(by John Coon desnews.com 9-25-10)
Fatigue threatened to finally take down Real Salt Lake and end its brilliant run at home until help arrived from an unexpected source.
On the strength of a stoppage time goal from Nat Borchers, RSL rallied to salvage a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. It extended the club's MLS-record setting home unbeaten streak to 24 games and helped Salt Lake pull to within two points of the Los Angeles Galaxy in the chase for the Supporters' Shield.
A game-changing goal coming from Borchers seemed like an unlikely confluence of events. He had not scored a goal during the 2010 season in MLS action and the 93rd minute seemed like an unlikely time to find the net.
Still, Borchers became the man of the hour when he got his head under a long ball served into the penalty area by Andy Williams and flicked it backward into the net.
"He puts those things in there on a dime," Borchers said. "I probably couldn't have missed it, even though I've missed some pretty clear chances this year already."
Borchers joked that the Vegas odds on him making that goal would be "1,000 to 1." Initially, he had to outjump a Rapids defender just to even get a piece of the ball.
"I just thought that ball was going to be a little bit out of my reach," Borchers said. "I just put a little extra effort and stretched my neck out and got the end of it."
In the end, it helped Salt Lake get a favorable result on a night where fatigue threatened to finally exact a toll.
RSL did a good job of controlling possession in the first half even while sitting several regular starters – including Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Alvaro Saborio and Nick Rimando. Real generated seven corner kicks compared to for Colorado and they doubled up the Rapids 8-4 in shots on goal.
Those nice stats didn't matter though when Colorado seized a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute. The Rapids went ahead when Connor Casey latched onto a cross from Kosuke Kimura and popped a header past backup RSL keeper Kyle Reynish.
The goal ended Salt Lake's shutout streak at a season best 568 minutes and was the first goal the team had allowed in MLS play since a 1-1 draw at Philadelphia on August 11th.
Still, RSL coach Jason Kreis felt no measure of disappointment in surrendering a point as a result of the early goal because he saw what he believed was a valiant effort on three days' rest after Wednesday's match in Panama.
"We knew we needed to play a lot of new guys that haven't played matches regularly," Kreis said. "There's going to be some fatigue involved. I'm really pleased with the minutes they gave us, but I think they were running out of gas a little bit."
Getting that goal back meant a great deal to RSL, especially after enduring one missed scoring opportunity after another in the half.
"We played way better than they did, so we deserved at least a tie," Real forward Pablo Campos said.
Indeed, Colorado was fortunate not to give up more than a single goal after halftime.
Fabian Espindola alone had a pair of near misses in the second half.
Fabian Espindola latched onto a through ball from Kyle Beckerman in the 68th minute and drew Rapids keeper Matt Pickens off the line for a potential one-on-one challenge. Rapids defender Drew Moor reached the ball at the same time, though, and broke up the play.
The other opportunity came in the 77th minute when Will Johnson swung a corner kick to Espindola on the right upper corner of the 6-yard box. Espindola settled the ball and blasted it at the left post. He tried to hook his shot under the crossbar, but it sailed wide of the post instead.
Williams nearly blasted one home himself in the 55th minute when, after a couple of dribbles, he dialed one in from long distance. Pickens hurried toward the shot and knocked the ball down. But he didn't wrap it up and it nearly took a friendly bounce across the line anyway before being cleared away to set up a corner kick.
The biggest missed opportunity though came after the referee Ramon Hernandez reversed a handball infraction called on Marvell Wynne inside the six in the 88th minute. Instead of lining up for a penalty kick, RSL played a drop ball instead.
"I'm not sure how you make a penalty call like that and then change your mind," Kreis said. "It's puzzling to me."
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