Braian Ojeda’s 81st-minute goal gave Real Salt Lake a 2-1 win over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.
Josef Martinez had put San Jose ahead in the 51st minute, but an own goal from Jamar Ricketts allowed Salt Lake to equalize in the 57th minute. Ojeda came off the substitute bench in the 68th minute and found the winner on another Earthquakes miscue.
Ojeda’s strike from outside the box fooled San Jose goalkeeper Daniel, who seemed to misjudge the velocity of Ojeda’s shot. The unlikely conversion gave Ojeda his first goal of the season, and just his third tally in four seasons with RSL.
Some controversy was involved, as the Earthquakes had only 10 players on the pitch during Ojeda’s goal. Cristian Espinoza was ruled to have taken too long to leave the field during a substitution attempt in the 79th minute, so San Jose had to play short-handed while waiting for the change to be allowed.
The Earthquakes (7-10-8, 29 points) were then permanently reduced to 10 players in the 83rd minute when defender Reid Roberts was issued his second yellow card of the match.
Saturday’s victory moved Salt Lake (9-11-4, 31 points) into a playoff position in the Western Conference. Real Salt Lake are 5-1-1 in their last seven matches.
The struggles continued for the Earthquakes, who are winless (0-3-3) in their last six league matches.
RSL’s Zavier Gozo had the closest chance of a scoreless first half. Just two minutes in, Gozo’s shot deflected off the crossbar and dropped straight down onto the goal line without fully crossing the threshold.
After a quiet first half for the Earthquakes’ attack, Martinez struck for his 10th goal of the season. A turnover just outside the RSL box led to the scoring play, as Espinoza and Cristian Arango quickly set up Martinez with a pair of passes, and Martinez finished with the header.
Six minutes later, Salt Lake’s Diogo Goncalves fired a tricky shot that just barely evaded Daniel. The ball then deflected off Ricketts and into the net, as the midfielder was trying to clear the ball away from a looming Gozo.
–Field Level Media
