RSL falls 1-0 to Seattle, loses fourth straight

Real Salt Lake dropped their fourth straight game tonight as they fell 1-0 to the Seattle Sounders, courtesy of an early first-half goal from Nicolas Lodeiro. Tonight saw RSL’s designated player Sam Johnson get his first start of the season, notching two shots on goal and getting into some dangerous areas especially in the second half.

It didn’t take very long for the scoring to open, as Lodeiro found the back of the net in the 18th minute. Cristian Roldan sent a cross in from the far right side and the ball found its way directly to Lodeiro in front of the goal, who one-touched it on the volley and put the home side up 1-0 early in the first half.

Marcelo Silva saved a would-be goal in the 33rd minute as Seattle midfielder Victor Rodriguez dribbled the ball toward the left side of the goal, thinking he was going one-on-one with Nick Rimando. Just before it looked like Rodriguez was about to pull the trigger, Silva had a perfect tackle from behind, sending the ball out of bounds for a corner kick and keeping the Sounders from adding to their goal total.

After RSL got some momentum and actually had a couple decent chances on goal that didn’t pan out, the teams went into the locker room at half time with the Sounders still leading 1-0. Looking at the stats, it appeared to be nearly dead even as RSL logged seven shots in total with four on frame, while Seattle had nine total with three on frame. The Sounders controlled 63% of possession though, and much of the momentum in the first 45 minutes.

Sam Johnson nearly netted one for RSL in the 52nd minute when he let a left-footed rocket fly from the top of the box, just barely going wide of the far post by mere inches.

Savarino saw RSL’s best chance of the game around the 74th minute when he collected a beautiful pass into the box and found his way inside Brad Smith, Seattle’s last defender. Sava let the ball fly toward the goal, absolutely beating ‘keeper Stefan Frei, but it just hit the near post and bounced off and back into play, keeping RSL off the score sheet by inches yet again.

Despite RSL gaining more control in the second half and ending up outshooting the home side overall 13-11, the Sounders held on for a 1-0 win, taking all three points, extending their unbeaten run to five, while RSL goes on to lose their fourth straight game. They’ll return home next week to host Orlando City SC at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Scoring

18’ SEA - Nicolas Lodeiro (Cristian Roldan)

Discipline

73’ SEA - Cristian Roldan (yellow card)
78’ SEA - Kelvin Leerdam (yellow card)
83’ RSL - Marcelo Silva (yellow card)

Lineups

RSL: Rimando; Lennon, Onuoha, Silva (87’ Arriaga), Herrera; Beckerman, Luiz; Savarino, Rusnak, Baird (85’ Schmitt); Johnson (69’ Saucedo)

SEA: Frei; Leerdam, Kee-hee, Marshall, Smith; Svensson, C. Roldan; Morris, Lodeiro, Rodriguez (81’ Nouhou); Bruin (73’ Shipp)