Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando left Seattle bruised, bleeding and in possession of his 10th career post season shutout. RSL and the Seattle Sounders ended Friday night’s first leg of their Western Conference semi-final series tied 0–0 in a game loaded with action that the goalkeepers kept off the scoreline.
The home side’s GK, Michael Gspurning, might have claimed a larger share of the post-game buzz but for Rimando’s career night. Gspurning came 18 yards off his line to deny Grabavoy a through ball in the 23rd minute, nabbed a few dangerous crosses and showed his quickness on powerful near-post attempts by Will Johnson and Álvaro Saborío either side of half time.
And the goalkeepers’ high profiles weren’t due to off nights by the two defenses. Seattle’s back line blocked 5 of RSL’s 11 shots, the most critical being Marc Burch’s denial of Kyle Beckerman’s goal-bound blast before halftime. For RSL, right back Tony Beltran got into the attack well and offered good crosses, Chris Wingert stopped Fredy Montero on the left, Nat Borchers kept the group organized and Kwame Watson-Siriboe stepped up to make a handful Jamison Olave–quality individual plays. (Olave, coming back from injury, came on in the second half and showed why he’s the yardstick against which RSL fans measure all other center backs.)
But few would argue with Rimando being named man of the match. Seattle had 8 corners and 30 open-play crosses on the night, leading to excellent headers from Sammy Ochoa, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Christian Tiffert, but Rimando responded to each with a highlight-reel save. Rimando matched Gspurning two minutes after his counterpart stopped Grabavoy, coming off his line to block Brad Evans’ shot at the corner of the six. Rimando finished the match even after a collision with Tiffert broke his nose and split his eyebrow. Looking like a losing pugilist, he leapt off his line to snuff out a David Estrada cross bound for Montero six yards from the goalmouth.
The game was much more fluid and exciting than the teams’ match in October. Their three regular season meetings ended 1–0, 0–0, 0–0, with Fabian Espíndola scoring the only goal, and the silent scoreline has now continued into the post season. Something will have to give at Rio Tinto Stadium on Thursday. With no priority given to away goals, Real Salt Lake will carry their home field advantage into 30 minutes of extra time and penalty kicks if the match stays tied.
This series is a rematch of last year’s conference semi-final in which RSL advanced on a 3–2 aggregate score, all goals scored by the home teams. Seattle is looking to break its tradition of first round playoff exits and RSL wants another trophy before the core group that won in 2009 starts to lose a step.
The two teams match up well positionally—think Morales/Rosales, Beckerman/Alonso, Rimando/Gspurning, and while Seattle may have an attacking edge, RSL’s defense has consistently been one of the best for years.
Eddie Johnson is expected back for Seattle and RSL will be keeping an eye on nagging injuries to Olave, Watson-Siriboe, Schuler, Grabavoy, Espíndola and… oh yeah… Rimando (you don’t need a pretty face to stop shots, right?). Beckerman and Javier Morales both picked up fairly unnecessary yellow cards, which may carry implications should their team advance to the next round of the playoffs, but no one’s looking past what should be an exciting second leg.
Check it out on MLS Live, Thursday at 7:30 MT/6:30 PT.
(image courtesy of mlssoccer.com)
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