SANDY, Utah – It was all lining up perfectly for Real Salt Lake.
With the score knotted at 1-1, Orlando City SC star Kaka was sent off right before halftime, giving RSL more than 45 minutes to push for the winner up a man in front of their raucous Fourth of July home crowd.
Instead, RSL came away with nothing but frustration after failing to find the back of the net against 10-man Orlando, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw, leaving them winless in their last three matches and six of the last seven.
“Sometimes red cards are kind of funny,” RSL goalkeeper Jeff Attinella said after the match. “Sometimes they’re a great thing and sometimes … [Orlando] probably said, ‘Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to pack it in and leave one guy up top and make it really hard for them. Make them shoot from distance and have crosses.’ They did a good job of that. They executed.”
Referee Sorin Stoica whistled a foul on Kaka for a hard challenge on Javier Morales in the 45th minute. Orlando’s captain slammed into Morales from behind and appeared to step on the RSL player in the aftermath.
Stoica initially seemed to reach for a yellow card but quickly changed his mind, showing the Brazilian a straight red instead.
RSL had already negated Kaka’s fifth-minute strike when forward Sebastian Jaime headed home the equalizer in the 28th minute, and it seemed like another would be forthcoming with a man advantage.
“It’s not easy to score against 10 men,” RSL head coach Jeff Cassar said. “You have to really move the ball quickly. You have to have a great final ball. I thought we created enough chances to for sure get the victory, but maybe with 11 players the field’s a little more open.”
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Orlando goalkeeper Tally Hall also played his part in Orlando’s valiant second-half effort, recording six saves and securing seemingly every cross that came near him.
RSL didn’t begin to look threatening until well into the second half. Cassar made a last-ditch substitution to try to spur on his players, inserting Sebastian Saucedo, a midfielder, for defender Tony Beltran, but Orlando were able to hold on.
“Having a man advantage for an entire half, I mean the locker is disappointed,” Beltran, said. “We were pushing for the goal, but the final ball wasn’t really there. Maybe that’s an issue of fatigue a little bit in the legs from some of the players, but still, inexcusable at home. This is a result we needed. The situation was there for us to take it, and we didn’t.”
Tyler Gray covers Real Salt Lake for MLSsoccer.com.
