Real Salt Lake Impress At Home Against San Jose
Apr 22, 2023, 9:31 PM | Updated: Apr 24, 2023, 2:01 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – Real Salt Lake impresses with a 3-1 victory at home against San Jose as Andrés Gómez stars with two assists and a goal.
Pablo Mastroeni started the same starting XI from a week ago when the club lost 2-1 on the road to FC Dallas. However, the biggest news regarding the game-day roster was the return of captain Damir Kreilach to the bench. Kreilach has been dealing with a groin injury and sidelined for three weeks.
Real Salt Lake began the fixture playing in an aggressive manner. Pablo Ruiz and Jasper Löffelsend were in control of the midfield which has been a struggle for Real Salt Lake in 2023.
Real Salt Lake Impress
As a result of the midfield dominance, Real Salt Lake was creating many attacking opportunities. Half an hour into the contest, Anderson Julio should have scored the game’s opening goal but his heavy touch trickled into the gloves of San Jose goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski.
Minutes later, Julio fell to the ground, grabbing his thigh, and was replaced by Danny Musovski. Then, shortly thereafter Bryan Vera was forced to come off due to a hip contusion and was replaced by Bryan Oviedo.
The introductions did not impact the manner in which Real Salt Lake was playing. Finally, in the 39th minute, Löffelsend cut off a pass in the midfield and played in Musovski who quickly had Rubio Rubin to his left and Löffelsend to his right. Musovski played a perfectly weighted ball onto the right foot of Löffelsend who punished the ball past Marcinkowski and into the back of the net.
For the first time in 2023, Real Salt Lake scored the first goal of a game.
However, that lead was quickly cut minutes into the second half when Espinoza crossed a ball into the area from a free kick that ricocheted off the toe of Rubin and past Zack MacMath to level proceedings.
The Andrés Gómez Show
Five minutes later Real Salt Lake returned the favor when Andrés Gómez played Jefferson Savarino on the right flank. Savarino cut onto his right foot and curled the shot into the bottom right corner of the net to gift the hosts the lead, again.
YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST pic.twitter.com/07qFGoLUZ5
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) April 23, 2023
Gómez was showcasing his incredible talent and warranting the front office’s decision to break the bank on the young Colombian. His unique ability to turn defenders inside out while involving his attacking teammates was providing many highlight reel clips for Real Salt Lake fans near and far to enjoy.
In the 80th minute, Gómez capped off a superb evening with his first goal for his new club when he tucked his left-footed strike off the left post and into the back of the net. Savarino was warranted with the assist after finding Gómez from the left wing.
With the assist, Savarino became the second-fastest Real Salt Lake player to reach the 30 goals and 30 assist mark doing so in 108 matches. Joao Plata accomplished the same feat in 104 matches.
Next Match
Real Salt Lake will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a U.S. Open Third-Round fixture against the Las Vegas Lights on Wednesday, April 26. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m.
