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The last time Real Salt Lake faced Orlando City SC was the first time any of us had officially "met" the 2015 expansion side.
There was a buzz surrounding the club, having secured Brazilian legend Kaká for their debut season among other household MLS names such as Brek Shea, Tally Hall, and Aurélien Collin.
The first meeting between these two teams may have played to a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium, but it was packed with excitement and drama.
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Both teams came out strong, but it was Orlando who opened the scoring in the 5th minute when Pedro Ribeiro slotted a ball into Kaká, who was sneaking in behind RSL defenders near the top of the penalty area.
He was able to control the ball and put it past Jeff Attinella in the top right corner to make it 1-0 for Orlando City.
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RSL answered back 23 minutes later with a header from Sebastian Jaime, who scored in his 4th straight home match. Tony Beltran sent a cross into the box to find the head of a rising Jaime who drilled it into the back of the net to level the match off at 1-1.
Near the end of the first half, things got dicey for Orlando City.
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Kaká was shown a straight red in the 45th minute for a rough tackle and a stomp on Javier Morales after he was beat near the touchline in his own defensive third. Referee Sorin Stoica ended up reaching for a straight red to send Orlando into the second half without their best player.
The game remained a stalemate despite Orlando playing with 10 men, due largely in part to goalkeeper Tally Hall who made some diving saves to keep his team in the game.
In the 81st minute, Jeff Cassar brought in Sebastian Saucedo in place of Beltran to push for a winning goal. Saucedo had a brilliant look at goal from 30 yards away that Hall got a hand to, which then bounced off the post behind him. A few minutes later, Luis Gil had a shot from distance that Hall again saved to keep the score at 1-1.
Although the two teams shared the points from the night, it was arguably a heated matchup that could continue in the same fashion when RSL visits Orlando on March 6th to open the 2016 MLS regular season.