission Ruiz struck again. Thompson sent another deadly through ball to Ruiz, who beat Garlick with a low hard drive into the net.
The playoff-like intensity continued into the second half. Kenny Cooper narrowly missed doubling the Dallas lead in the 58th minute, shaving the top of the crossbar with a volley.
RSL leveled the match for a second time four minutes later off a strike from Klein. A quickly taken free kick put Klein through, and the Salt Lake winger melted the Rice-Eccles turf with a scorching low blast into the far post.
It appeared that the Hoops had immediately regained the lead a minute later as Cooper beat Garlick with a bullet of a shot. But the goal was ruled out when Cooper was ruled to be in an offside position.
In the 64th minute, Kreis lined up a free kick that bent over the Dallas wall before it was palmed away by Sala.
But the all-time leading scorer in MLS history wasn't to be denied three minutes later. Klein sent a ball through for Atiba Harris, who banged a line drive across the mouth of the Dallas goal. Kreis leaped and got enough of his boot on the cross to poke it into the net before the eruption of the Salt Lake crowd.
Harris was lucky not to receive a red card himself in the 77th minute. As he and Sala rushed to a 50-50 ball just outside the area, Harris raised his boot to tip the ball and ended up catching Sala.
But despite a late flurry from FC Dallas that saw Garlick make three of his seven saves over the final five-plus minutes, Real held on to take all three points and keep alive their hopes of a first-ever postseason berth, while denying the Hoops clinching for a second consecutive game.
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
