Damir Kreilach and Albert Rusnak struck in the final 10 minutes to lift Real Salt Lake to a massive 2-1 comeback win over FC Dallas Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium, keeping them in the Western Conference's Audi MLS Cup Playoffs race.
Rusnak scored the winner at the death, putting a low shot inside the far post off a feed from Justin Meram after Kreilach leveled in the 80th minute – his 15th goal of the season also coming from a Meram assist. The visitors came back after trailing for an hour following Matt Hedges’ first goal since Decision Day 2019, which gave the hosts a 20th-minute lead.
The center back beat David Ochoa to a lofted Justin Che service into the box and, with his back to goal, put a glancing heading past the Real Salt Lake goalkeeper.
The goal came five minutes after Ochoa made a tremendous one-handed diving save to deny Jesus Ferreira.
Jader Obrian thought he doubled the hosts' lead in the 26th minute, but the goal was called back when the Colombian winger was ruled to have been in an offside position.
The visitors managed just one shot on frame in the opening hour, but Maikel Chang forced Jimmy Maurer to make a diving save to his left in the 64th minute for RSL’s best opportunity of the game to that point.
Fresh off the substitute’s bench, Meram nearly equalized in the 76th minute, dribbling into space before his shot caromed off the crossbar and Maurer’s head before the ball was cleared for an RSL corner.
Meram then played provider, setting up Kreilach’s equalizer in the 80th minute. Ricardo Pepi came off the bench for the closing moments and came close to scoring the winner. As did Andres Ricaurte, but neither was able to snap FCD's winless streak that extends to 10 matches.
Rusnak then ensured the visitors would claim all three points and move back above the playoff line in the Western Conference – at least temporarily in seventh place.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: For 80 minutes it looked like a wasted opportunity for RSL, a failed chance to answer big results from teams around them in the postseason chase. But the calvary came off the bench, with Meram leading the charge, to go from a devastating defeat to a massive win in a matter of 10 minutes. For FC Dallas, already eliminated from the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, it was a third consecutive match they squandered a late lead.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: RSL’s dynamic duo came to the rescue, with Rusnak scoring this winner after Kreilach’s leveler.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Meram was a man on a mission during his substitute appearance. He hit the crossbar before setting up both Kreilach and Rusnak.
Next Up
- DAL: Saturday, Oct. 30 vs. Austin FC | 8 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
- RSL: Saturday, Oct. 30 vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 3:30 pm ET (Univision, TUDN, Twitter)
