RSL beats Seattle, 1-0, for first 2018 road win

It took a tremendous display of goalscoring prowess for Real Salt Lake to manage their first road win of 2018.

That it came against a team we’ve had limited success against at home in Seattle Sounders, and that it came because of the first MLS goal for Sebastian Saucedo, and that it’s the first road win for RSL since August 2017? Those were all bonuses.

RSL’s Sebastian Saucedo scored his first MLS goal with a beautiful 60th minute attempt, beating Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei with a curler from outside the box. Frei managed to get his fingertips to the shot, but he couldn’t get nearly enough on it to stop the Park City kid as he brought the team to a 1-0 lead.

Seattle nearly equalized only minutes later, with Nick Rimando pushing a shot onto the crossbar. RSL only just managed to keep Seattle from putting the ball in the back of the net several times after that, with some last-ditch defending coming in handy. An immediate response would have left RSL struggling for momentum — a sight we’ve seen all too often.

RSL didn’t concede a single time in the first half, which has happened in about half the road matches the team has played. It took until the second half for the team to get a single shot off, but a good spell early on saw the team get three or four shots off.

The first half saw a slew of cards, with five given out by referee Baldomero Toledo, with RSL picking up three of those.

Marcelo Silva, making a start despite having been substituted with injury in RSL’s 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, found himself acting as RSL’s savior in the first half, deflecting away multiple key opportunities for Seattle.

Danilo Acosta likewise made a return to the starting lineup, last starting in a 3-0 win over Colorado Rapids, a match in which he played only 45 minutes. Sunny made his first start for the club of the year, having made three substitute appearances previously.

Events

Cautions

16’ — Seattle yellow card, Wolff Eikrem, tactical foul
24’ — RSL yellow card, Sunny, bad tackle
36’ — Seattle yellow card, Nouhou, bad tackle
41’ — RSL yellow card, Justen Glad, tactical foul
45’ — RSL yellow card, Kyle Beckerman, dissent (reported as Silva on TV broadcast)

Goals

61’ — SEA 0-1 RSL Sebastian Saucedo

Lineups

Real Salt Lake

Rimando
Lennon, M. Silva, Glad, Acosta
Sunny, Beckerman
Savarino (85’ Besler), Rusnák (90+5’ Herrera), Saucedo (68’ Kreilach)
Baird

Bench: Sparrow, Herrera, Ruiz, Besler, Kreilach, L. Silva, Lopez-Espin

Seattle Sounders

Frei
Leerdam, Kim, Marshall, Nouhou (67’ McCrary)
Delem (58’ Neagle)
Wolff Eikrem, A. Roldan, C. Roldan, Bwana (33’ Francis)
Dempsey

Bench: Meredith, Alfaro, McCrary, Francis, Shipp, Neagle, Chenkam