Real Salt Lake has now pushed their winless streak to six games after tying with the San Jose Earthquakes Friday night in a 1-1 score. This is the longest such streak for the team since 2011.
While the match ended in a tie, it’s not like Real Salt Lake didn’t have ample opportunities, especially in the second half. The team far and away won the time of possession battle against their opponent. Real Salt Lake possessed the ball for 56 of the 90 total minutes while San Jose possessed the ball for a mere 34 minutes.
San Jose had more shots than RSL in the first half, despite Real dominating the time of possession. San Jose also took advantage early in the match, as forward Chris Wondolowski scored in the ninth minute from only six yards out.
After struggling to get a solid shot on goal, Real Salt Lake had a one-on-one opportunity late in the first half. San Jose defender Marvell Wynne was having none of that however, and slide-tackled the ball to save what could have been a goal against his team.
Wynne’s heroics continued in the second half. In the 60th minute, Real’s Joao Plata was on a breakaway, headed for the goal. Wynne was trailing behind him and kicked into high gear to ruin the breakaway opportunity. All was not lost, however, as four minutes later Real midfielder Luke Mulholland was on the receiving end of an excellent pass from Javier Morales in the center of the box. Mulholland delivered a beautiful strike and the score was tied at 1-1.
A combination of luck, inaccuracy on shots, good defense, and good goalkeeping kept Real Salt Lake from scoring again. Real had scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity late in the second half, but could never find the net again. The match ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw, pushing Real Salt Lake’s record to 8-6-7 on the season.
At times this summer, it has seemed Real is playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.
Head coach Jeff Cassar expressed his disappointment after the match.
“Right now, instead of finding a way to win, we’re finding a way to tie or lose in certain circumstances.”
Despite not winning in six straight games, Real has still not lost at home this year. Some of that credit goes to the fans. With the stadium nearly sold out (official attendance was 19,842), the crowd was in the match for most of the game. They cheered loudly for the home team, booed opposing players, and let the referees hear their disapproval.
Real travels to Philadelphia next Sunday to take on the Union. RSL has never lost in Philly. Hopefully that streak lasts and Real can find their high-scoring offense that seems to have been missing for much of the summer.
