Coming into their latest international friendly match, Real Salt Lake had three goals to accomplish, according to head coach Jason Kreis. RSL needed to give some younger players extended minutes, rest some regulars and still be as competitive as possible.
Real accomplished all of those tasks. Unfortunately it did not bring them any luck against Deportivo Saprissa.
The powerful Costa Rican club claimed a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night after Ronald Gomez and Armando Alonso knocked in a pair of goals in a five-minute span early in the second half. It marked the second loss to a Latin American soccer club for RSL at Rice-Eccles Stadium in a two-week span.
Real did an excellent job defensively in limiting opportunities. Saprissa created a total of eight shots and only two shots on goal.
Ultimately, what undid the RSL defense was the sheer speed they saw from a club who has been a fixture in the CONCAF Champions' Cup in recent years.
"They were a better passing team than us, that's for sure," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "We had some good things at times, but they were a good team that plays good soccer."
Saprissa first found the net during the 58th minute when Gomez knocked home a feed from Walter Centeno to make it 1-0.
RSL got burned again only a few minutes later. Defender Gabriel Badilla threaded the ball perfectly to Alonso, who barreled down on charging 'keeper Kyle Reynish and dribbled around the Real reserve as he dived for the ball.
From there, Alonso rifled a shot past Nat Borchers -- who raced over to protect the empty net -- and buried the ball deep in the corner for a 2-0 advantage.
Real barely avoided the shutout in the 90th minute when Tino Nunez hooked the ball to Chris Wingert on the run and he pushed it past a Saprissa defender for what was essentially a meaningless goal.
Kreis was impressed with what he saw defensively in the match's early stages and attributed the pair of goals to being a result of a change in formation when RSL retook the field in the second half.
"We were a compact unit and we were defending together," Kreis said. "Everything was pretty clean in the first half. In the second half, we made a tactical change. We changed our formation and I think that caused us some problems."
For RSL, the fact they held their own so long against a talent-laden and tradition-rich club like Saprissa speaks volumes to how strong their defense has grown as the season has progressed.
"We know we can adapt to what other teams throw at us," midfielder Kenny Cutler said. "We know how to play. We know how to defend any formation that the other team chooses to play. So we can be happy with our performance defensively."
The only major blemishes on the evening for either team were hot tempers that nearly removed the friendliness from the friendly. Things got especially heated in the 83rd minute when Badilla and RSL's Yura Movsisyan both ended up being red-carded for getting into a shoving match.
"The game got heated out there," Beckerman said. "That's something you don't want to see in a friendly like that."
RSL got some solid minutes from Fabian Espindola. The Argentinean striker has missed eight consecutive MLS matches with a knee injury, but played the entire second half on Wednesday.
He showed flashes of his old playmaking abilities right away. Espindola had a great chance to score in the 55th minute on a cross from Movsisyan. He tried to bend a shot around the near post, but Alexander Robinson met the ball and cleared it away on the line.
Kreis is hopeful that Espindola's knee issues are finally behind him and he can begin making the kind of major contributions he did earlier in the year.
"I thought he had a couple of really bright movements there," Kreis said. "I was encouraged by that and we're excited to have him back in the mix."
John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
