Austin FC and Real Salt Lake met for the first time on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium as the two (2) Clubs fought for positioning in the Western Conference. RSL came out on top, beating Austin 1-0 with Bobby Wood providing the lone goal in the match.
Austin created its first significant chance in the 28th minute when Diego Fagundez rocketed a shot off the post from outside the box with his right foot. The rebound eventually ended up on the foot of Hector Jimenez, and the right back lofted the ball to the back post. Tomás Pochettino made a strong effort, but could not get his header on frame.
Four minutes later, Real Salt Lake opened the scoring. Jonathan Menéndez played in a cross from the wing that Wood finished with a header.
Down 0-1 coming out of halftime, Austin was hoping to come out of the break and find an equalizer. Unfortunately, ATXFC went down to 10men just a couple of minutes into the second half.
After a frenetic sequence, RSL winger Justin Meram was running on goal with Julio Cascante beside him. The Austin center back fouled Meram outside the box and was shown a yellow card. Video Assistant Referee Victor Rivas called referee David Gantar to the monitor and after the play was reviewed, Gantar showed Cascante a red card in the 49th minute.
Austin controlled much of the run of the play for the rest of the match and Brad Stuver made an acrobatic save on Maikel Chang in the 80th minute to keep the match 0-1, but ATXFC could not get on the scoresheet to get a result.
Goal-Scoring Summary
RSL (0-1) – Bobby Wood 32’ (assisted by Jonathan Menéndez)
Misconduct Summary
ATX – Alex Ring (caution) 44’
ATX – Julio Cascante (ejection) 49’