SANDY, Utah — Luc de Fougerolles was having about as perfect of a home debut as any Real Salt Lake fan could’ve asked.
Until he couldn’t finish the match.
De Fougerolles scored his first goal in an RSL kit, but San Jose came back on Jack Jasinski’s stoppage-time equalizer to finish with a 1-1 tie Wednesday night at America First Field.
The draw keeps Salt Lake (9-6-14) five points beyond the playoff line with 33 points and five matches left in the regular season as San Jose (13-8-8, 47 points) stretched its unbeaten streak to eight-straight.
“It was such an unfortunate bad stroke of luck,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said, “because I thought the guys were so good tonight. They were excellent.”
Making the first start of his RSL career after assisting on Saba Lobjnadize’s goal during Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Philadelphia, de Fougerolles nearly bagged a goal after his shot from Saba Lobjanidze’s cross in the 11th minute caromed off the right post.
San Jose out-shot the the hosts 9-5 in the first half. But neither side produced a shot on target until Morgan Guilavogui’s right-footed attempt from distance was saved in the 43rd minute.
Salt Lake was compact, organized, and held its defensive shape in only allowing
But the subs brought new life to Wednesday’s midweek less-than-friendly match between the two Western Conference rivals.
Moments after Zach Booth, Ariath Piol and Aiden Hezarkhani came on around the hour mark, de Fougerroles took a pass from Juan Manuel Sanabria following a set piece on the right side of the box, and one-timed his first goal in an RSL jersey to give the hosts the lead in the 79th minute.
“The guys coming into the game, I thought, changed the game,” Mastroeni said. “And that’s now three games in a row … where those guys did a fantastic job.”
But it was a near-perfect debut for de Fougerolles — until the Canadian international born and raised in London dropped to the turf grabbing his leg after the stellar finish.
De Fougerolles came off and was immediately treated with electrolytes and salt, though Mastroeni said the injury “doesn’t look good.”
“I don’t want to overreact int his moment,” he added. “But he needed help getting to the locker room.”
Unfortunate, too, because the center back seemed to be an answer to so much of what has ailed Real Salt Lake since Justen Glad went down with an adductor injury earlier this season.
The 21-year-old World Cup center back was arguably RSL’s best player on the night — FotMob rated him as such, at least — in his 82 minutes, scoring a goal on 0.13 xG with 10 defensive contributions to keep the clean sheet until his disappointing exit.
But he wasn’t alone. Noel Caliskan found more of the ball in front of de Fougerolles, and JuanMa Sanabria was as dangerous as he’s ever been. The list could go one.
But Mastroeni agreed: de Fougerolles’ impact has been exactly what his club has needed.
“What he’s brought to the team in such a short time has been transformational,” he said. “This is the player that we’ve been starving for.”
DeAndre Yedlin replaced him for the final 10 minutes of regulation, as RSL continued to hold San Jose without a goal. The former World Cup international fared well, too.
But in the fourth minute of five minutes of stoppage time, Jasinski finished inside the far post to help the visitors collect a point from the road trip.
Real Salt Lake hits the road Saturday to face Sporting Kansas City (6:30 p.m. MT, Apple TV) before returning home Oct. 24 to host St. Louis City SC.
Watch/listen to RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni and defender Philip Quinton after Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes below:
