A wild first half that saw an own goal by Kasey Keller, a missed penalty kick by the Sounders, and a red card to both teams (one justified and one not) was a sign of how the match would ultimately turn out for the Sounders.
Real Salt Lake got on the board early, through the aforementioned Keller own goal. Fabian Espindola sent in a cross to the far post where Alvaro Saborio was waiting. Keller attempted to deal with the ball and scoop into the side netting, but instead scooped it right into the goal. Then came the missed penalty kick in the sixteenth minute, Mike Fucito getting taken down by Robbie Russel as he was making his way onto the ball into the penalty area. Mauro Rosales stepped up to the spot, and made Nick Rimando go the wrong way, but had the extreme misfortune to slide the ball just wide of the post.
The pair of red cards came within just five minutes of each other, in the thirty ninth and thirty fifth minutes. First, RSL's Tony Beltran committed a hard and late challenge on Rosales which gave him a second yellow and the ejection. The second came at the other end of the field, as Alvaro Saborio was going one on one with Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Hurtado got the ball, but as he was advancing up the field Saborio kept at it causing Hurtado to hold up his arm to hold the striker off. Saborio capitalized on this motion, acting as if he had been stricken in the face. The ref took the bait hook line and sinker and sent Hurtado off.
Despite everything in the first half just not going their way, the Sounders were able to equalize in stoppage time heading into half time. Rosales played a brilliant one-two with Montero, got the end line and lobbed the ball into the center of the box where Montero gathered it up and fired it straight into the roof of the net over Rimando.
Into the second half the Sounders were able to keep pressuring RSL, ultimately getting sixty six percent of the possession and nineteen total shots to RSL's ten, but they just couldn't break through. To add to the frustration, RSL was able to tally another goal through Saborio completely against the run of play. The Sounders best opportunity to equalize the match once again came in the sixty nineth minute. Tyson Wahl received the ball off of one of the Sounders' many corner kicks and fired the ball towards the goal, but Rimando was there, miraculously keeping the ball out with his face.
Next up the Sounders head down to Costa Rica, to face Leo Gonzalez's former club Herediano in CONCACAF Champions League play.
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