Real Salt Lake’s playoffs hopes took a massive blow on Saturday night.
RSL lost 2-0 on the road to FC Dallas as Tesho Akindele provided the game winner in the 51st minute from the penalty spot, and Fabian Castillo put the game out of reach in the 79th. Missed opportunities and defensive breakdowns once again proved costly for an RSL team that continues to come up short this year.
“We weren't great with the ball to start off the game,” RSL head coach Jeff Cassar said after the game. “We had some poor turnovers, which led to some counterattacks for Dallas, and they started to get momentum."
Dallas may have ended up as the victors on the night, but in the 35th minute of the match, RSL had an opportunity to jump out in front and perhaps change the momentum of the match.
RSL's Javier Morales played a perfectly weighted pass to the back post where a wide-open Luis Silva was waiting. Silva was able to get a foot to the pass, playing it to the opposite post, but Kyle Beckerman wasn’t able to direct the chance on frame.
In the 49th minute of play, Dallas made RSL pay for the missed opportunity.
Akindele got on the end of a long ball and charged into the box. The Dallas forward cut to the right and was taken down by RSL left back Demar Philips, which prompted referee Ted Unkel to point to the spot. Akindele buried the ensuing spot kick shortly thereafter.
It appeared like RSL would be able to claw back and salvage a point when newcomer Juan Manuel Martinez was taken down in the area and Unkel awarded a second penalty kick, this time to the visitors. Morales blasted his attempt off the post, however, and the rebound from Joao Plata was off the mark. There would be no equalizer.
"They scored with their momentum and we didn't,” Cassar said.
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Castillo then iced the game not long after the failed penalty attempt, hitting a well-taken shot from the top of the 18-yard box.
There are still 21 points on the table for RSL to take from their final seven league matches, but with CONCACAF Champions League games still looming and the always-competitive Western Conference getting tighter every week, results like Saturday's are making the postseason quest an increasingly difficult proposition.
"The chances were there for us to maybe get a tie, but we didn't capitalize and they did," Beckerman said. "It seemed to be the story of the game.”
Tyler Gray covers Real Salt Lake for MLSsoccer.com.
