Real Salt Lake 1 : 3 San Diego

Expansion club San Diego FC remain unbeaten after three MLS games following a 3-1 win in Salt Lake City. Goals from Franco Negri, Anders Dreyer and Marcus Ingvartsen ensured a come from behind win for the Californian side.

The day didn’t start off as planned for Mikey Varay’s side. They could only extend their clean sheet record to 197 minutes when RSL took the lead. In his first season in MLS, 20-year-old Australian Ariath Piol received a pass from Polish international Dominik Marczuk and netted for the Utah side.

That was the final time, SDFC keeper CJ Dos Santos was beaten. He saved five further efforts prompting his coach to say:

“CJ was a monster tonight. You know, of course, we can always be nitpicky about every single player on the field about little things, and he knows that he improved.

“The keeper was a fireman for us, because he takes two or three big, big, big chances away from them.”

Faced with their first deficit of the season, SD didn’t crumble. They restored parity just before half time when Franco Negri headed home, the first headed goal of his career.

His coach Mikey Varas was as surprised as anyone:

“You know, I don’t think anybody had Franco scoring a header from 11 yards out on their bingo card tonight. But people step up and at the end of the day you have to celebrate that.”

The game seemed to be heading for a draw when the 90 minutes expired but the visitors were to strike twice in injury time.

Dreyer scored his third goal of the season with a left-footed effort from close range, following a fortunate deflection near the six-yard box off a Willy Kumado cross. Kumado had replaced goalscorer Negri in the 74th minute.

Deep into stoppage time, Marcus Ingvartsen rolled in his opening goal of the season to ensure a two goal margin.

This first come from behind victory marks a landmark for the club.

After the match, Varas reflected on how much it meant:

“They scored early. You say, have any message for the guys, or what do they do to kind of regroup? And yeah, keep going. We talk a lot about impacting the flow of a game, and sometimes the game, the flow of games are going to go against you.

“You have to have composure in those moments. Stick to our principles, stick to our style of play. Keep positive, keep believing, and then just chip away and grind away at it at the end of the day.”

Dreyer added:

“… it says a lot. I think it’s about the way we build this team that we trust each other. And of course, with massive saves from CJ today, helps us a lot. He was the hero for us today.

“So today we’re very thankful for him in the goal. Overall, I’m happy for the win, but because there’s things we can improve.”

The result takes SDFC to seven points and second place, behind Vancouver Whitecaps who have three wins from three.

San Diego host Columbus Crew next Saturday, their first ever match against an Eastern Conference team. The Ohio siade also have seven points from their three games and remain unbeaten.

Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos, D Jasper Löffelsend (Luca Bombino, 73’), D Christopher McVey, D Franco Negri (Willy Kumado, 74’) ; D Paddy McNair (Ian Pilcher, 55’), M Jeppe Tverskov -C-, M Aníbal Godoy, M Luca de la Torre (Onni Valakari, 64’) F Anders Dreyer, F Marcus Ingvartsen, F Tomás Ángel (Emmanuel Boateng, 64’)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Pablo Sisniega, D Hamady Diop, M Alejandro Alvarado, F Alex Mighten.

TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 5

REAL SALT LAKE: GK Rafael Cabral; D Henry Kessler, D Javain Brown (Kobi Henry, 70’), D Philip Quinton, D Alexandros Katranis (Sam Junqua, 55’) , M Diego Luna (Forster Ajago, 70’), M Braian Ojeda, M Emeka Eneli, M Diogo Gonçalves, M, F Dominik Marczuk (Bode Hidalgo, 85’), F Ariath Piol (Tyler Wolff, 70’).

Substitutes Not Used: GK Mason Stajduhary, D Brayan Vera, M Nelson Palacio, M Lachlan Brook.

Referee: Alexis Da Silva