In the first-ever meeting between the sides, defenses were the clear winners as Real Salt Lake and Nashville SC settled for a scoreless draw in their interconference matchup at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday.
RSL knew that Nashville and their crossing style of soccer were visiting Rio Tinto Stadium and gave them a taste of their own medicine with 14 crosses in the first half. Both teams, however, lacked finishing in the final third. Neither Nashville or RSL managed to land a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes.
Nashville striker CJ Sapong earned himself a tremendous opportunity to score at the 52nd minute as he grabbed a rebound at the top of the box but his effort was in vain. His shot was blocked by Erik Holt inside the six-yard box and cleared away to safety.
The first shot on target from either side came at the 69th minute courtesy of Randall Leal. Alistair Johnston rushed to recover the ball on his right flank and sent a cross in. RSL tried to clear the ball but it fell for Leal at the top of the box and his shot toward the near post was caught by David Ochoa.
Nashville tried to break the stalemate late in the game by subbing in Jhonder Cadiz but the striker's heading efforts were not enough to steal a late win.
Goals
- None
Three things
- THE BIG PICTURE: Nashville SC will likely be the happier of the teams to take a point on the road at altitude and extend their shutout streak to three games. On their side, RSL will kick themselves for not having capitalized and leaving two points on the board. After a promising start with a nifty nutmeg from Rubio Rubin, Freddy Juarez’s squad put in an unimpressive offensive performance.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Randall Leal earned the best opportunity to score with the game's first shot on target but David Ochoa kept his cool and made the save after 69 minutes without a strike to face.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Erik Holt gave a solid performance on the back line to keep Nashville from scoring a late gut-wrenching goal and give David Ochoa the clean sheet.
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