RSL drops points at home in 1-1 draw with Houston Dynamo

It was nearly a fantastic match for Real Salt Lake, but despite outshooting Houston Dynamo by a significant margin, the home side played to a disappointing 1-1 draw.

Justen Glad provided an opener for RSL in the 10th minute, finishing splendidly from an Albert Rusnak corner. It was the third Rusnak corner, and it was, by all accounting, the third to have produced a shot — a truly significant turnaround from the club’s woes from the corner mark in matches one to seven.

Some horrendous defending led to a Houston goal early in the second half, with Maxi Urruti putting one past David Ochoa from inside the box after coming back from an offside position. Despite the box being full of RSL defenders, nobody noticed his return, and it led to the game being knotted at 1-1.

The 66th minute brought the first substitutions for RSL, with Bobby Wood and Anderson Julio coming in, and Maikel Chang and Rubio Rubin making way. Those changes, along with changes from Houston, flipped the match on its head, with RSL taken from a dominant, attacking position into one looking increasingly desperate for a goal.

From there, opportunities were scarce, with one or two opportunities appearing for the home side — but Houston had things largely under control, and RSL struggled to influence the match in a positive way following the slew of changes.