SEATTLE — As his final season — his 20th — ended Wednesday night in a 2-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders FC in the MLS Western Conference semifinals, Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando pondered what he will be doing Thursday, his first day of retirement from the sport.
“I’m going to take my kids to school in the morning,” he said outside RSL’s locker room at CenturyLink Field. “We land at 2 o’clock in the morning. I’ll wake up, get them breakfast, check them into school and then, um, kick my feet up. Have a couple of whiskeys maybe. Yeah, relax.”
He had little time to relax Wednesday as the No. 2-seeded Sounders peppered him with 20 shots that involved seven saves, many of them dazzling. RSL, meanwhile, managed just seven shots and forced Seattle keeper Stefan Frei to make just one save. This despite the fact that Real Salt Lake had the edge in possession for the match, 62.4 percent to 37.6.
“We came, we showed up, we fought,” RSL interim coach Freddy Juarez said. “We controlled moments of the game. We were missing that aggressiveness in the final third, and the opponent was good as well.”
After an evenly played first half, the Sounders scored in the 64th minute on a header by Gustav Svensson off a corner kick by Nicolas Lodeiro, and in the 81st minute Lodeiro bent in a left-footed shot from the left side of the box that barely eluded Rimando’s outstretched arm before it settled into the side netting near the top right corner.
The Sounders, making their 11 consecutive postseason appearance (an MLS record), advance to next week’s conference finals. RSL, eliminated in the conference semifinal round for a second straight season, will aim to take the next step next season.
“We happy with the guys,” Juarez said. “To come into this environment (playing in front of 37,722 spectators), we came and we fought. That’s what I asked the guys.”
Both teams played tight defense throughout the first half, and Real Salt Lake retained possession through 62.3 percent of the first 45 minutes, yet Seattle produced three scoring opportunities that forced Rimando to make challenging saves.
In the fourth minute, Lodeiro drilled a shot from less than 10 yards out that ricocheted hard off the top corner of the right post before RSL was able to clear it away.
“It will all sink in tomorrow or the next week or so. The coaches and my teammates knew I gave everything I had leading to this last game. That’s all I can ask for. I’m so grateful for what soccer has given me.” — RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando
Raul Ruidiaz launched a hard header less than 10 minute later just inches wide of the left post, causing Rimando to fall hard on his left shoulder. In the 42nd minute, Ruidiaz took a cross from Lodeiro less than 10 yards outside the goal and had his point-blank blast stuffed by Rimando. Seattle outshot RSL 8-5 in the half, and Salt Lake managed just one shot on target to Seattle’s four.
Seattle opened the second half with side-to-side passes that widened its offense and put pressure on RSL’s defenders. The Sounders Kelvin Leerdam had two close-range blasts in the first that tested Rimando, and minutes later RSL’s Justen Glad broke up a centering pass 10 yards from the mouth of the goal.
Svensson caught Lodeiro’s corner kick in the 64th minute close to the near post with no defender on him. His header zipped past Rimando, and the 40-year-old keeper, the first MLS player to play in 500 regular-season matches, had no chance to react.
Midfielder Albert Rusnak hoped for a better outcome after playing Seattle evenly through the first 45 minutes.
“I think we had about 60 percent ball possession, and I don’t think many teams will do that here. That was our plan, to keep the ball. We didn’t want to sit back,” Rusnak said.
“Zero-zero at the half, it’s pretty good. But the corner kick and the goal from that, I wouldn’t say killed our momentum, but I wouldn’t say cheap, but it hurts you the most when you concede it from the corner. It wasn’t anything special that they did. It was a goal that it takes you a few minutes to come back from.”
Rimando played 13 of his 20 MLS seasons with Real Salt Lake. He finishes his career as the MLS record-holder in wins (223), saves (1,712), shutouts (154) and games played (515, all starts).
“It will all sink in tomorrow or the next week or so,” he said when asked to reflect on the conclusion of his playing career. “The coaches and my teammates knew I gave everything I had leading to this last game. That’s all I can ask for. I’m so grateful for what soccer has given me.
“It sucks,” he said of the loss. “We wanted to go a bit further, even though people didn’t have us in mind. The guys gave it their all. Unfortunately we didn’t come out on the right side of the result. But I enjoyed it all, even today.”
RSL, which took a probing, methodical approach on offense that could never quite crack Seattle’s defense, played with just 10 men after the 84th minute when Everton Luiz was shown a red card following a hard, high tackle from behind on Lodeiro.
“He’s not a dirty player,” Juarez said of Luiz. “He’s a competitive player. He got all ball. Now, did he get a red because studs (on his shoes) are showing? Possibly. You could argue it’s not, you could argue it is. He wants to win.”
Rimando, meanwhile, kept Real Salt Lake in it with some eye-popping saves, including a split-second punch that sent a blast by Ruidiaz just inches over the crossbar.
“The last three games — Vancouver, he made an incredible save to his right side,” Juarez said. “Last game, he made the incredible to his left against Portland, and then today, I think off a deflection, he tips it over. He’s an amazing player. He set the standard for American goalies. He’s an unbelievable player. It would have been nice to give him one of those storybook endings.”
“I was ready for this game,” Rimando said. “I wanted to move on. The whole team wanted to move on. I was lucky enough to come up with some saves when I needed to, and unlucky we couldn’t put a couple by (Seattle’s) Stefan (Frei). They’re a good team. We respect them.”
He could be seen rubbing his left shoulder throughout the match. “I’ve been playing all year with a torn rotator cuff,” Rimando said. “It acted up today. People thought I was kidding around when I said I had a couple of surgeries to do after my career. My knee. My shoulder. I’m a banged-up old guy. But I’ll get my body right, relax, have time with my family and reflect on what this sport has given me.”