Home Magic Continues For Real Salt Lake Against Seattle Sounders

(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Timely defense and one well-played ball were enough for Real Salt Lake to defeat the Seattle Sounders 1-0.

In typical home fashion, RSL bounced back from a disappointing loss to Chicago last week. The defense of RSL was able to consistently deter Seattle's attacks, and any chances they had were quickly flicked away by a defender, or Nick Rimando.

In particular, Nat Borchers was the defenseman of the game, as he always seemed to make the right play near the box when a Seattle forward had made it past his defender. Many of Seattle's chances were broken up in this way.

Although Seattle controlled the ball for most of the match, RSL created more prime scoring opportunities. Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Findley, and Clint Mathis all had open shots in the first half that were either blocked by Kasey Keller, or just missed the goal.

The game's lone goal came by a smart move on Nick Rimando's part. On a goal kick, Rimando quickly called for a ball, placed it, and gave an excellent ball down the middle of the field to a streaking Robbie Findley. Findley maintained excellent control in the face of a defender, and drove the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Seattle should have gotten an opportunity at a score in injury time, as a shot from a Sounders player was blocked by an RSL defender's hand in the box, but no call was made from the refs, despite appeals from the entire team.

With that little bit of bad luck for Seattle, it has now been three games (including the Barcelona match) in which the Sounders have failed to find the back of the net.

RSL gained a valuable three points in the Western Conference standings in their push to make the playoffs.

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