Real Salt Lake falls 4-2 to Minnesota United

Real Salt Lake handed Minnesota United their first win of the season as RSL lost to the home side by a final score of 4-2.

RSL came out swinging and doubled their season’s goal tally when Luke Mulholland opened the scoring in the fourth minute off of a ball in from Chris Wingert.

In the 10th minute, Aaron Maund went down with an injury and had to be subbed off. With the plethora of injuries on the roster, there were no other defenders on the bench to replace him so interim coach Daryl Shore had to get creative by bringing Sunny on the field to fill in. Mulholland shifted to right back as Chris Wingert slotted into the center position, and Sunny took his usual spot in the midfield next to Kyle.

Not too long after, the Loons pulled an equalizer back as Kevin Molino barrelled through Wingert to head the ball past Rimando and into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Movsisyan had a golden opportunity in the 29th minute when Bofo Saucedo sent in a perfect through ball that found Yura behind Minnesota’s defense. Though he got a great shot off, Minnesota ‘keeper Bobby Shuttleworth was able to make the save and send it behind for a corner kick.

After a couple more great chances from both sides, the half would end in a 1-1 deadlock as the two teams would try to regroup and gear up for the next 45 minutes.

Things got bad for RSL when NASL holdover Christian Ramirez grabbed another goal for the home side in the 52nd minute. Kevin Molino sent a ball in that found Ramirez behind RSL’s defense, who was able to chip Rimando and put the Loons up 2-1 over the visitors.

Just 10 minutes later, a major gaffe from Nick Rimando gave Minnesota their third goal as he tried to bring the ball down outside the box in front of an onrushing Christian Ramirez. In an attempt to evade the United attacker, he mis-kicked it and Ramirez was able to collect it and dribble it into a completely open and empty net to put the home side up 3-1.

The game went from bad to abysmal in the 68th minute when a defensive error from rookie Justin Schmidt turned into a lopsided attack from Minnesota. Johan Venegas was able to easily collect a pass in front of the goal and slot it in to put his team ahead by a score of 4-1.

Minnesota would control the majority of the game in the meantime, but RSL did get their consolation goal in the 87th thanks to Movsisyan, who was given a great ball in from late-game substitute Luis Silva. Yura was able to bring the ball in and put it past Shuttleworth with ease to pull one back for the claret-and-cobalt, cutting the home side’s lead to 4-2.

RSL is now winless in five games on the season and falls to 0-3-2 with two points to their name. They currently sit in 10th place while Minnesota jumps to eighth in the Western Conference with a total of four points.

Salt Lake hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps next week while Minnesota visits last year’s Supporter’s Shield winners FC Dallas.