Real Salt Lake stunned LAFC 3-2 in a wild affair on Thursday night in the knockout round of the MLS Western Conference playoffs.
Real Salt Lake only won three games on the road all season. LAFC only lost one game at home all season. So what happens when LAFC hosts RSL in the knockout round of the MLS Western Conference playoffs ? RSL wins 3-2, of course. Welcome to the unpredictable MLS playoffs.
Here are three things we learned from Thursday night’s pulsating match.
1. Defense fails the Black and Gold again
LAFC coach Bob Bradley can be praised for bringing an entertaining and free-flowing style of soccer to Banc of California Stadium. The likes of Carlos Vela, Diego Rossi, Adama Diomande, Lee Nguyen and Benny Feilhaber are a formidable group in attack.
But it was the back line that struggled again to keep the ball out of Tyler Miller’s net and ultimately was the reason why LAFC’s historic inaugural season ended after only one playoff match.
Center-back Danilo Silva was certainly at fault for the first RSL goal. In the 21st minute, he misjudged his jump for a Brooks Lennon cross in the penalty area which allowed RSL forward Damir Kreilach to settle the ball and calmly slot it past LAFC goalkeeper Tyler Miller, who was essentially a spectator up to that point in the match.
Danilo Silva redeemed himself by heading past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the 31st minute, but found himself again at fault for the second RSL goal as his soft clearance allowed Kreilach to bag his second of the match with a brilliantly taken volley.
To make matters worse, RSL forward Jefferson Savarino’s weak 69th minute shot deflected off the face of LAFC center-back Walker Zimmerman and past Tyler Miller for the deciding goal.
Bradley will now have a long offseason to think about how to strengthen the back line. Scoring twice at home in a playoff match should be enough to get a result.
2. RSL rob the Banc
Knockout games can be unpredictable and that is the beauty of the first round of the MLS playoffs. LAFC had 63 percent of the possession on the night and controlled the match for large stretches.
The Black and Gold took 21 shots at Nick Rimando’s goal with eight hitting the target while RSL only managed four attempts at goal with two hitting the target with the game winner coming from the Zimmerman own goal.
This was smash and grab soccer at its finest. RSL coach Mike Petke knew that his team would need a lot to go their way for them to advance on the night. Petke’s men used a combination of luck with the Zimmerman own goal and a moment of brilliance from Kreilach to get the better of LAFC.
Despite the 3,252 LAFC supporter club creating a loud and hostile atmosphere all night for RSL and sometimes dangerous working conditions for Rimando (the match was temporarily suspended by referee Mark Geiger following the Danilo Silva 31st minute equalizer as Rimando was hit with an object from the crowd), RSL kept their cool and managed to see out the match to end LAFC’s hopes for its first silverware.
3. Matchups set for the Western Conference semis
RSL’s unlikely victory over LAFC earns them a home match against top-seeded Sporting Kansas City on Sunday in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals while the Portland Timbers will take on their Pacific Northwest rivals Seattle Sounders in the other Western Conference semifinal.
RSL was the only team that did not play on last weekend’s Decision Day. The Claret and Cobalt sat back and watched the LA Galaxy surrender a 2-0 second half lead to fall to the Houston Dynamo 3-2 and gift Mike Petke’s team a berth in the playoffs while their next opponent, Sporting Kansas City, defeated LAFC 2-1 on Sunday to wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference.
Petke surely hopes that this scheduling quirk will benefit his team going forward in the MLS playoffs. At this point in the season, any additional rest is surely welcome.