Anderson Julio scored two minutes into extra time to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 away victory over Toronto FC on Saturday.
Julio’s second goal of the season came on the third chance of an offensive flurry from RSL (8-7-6, 30 points). Toronto goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh stopped an initial attempt and defender Aime Mabika cleared a second ball on net, but Julio was in position to bury the next rebound.
Salt Lake is unbeaten in its last six matches (4-0-2) overall, and 5-0-2 in its last seven matches on the road. Real Salt Lake has a league-leading 20 points in away matches.
It was another late concession and another tough loss for Toronto FC (3-8-10, 19 points), who sit 14th of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. Terry Dunfield was making his debut as Toronto’s interim head coach after former coach/sporting director Bob Bradley was fired on Monday.
Zac MacMath made three saves for his fifth shutout of the season. MacMath’s biggest stop came in the match’s final moments, as the goalkeeper denied a close-range header from Mabika.
Salt Lake also received some help from its goalpost in the 69th minute. Brandon Servania had a chance on an open net, but the Toronto midfielder deflected his shot off the post.
RSL outshot Toronto by a 20-12 margin (7-2 in shots on goal), but both teams had several good opportunities to score. Ranjitsingh made five saves in a strong performance, including a big deflection of a Damir Kreilach header in the 42nd minute.
Lorenzo Insigne was replaced by Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty at halftime, seemingly due to injury. Insigne was favoring his lower leg near the end of the first half, giving Toronto FC yet another injury concern for a key player.
Ten Toronto players weren’t available on Saturday due to either injury or international duty.
Toronto FC are winless (0-3-3) in their last six games.
–Field Level Media
