Moose Tracks: Musovski's brace sends Real Salt Lake to 3-1 win over Club Leon in Leagues Cup
Moose Tracks: Musovski's brace sends Real Salt Lake to 3-1 win over Club Leon in Leagues Cup
The Las Vegas native scored two goals and added a yellow card to help RSL turn a 1-0 halftime deficit into a 3-1 win Friday night at America First Field.
On Thursday night, massive rainstorms were interrupted by a raccoon sighting at America First Field, sending the critter scurrying from the rafters until he could be relocated to a small grove of trees outside the stadium.
A day later, two Moose sightings.
Danny Musovski scored a brace, and Chicho Arango added a goal as Real Salt Lake rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to dispatch reigning CONCACAF Champions League Club Leon from Leagues Cup competition.
RSL advanced to face LAFC — the former team of Musovski and Arango — in the Round of 16 Tuesday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles after the former LAFC striker sparked an energetic second half, with Musovski even earning a yellow card.
“The one thing Liga MX teams have over MLS teams is the way they control in moments in games,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “They understand what they need to do to pick up the energy, and they do that.
“I think that energy or mentality came out in the second half … And these games, you have to play on so many levels. We brought the mentality … Danny knew he couldn’t run away now, and he responded by putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Ivan Moreno gave Leon a 1-0 advantage just eight minutes into the match as the Liga MX side controlled play for much of the first half.
But things were just getting started.
The madness started in the 48th minute, when Diego Luna narrowly missed a breakaway shot just over the crossbar.
Then, the Moose turned loose.
Musovski put away a banger with his head in the 69th minute, equalizing for the host side with an aggressive play.
“Probably told us some little things to do to press better in the second half. I don’t think we did very well at all in the first half,” Musovski said. “We made little changes, and I think it was to get us to press them a bit more — and then the game opened up.
“Goals change games.”
But the former UNLV star with five goals and four assists in MLS play did his best work two minutes later, when Andrew Brody provided service with a booming ball over the back line that Musovski finished low and true.
“Brody played a fantastic ball,” Musovski said. “I was able to take a touch in front of me, it was on target and went in.”
Hold up; did you think Salt Lake was done?
Musovski’s former LAFC teammate Chicho Arango scored his second goal of the Leagues Cup competition, netting his third goal in six matches across all competition to push RSL ahead 3-1 in the 81st minute to help RSL improve to 15-5-7 after a loss in 85 matches under Mastroeni.