TUCSON, Ariz. — Real Salt Lake made it three wins in three games in the 2015 Desert Diamond Cup as RSL defeated Sporting Kansas City 2-1 in Tucson on Wednesday night.
Emery Welshman opened the scoring in the 12th minute. A cross by Jordan Allen into the box was headed down by Sporting’s Saad Abdul-Salaam. The ball landed at the feet of RSL’s Luke Mulholland, who found Welshman open on the left, and the Guyanese-Canadian curled in his first goal of the preseason.
Welshman nearly doubled the lead in the 23rd minute as his header hit the crossbar. Boyd Okwuonu had to battle Sporting’s James Rogers in the 25th minute, who got inside the box, only to see his chance literally slip away as Rogers slipped and lost the ball. SKC continued to press RSL throughout the game. While they looked shaky when Sporting pressed in the first half, RSL never made the mistake Sporting was looking for.
In the second half, Mulholland’s hustle enabled another RSL goal in the 47th minute as his pressure on Sporting defender Mikey Lopez led to a turnover near the top of the Sporting penalty box. RSL forward Devin Sandoval beat former RSL and current SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia to the ball and put it into the back of the net to double the lead.
Sporting cut the lead in half in the 66th minute as a corner kick led to a Dom Dwyer header to the far post and in for the 2-1 score line. The play of the game came in the 75th minute as RSL goalkeeper Jeff Attinella made an outstanding kick save on a Bernardo Añor shot on goal. Sporting had one last chance for an equalizer in stoppage time, but Graham Zusi’s shot from the top of the box was deflected and went out of play.
Tempers flared on various occasions throughout the game, as Real and Sporting players scuffled on two separate occasions.
Welshman, who was a late invitee to RSL’s preseason squad, certainly brought energy to the RSL front line. Mulholland was solid as the initiator of both Real goals. Lastly, Attinella’s goalkeeping was the reason Sporting did not get a second goal, as the RSL defense looked shaky and confused too many times against the pressing Sporting attack throughout the game.
Real Salt Lake will take the pitch this Saturday night in the Desert Diamond Cup final against its Rocky Mountain Cup rival, the Colorado Rapids.
Xoel CÀrdenas is a writer with Deseret News sports. Xoel is also a columnist at SB Nation, the largest sports blog site in the country, where he covers FC Barcelona. Follow him on Twitter @XoelCardenas.