SANDY, Utah – Two people tried to keep Manchester United at full strength in their 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Monday night, but Jose Mourinho wasn’t among them.
RSL head coach Mike Petke and referee Allen Chapman both asked the Manchester United manager to put an 11th player on the field after Antonio Valencia was shown a 68th-minute red card for a violent tackle on RSL's Sebastian Saucedo in the friendly at Rio Tinto Stadium. Mourinho declined, citing some “aggressive” play from Saucedo on United's Juan Mata as part of his rationale for continuing to play a man down.
“The referee asked me to change the player and I didn’t because I don’t agree with the card because Saucedo was real aggressive during the second half, what happened to Mata, and some of the actions in the second half were a bit dangerous,” Mourinho said.
Despite trailing 2-1 at the time of Valencia’s ejection, Petke asked Mourinho to insert an 11th player – which would’ve been allowed in the friendly – to better test some of RSL’s youngsters.
“I walked halfway across toward the Man United bench to tell them to put someone back on,” Petke said. “I didn’t want to play them a man up. I want my guys to get a real game against the best in the world.”
Even though Petke didn’t agree that Saucedo’s play was dangerous and felt Saucedo took some big hits before the red card, he admitted Mourinho had every right to see it his way.
“He’s probably right, but I’m a little irrational,” Petke said. “I don’t think there was any intent on the Mata thing and that was a red card offense...with all due respect.”
While they didn’t get to play against a full team for the final 20 minutes, RSL were able to take some positives out of the match. Their first-team looked strong in 30 minutes of action, with Luis Silva scoring his first goal of the year across all competitions to give RSL a 1-0 lead in the 24th-minute.
The goal was fully deserved, as RSL benefitted from the offensive forays of outside backs Tony Beltran and Demar Phillips to push the pace early. Their frequent moves forward gave Joao Plata, Jefferson Savarino and Albert Rusnak space to move the ball and make dangerous runs. Even Mourinho was impressed with Salt Lake’s starters, who had an abbreviated shift ahead of their match in Portland on Wednesday (10:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE).
“The team that played the first 35 minutes, they are well coached,” he said. “They have good ideas, an understanding of the game, playing in relation to the qualities of their players. I really liked the way they played. I just feel sorry that they have a game on Wednesday and because of that they couldn’t play the whole game with the best team.”
Silva has yet to score in an MLS game this season, but has started somewhat regularly in place of RSL striker Yura Movsisyan. Movsisyan, who scored in RSL's last MLS match, a 6-2 win at LA on July 4, didn’t even dress for Monday’s friendly and isn’t likely to be available on Wednesday at Portland due to injury.
“When we got back from LA, the first two days of practice he was firing on all cylinders, then he had a bit of a hip problem,” Petke said. “The hip problem has carried over for quite a while now, but he’s fighting to get back.”
Overall, the night was a fun one for fans and players alike, with Mourinho saying he’s pleased with his team’s stops in LA and Salt Lake to start preseason.
“I like to play in soccer stadiums. I know that you have absolutely amazing stadiums that you adapt for football, but I like the concept of the soccer stadium, even if it’s small,” Mourinho said. “I like the fans, the enthusiasm around the game, and the quality is improving all the time.”
