One errant deflection was all it took to effectively sink Real Salt Lake’s playoff chances.
Real Salt Lake was dealt a near-death blow late in Sunday’s match at San Jose, with Earthquakes midfielder Matias Perez Garcia hitting an 87th minute shot off of RSL defender Jamison Olave, past helpless goalkeeper Nick Rimando and into the back of the net to deal the Claret-and-Cobalt a crushing 1-0 defeat at Avaya Stadium.
The loss keeps RSL (10-12-8, 38 points) in ninth-place in the crowded Western Conference, six points behind Portland – who won 2-1 at Columbus on Saturday – for the sixth and final playoff spot with just four games remaining. RSL now trails seventh-place San Jose by five points and eighth-place Houston by three points, though the club holds a game in hand on both the Earthquakes and the Dynamo.
Both teams were fighting tooth and nail for their playoff lives, resulting in a disjointed, physical match that was more than a little ugly. RSL and San Jose combined for 34 fouls and six yellow cards, two of which went to Perez Garcia, who received his second yellow and was ejected after tearing off his shirt while celebrating his winner.
“It’s two teams that wanted it tonight,” RSL head coach Jeff Cassar said after the game. “It was pretty clear from the beginning that they were going to come hard and heavy. I think the referee could have taken care of that earlier. He kept waiting and waiting and prolonging it and the game stayed extremely physical.”
Real Salt Lake was without leading scorer and assist man Javier Morales on Sunday after the influential midfielder picked up a hip flexor injury in RSL’s CONCACAF Champions League win against Santa Tecla on Thursday. His absence was clearly felt, with replacement Luis Silva and the rest of the RSL attack struggling to create chances as they were outshot 20-6 by San Jose.
RSL still had a chance to leave California with all three points, however, mostly due to the heroics of Rimando. The US national team ‘keeper made four saves prior to Perez Garcia’s winner, including a tricky stop on a 25th minute Olimpico attempt and an absolutely miraculous stop on Chris Wondolowski’s point blank chance in the 51st.
Claret-and-Cobalt forward Joao Plata had a chance to give RSL the lead just three minutes before Perez Garcia hit pay dirt, but the unmarked Ecuadorian couldn’t redirect Olmes Garcia’s cross into an open net, sending his first-time left footer wide from the top of the six yard box.
“We did look a little tired,” Cassar admitted. “Again, San Jose really came at us. It didn’t seem like we had quite the amount of energy in our attack. I thought we were expending a lot of our energy defensively and maybe that was making us a little tired going forward.”
RSL couldn’t capitalize on their man advantage following Perez Garcia’s post-goal ejection, their playoff odds slipping from slim to nigh impossible at the final whistle. Still, Salt Lake – which has qualified for the postseason every year since 2008 – isn’t giving up on the playoffs just yet.
“Of course, you want to win every game but we’re not out of it,” said captain Kyle Beckerman. “We still got a chance. Just got to win next week and that’ll put us in a better chance for the next week. We just got to keep going. I think tonight was probably a 0-0, 1-0 type game. Didn’t go our way, but I feel like we’re not out of it yet and we’re going to keep fighting until the end.”
