I knew it

RSL falls short of US Open Cup final, loses 3-1 in Houston

(ksl.com 8-23-23)

Everyone knew the stakes of Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal in Houston: Win and you get to play Lionel Messi.

For Real Salt Lake, the reward was even bigger: Win and Messi comes to Sandy for a tournament final, with a trophy on the line.

RSL bounced back after it trailed 1-0 at halftime to keep the glimmer of hope alive with a goal from super-sub Anderson Julio in the 64th minute. The script, then, followed the Miami-Cincinnati semifinal earlier in the evening and went to 30 minutes of extra time with an even scoreline after 90 minutes.

RSL likely shouldn't have even made it that far, trailing Houston by a large margin in nearly every statistical category. The Dynamo owned almost 70% of possession in the game and outshot RSL 30-11 on the night, including a 10-2 lead in shots on goal.

Houston's tenacity and RSL's defensive woes shone through in extra time, and the Dynamo scored at the end of each 15-minute period to finish with a 3-1 win and a ticket to Miami for the Open Cup final.

"We knew it was gonna be a tough match," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "I'm really proud of the way the guys fought to get back in the game, but I think on the night we just weren't good enough with the ball. Credit to Houston, they're a very good team at home."

Brayan Vera exacerbated the situation with a straight red card in the 119th minute for striking a Houston player and retaliating against the teammates who came to the opponent's defense. Zac MacMath and Marcelo Silva had to restrain the first-year defender who was thirsty for more.

The two sides follow up Wednesday's 120-minute battle with another match Saturday in Sandy; RSL resumes MLS play at 7:30 p.m. MDT at America First Field.

"You can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, but we have a big game on the weekend and we have to quickly dust ourselves off and attack the right way," Mastroeni said. "So that'll be the focus for us."

RSL sits in third place in the Western Conference with 10 matches remaining in the regular season. So even though the team fell short of trophies in the Leagues Cup and Open Cup tournaments, Mastroeni believes there's still a lot to fight for in the regular season.

"We're in a good position in the league, but we have to have a better performance than we did tonight, I think, in particular with the ball," Mastroeni said. "I can't be more proud of the effort that the guys gave, but I just don't think we've executed well enough."

The loss came with subpar performances from the starting strikers up top — Damir Kreilach and Chicho Arango — and was also the team's first shot at replacing injured Pablo Ruiz in the midfield. Mastroeni said the team felt his "void" Wednesday and will need to "quickly figure out" how to fill it moving forward.

"Whether it's changing shape or changing the personnel," Mastroeni said. "But, obviously, it's hard to replace a player of Pablo's caliber."

https://www.ksl.com/article/50715934/rsl-falls-short-of-us-open-cup-final-loses-3-1-in-houston