Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew split points, cards from 0-0 draw
Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew split points, cards from 0-0 draw
RSL and the Columbus combined for 29 shots, 13 shots on goal, and 2.8 expected goals but no goals in a scoreless draw Saturday night.
SANDY, Utah — Perhaps the entertainment value made up for a lack of goals.
Or maybe not.
Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew combined for 29 shots, 13 shots on goal, and 2.8 expected goals (xG), but Zac MacMath and Nico Hagen each earned a shutout in a 0-0 draw Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,033 fans Saturday night at America First Field.
It’s RSL’s first clean sheet at home since a 3-0 win March 2 against LAFC.
“I thought the effort and commitment was there,” Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad said. “As a whole, the whole team was putting everything on the line.”
The two sides also combined for 32 fouls and nine yellow cards that included six yellow-card cautions to the hosts.
“I would prefer a soccer game without any fouls called,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “It’s really difficult when there are so many yellow cards shown … and then yellow card fouls that don’t get the same kind of treatment. But I think the refs are under a microscope every game, and it’s very difficult.
“I don’t know if there’s a player on the field on our team who didn’t have a yellow card, which is probably a first,” he added, tongue clearly in cheek.
The best chance of the night came in the final minutes of regulation, when Alex Katranis whipped in a cross from the edge of the area in the 85th minute. But Anderson Julio was pulled down, resulting in a penalty.
Or was he? After consulting with the linesman, head referee Ramy Touchan took the ball from Chicho Arango near the penalty spot for an offsides infraction — one of three on the night for Salt Lake.
Listen to post-match reaction from Mastroeni and center back Justen Glad via the Salt City FC YouTube channel.