Real Salt Lake drop an early lead, fall 2-1 to FC Dallas

Sebastian Saucedo scored Real Salt Lake’s opener in the 22nd minute with a nice curling shot to the far post. The young attacker, whose right-sided attacks had been giving FC Dallas trouble, has been one of the major success stories of RSL’s preseason.

Jesus Ferreira leveled things for FC Dallas, ending up free in the box without too much attention being paid to him; he slotted past Nick Rimando with startling ease. It was an instance of extremely poor defensive organization from Salt Lake, and in ways, it was a mirror of what RSL produced in late 2018.

Tony Beltran conceded a 58th minute penalty after taking down Santiago Mosquera, who buried his penalty without too much trouble, bringing FC Dallas ahead, 2-1. The penalty came after some poor decision-making in the box all around, with FC Dallas resurgent with their second-half lineup.

The 64th minute saw the referee take to VAR, calling a penalty in FC Dallas’s favor after Justin Portillo was found to have committed a handball blocking a cross inside the box. Nick Rimando kept things close, though, with Dominique Badji putting his penalty to the goalkeeper’s right at just about standing level. Rimando, as one would expect, saved it without too much trouble.

FC Dallas missed a golden opportunity to go ahead 3-1, but Nick Rimando was left relieved after a wide-open shot was missed at the far post from an extreme angle, when a simple touch would have seen him in an extremely easy goalscoring position.

Overall, the lineup was not a full strength RSL side and that certainly had an effect on the game. Head coach Mike Petke elected to only use three substitutions in a preseason friendly, which likely points to wanting to follow regular season substitution patterns as preparation for the upcoming season.

Lineup

Rimando (Putna, 77’)
Beltran; Onuoha; Besler; Toia
Ruiz; Portillo
Mulholland (Arriaga, 77’)
Saucedo; Coffee (Vazquez 85’); Plata