Johnny Russell scored in first-half stoppage time against his former team, but Real Salt Lake blew the lead and settled for a 1-1 tie against host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.
Russell received a warm reaction from fans and scored his second goal for Salt Lake (5-10-4, 19 points). He returned after signing a one-year deal with Salt Lake in April following 40 goals in 196 regular-season games with Kansas City.
Erik Thommy scored in the 60th minute for Kansas City (5-10-5, 20 points), which was coming off Wednesday’s dramatic comeback win over Charlotte.
Real Salt Lake goalie Rafael Cabral made four saves, while Kansas City goalkeeper John Pulskamp made nine saves as Salt Lake attempted 21 shots.
Russell opened the scoring by sending a header past Pulskamp after getting a long pass from Alexandros Katranis. After eluding contact from behind, Russell leapt to get the pass and powered his header from close range into the upper corner of the net.
Thommy netted the equalizer after Memo Rodriguez was unable to score on consecutive set pieces in the 53rd and 54th minutes.
Thommy got the ball from Manu Garcia in the area slightly outside of the box. Thommy then lifted a right-footed shot from the left side and the ball soared into the net after appearing to be deflected by Cabral’s left hand.
After Russell exited in the 65th, Salt Lake had plenty of scoring chances, especially after Kansas City lost Jake Davis to a second yellow card in the 82nd and had to play with 10 players the rest of the way.
In the 88th minute, Pulskamp edged out of the box to make a kick save on Zavier Gozo. In the second minute of stoppage time, he denied a header by Dominik Marczuk.
Salt Lake had an open net in the sixth minute of stoppage time when Gozo gained possession in the box and Pulskamp was out of position. But Gozo was unable to score when Kansas City defender Jansen Miller swept away the left-footed try at the goal line.
–Field Level Media
