Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake battle to 1-1 draw

Editor’s note: due to Fox Sports Kansas City’s continued incompetence, nobody on our staff was able to watch the full match and therefore the recap will be short and as descriptive as possible given the circumstances.

In a tense and chippy game typical of a Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake match, the two clubs split the point as they drew 1-1 at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.

Sporting KC improved to 8-4-9 and moved to within one point of Western Conference-leading FC Dallas, while Real Salt Lake moved to 7-12-3 and remained eighth in the conference.

Toward the end of the first half, Real Salt Lake grabbed the lead. In the 42nd minute, Joao Plata received the ball just outside the side of the penalty box and crossed it to an oncoming Luis Silva, who blasted the ball from the top of the box to the right-hand corner for the goal. It was Silva’s first score of the year and gave the home side a one-goal advantage, which they would take into the locker room at the half.

In the 57th minute, however, Sporting KC pulled one back. Benny Feilhaber was knocked down in the penalty box and the referee pointed to the spot. Feilhaber took the ensuing penalty kick and got Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando to go the wrong way, scoring his third goal of the season.

Real Salt Lake had many opportunities in the second half to take back the lead but failed to capitalize. Their biggest opportunity came in the 74th minute when Plata took a shot from inside the box that went off both posts and rebounded right back to Plata, but then his ensuing shot also clanged off the post and went out of danger, keeping the match level.

Real Salt Lake held the attacking advantage in this match, out-possessing and out-shooting Sporting KC in the final statistics, but they could not put the winning goal in the net, settling for a 1-1 draw.

Next up for Sporting KC is a home match with the Chicago Fire next Saturday.