Real Salt Lake Settles for Draw In Late-Season Clash With Austin FC
Sep 28, 2024, 10:36 PM
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
AUSTIN, Texas – Real Salt Lake battled Austin FC to a 2-2 draw at Q2 Stadium on Saturday, but it felt like three points were left on the table.
The MLS playoff race is much closer in the West than it is in the East. Even though RSL already secured a spot in the postseason with a 3-3 draw against Portland, they still need points in order to hold onto a top-three rank.
However, they had to settle for one after a disappointing draw on Matchday 35.
It ends in a tie #ATXvRSL | @SelectHealth pic.twitter.com/p840pf7xks
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 29, 2024
Real Salt Lake Gives Up Late Goals, Draws In Austin
Despite sitting in different spots, there was a shared goal. Three points.
Through the first 45′, Real Salt Lake held a slight advantage in possession, shots, and shots on goal. However, they still had no goals to show for it.
That quickly changed after the break.
In the 48th minute, Matt Crooks finally broke through for Real Salt Lake. Off of a deflection from Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver, Crooks showed off his quick reaction time with an easy tap-in from the middle of the box.
Our Tree making a statement over The Oaks pic.twitter.com/YQKd0AFePZ
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 29, 2024
The chippy playstyle that Austin adopted from very early on continued into the second and it came back to bite them.
They were called for two fouls not soon after the goal and then, in the 62nd minute, a foul in the box went to VAR.
It didn’t take long for the officials to give RSL a penalty kick. Diogo Gonçalves strolled up to the spot and placed it in the bottom right corner to double Real’s lead.
That’s back-to-back games with goals for Diogo 🫡 pic.twitter.com/VYbF8echqf
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 29, 2024
With just 25 minutes left in regulation, all RSL had to do was hold on.
As the clock passed the 80th, it appeared they would do just that for three points on the road. But then Austin came knocking.
After scrambling Real’s defense with some misdirection, Jáder Obrian calmly sent a shot into the corner to cut the lead to one.
With the 90th minute in sight, they did it again. An excellent pass by Sebastián Driussi perfectly set up Guilherme Biro behind the back line and he easily pinned it in the back left side of the net.
Massive equalizer from Biro! pic.twitter.com/P0XEHxeIYV
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) September 29, 2024
With the score knotted at 2-2 and RSL seemingly on its heels, six minutes of stoppage time was added.
Even though they had just let Austin equalize with two goals in less than 10 minutes, Real set the tempo over the final six minutes. They had two corner kicks and took three shots over two minutes.
Austin went on the counterattack after forcing the stop and took two shots right after, the first was blocked and the second missed to the right.
Anderson Julio loaded up from long range just before full-time was called but couldn’t bury it and Real Salt Lake was left with just one point.
How To Watch Real Salt Lake
All Major League Soccer games are broadcasted on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.
All Real Salt Lake English-language radio coverage for the 2024 season and beyond will be carried on various KSL radio signals. KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM) and KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM / 1160 AM) are both stations under the Bonneville International umbrella.
