Real Salt Lake Struggle Against Viking FK In Preseason Hitout

SALT LAKE CITY – Real Salt Lake fell to Norwegian club Viking FK in Portland, Oregon this afternoon in a disappointing defensive display.

David Ochoa started in goal, Tate Schmitt, Marcelo Silva, Erik Holt, and Pierre Reedy occupied the backline. Everton Luiz saw his first action since resigning with the club during the offseason as he played alongside recently drafted Jasper Loeffelsend in the heart of the midfield. Justin Meram and Jonothan Menendez were on the wing, Damir Kreilach at the 10 and Bobby Wood at the point of the attack.

The fixture began in a disappointing manner as Viking FK found the game’s first goal eight minutes in when poor defending on the back post led to an easy tap-in for Niklas Sandberg who was all alone on the six-yard box.

Here you go 🙂 pic.twitter.com/nbSdRFT2vO

— Hans Christian (@hansemann9597) February 13, 2022

Real Salt Lake then equalized immediately following halftime through captain Damir Kreilach when he found the back of the net in the 46^th minute. Fellow MLS veteran Justin Meram was rewarded with the assist.

Viking striker Kabran responded immediately when his long range strike found the top corner of the net in the 48^th minute. It went from bad to worse minutes later when Kabran scored his brace in the 50^th making it 3-1.

First half favs 📸 pic.twitter.com/xyp0KgAYFE

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) February 13, 2022

In the 68^th minute, the scoreline worsened when Real Salt Lake was exposed on the counter-attack. The fourth goal prompted Pablo Mastroeni to make eight changes. Teenagers Axel Kei and Jaziel Orozco were joined by Pedro Fonsesca, Chris Garcia, Bode Davis, Bobby Pierre, Scott Caldwell and Maikel Chang.

The change in personnel did not alter much. The game ended 4-1.

Viking FK play in the top flight Norweigian league and last season finished in third place, six points shy of the league leaders.

Fortunately, Real Salt Lake will have another chance at finding preseason success when they take on Minnesota United on Wednesday, February 16 at 6 p.m. before closing out its preseason slate against Portland Timbers on Saturday, February 19.