Advertisement

RSL’s road unbeaten streak ends with 3-0 loss at Portland

RSL’s road unbeaten streak ends with 3-0 loss at Portland

PORTLAND (ABC4 Sports) – Real Salt Lake and the Portland Timbers came into Saturday night’s showdown as the two highest scoring teams in the Western Conference.

But only one team showed off its scoring prowess.

The Timbers scored in the early minutes of each half in route to a 3-0 victory, ending RSL’s 10-game road unbeaten streak, the second longest in MLS history. Real Salt Lake hadn’t lost a road game since the season opener at Inter Miami in February.

RSL explodes for five goals in 5-2 romp over Atlanta

“When we play like a team, we’re a tough team to beat,” said RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni. “However, when we play like individuals, we’re going to get sliced through. It’s only human when when people start to talk about you, and all these things that the ‘we’ starts to shade towards the ‘me.”

Portland opened the scoring in the third minute of the first half when Santiago Moreno beat RSL defender Brayan Vera and fed a cutting Felipe Mora, who buried his shot past Zac MacMath to give the Timbers the early lead.

RSL had come back from deficits before, but it was not to be on this night. Less than three minutes into the second half, MacMath was under attack again, and Moreno blasted a shot into the corner of the net to double Portland’s lead.

MLS leading scorer Chicho Arango had a golden opportunity to cut the deficit in half, but his header hit the post in the 75th minute. Arango is still one goal shy of tying RSL’s all-time single season scoring record of 18.

Portland than put the game completely out of reach in the 90th minute as a sliding Evander found the back of the net to send the crowd into a frenzy.

RSL gets back on winning track, beating Houston, 3-2

The Timbers outshot Real Salt Lake 20-11, putting seven shots on frame compared to three for RSL.

“That, for me is always the hallmark of this team, is that we have great reactions,” Mastroeni said. “Today we had really poor reactions and it just became a game of individuals.”

Despite the loss, Real Salt Lake (12-4-7) stays tied with LAFC and the L.A. Galaxy atop the Western Conference, all with 43 points.

RSL stays on the road for a showdown at LAFC Wednesday night.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.