Maybe it was a little magic from a Wizard of Waverly Place. In the end, it took the head of an opposing player. But the Wizards finally got a goal. And it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
RSL at Kansas City player grades -> DNews Blog/Dan Rasmussen
RSL's finishing troubles rumble on -> MLSNet/Thomas Foote
The chances keep coming, the targets are set, but unfortunately for Real Salt Lake, the ball isn't going into the net.
Real Salt Lake: Poof! Wizards make RSL's hopes vanish -> Deseret News/Robert Whitman
"I thought we did all the necessary stuff that you need to pick up a result on the road," Kreis said. "I thought we were together, we worked very hard, and we created enough chances to score that goal that would have taken us over the top. In the end the quality of final touch wasn't there again for us tonight, and we paid for it."
Late own goal snaps RSL's streak -> Daily Herald
Finally, with a little help, the Wizards found reward for their pressure in the 89th minute. Ryan Pore drew a free kick 20 yards out on the left wing after another pass from Lopez. Arnaud took the kick with his right boot and sent the ball for captain Jimmy Conrad in the middle of the box. Beltran won the heading duel, but still sent the ball into his own net past a beleaguered Rimando.
Real Salt Lake: Beltran's late-game own goal sinks RSL -> Salt Lake Tribune/Stuart Goldman
"It's hard for us to feel satisfied," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "This is another game where you have to feel like you dropped a point. If we're a little more focused for the last couple of minutes, we pick up a point. That's happened too often to us this year."
(Recap and Quotes courtesy of RSL Communications):
LATE OWN GOAL DOOMS RSL TO 1-0 DEFEAT AT KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Loss Snaps RSL’s Club-Record Tying Five-Game Undefeated Streak
RSL Remains in Second-Place Tie in West Standings Heading into Showdown with Houston on Thursday
RSL Remains in Second-Place Tie in West Standings Heading into Showdown with Houston on Thursday
KANSAS CITY, KS (Saturday, June 28, 2008) – Real Salt Lake saw its franchise-record tying five game undefeated streak snapped in heartbreaking fashion Saturday night, as an 89th minute own goal marked the only scoring in a 1-0 defeat at the Kansas City Wizards in front of a sellout crowd of 10,385 fans at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. After Real Salt Lake benefitted from an own goal in a victory over New England last Saturday, the Utah side would be victimized by a similar play a week later, with a free kick sent into the penalty area by Kansas City FW Claudio Lopez deflecting off the head of RSL DF Tony Beltran as he battled Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad for the ball inside the six-yard box.
With the result, Real Salt Lake remains in a second-place tie in the Western Conference standings alongside the Houston Dynamo, who will visit the Wasatch Front on Thursday night (8:00 p.m. MT, live on ESPN2) in a battle for positioning in the tightly-grouped conference. Meanwhile, the Wizards snapped a seven-game winless streak with the three points on the evening, moving to within another victory of fifth-place sharers D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls in the East standings.
For the full MLSnet.com recap of tonight’s contest, please click on the link below:
http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080628&content_id=168987&vkey=news_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=t121
Real Salt Lake (5-6-4) vs. Kansas City Wizards (4-5-4) June 28, 2008 -- CommunityAmerica Ballpark
Scoring Summary: KC -- Own Goal (Tony Beltran) 89
Real Salt Lake -- Nick Rimando, Tony Beltran, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams (Kenny Cutler 80), Dema Kovalenko, Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Findley (Tino Nunez 69), Kenny Deuchar (Yura Movsisyan 69)
Substitutes Not Used: Matias Cordoba, Ian Joy, Matias Mantilla, Chris Seitz
Kansas City Wizards -- Kevin Hartman, Jack Jewsbury, Jimmy Conrad, Aaron Hohlbein (Chance Myers 78), Michael Harrington, Davy Arnaud, Kurt Morsink, Sasha Victorine (Carlos Marinelli 62), Scott Sealy, Ivan Trujillo (Ryan Pore 62), Claudio Lopez.
Substitutes Not Used: Eric Kronberg, Jonathan Leathers, Ryan McMahen, Tyson Wahl
-------------------Kansas City Wizards---------------------------Real Salt Lake
total shots: -------21 (3 tied with 4)------------------------------ 13 (Kenny Deuchar 4)
shots on goal: ------2 (Claudio Lopez 1, Scott Sealy 1)--------------6 (Kenny Deuchar 2, Yura Movsisyan 2)
fouls: --------------4 (4 tied with 1)-------------------------------13 (Kenny Deuchar 3)
offsides: -----------1 (Scott Sealy 1)-------------------------------2 (Kenny Deuchar 1, Robbie Findley 1)
corner kicks:--------8 (Claudio Lopez 6)-----------------------------1 (Javier Morales 1)
saves:--------------5 (Kevin Hartman 5)----------------------------2 (Nick Rimando 2)
Misconduct Summary:
RSL -- Kenny Deuchar (caution; Reckless Foul) 11
RSL -- Dema Kovalenko (caution; Dissent) 31
Referee: Alex Prus
Referee's Assistants: Thomas Supple; Jeff Muschik
4th Official: Doug Wolff
Time of Game: 1:52
Attendance: 10,385
Weather: Sunny -and- 83 degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On the game
“It was an extremely hard-fought game. All I care about is three points. In this league it’s not always about how pretty it is, but at the end of the day it’s about getting three points. I’m extremely pleased with the win and we’re just going to build on it.”
On the sellout crowd
“It was excellent and I’m extremely pleased that we were able to get three points in front of them. They deserved it. We have excellent fans here and we want to continue to build onto our already wonderful fan base every day.”
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER JIMMY CONRAD
On the win
“It was great to get the monkey off our back. We’ve been looking for a win for a long time. Now we don’t have to worry about a winless streak or talk about it anymore. It’s huge for our confidence. There’s a real thin line between success and failure in this league and confidence is the real difference maker.”
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS GOALKEEPER KEVIN HARTMAN
On the win
“It was a great effort, and a great defensive effort. The guys worked really, really hard. Maybe it takes just a little bit of luck to break the losing streak we were on. We’re excited to get three points at home.”
On posting his League-leading 6th shutout
“I’d like to say that I had more of a roll in it. I think I had two tough saves but most of the saves were just routine. It really comes back to the fact that the guys really competed tonight.”
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the game
“I thought we did all the necessary stuff that you need to to pick up a result on the road. I thought we were together, we worked very hard and we created enough chances to score that goal that would have taken us over the top. In the end, the quality, the touch wasn’t there and we paid for it.”
On the own goal
“It is very frustrating, I know that Tony will feel very outdone by it. When you put balls in dangerous spots, those things will happen. So I wouldn’t necessarily fault the final touch that put it in the back of the net, but why we gave that free kick away in such a dangerous spot in such a dangerous moment in the game.”
On Kansas City’s attack
“I thought that Kansas City came out very aggressively tonight. It is a fair result to be honest because they created the majority of the chances. It was a typical away game for us.”
