Cheering on RSL

Have you ever been to a Real Salt Lake soccer match? We took our whole family (and Uncle Jesse too) last night and had a great time. The facility is great. There’s not a bad seat in the house, and the stadium is relatively easy to get to. The atmosphere was fun and mostly family-friendly.

Real Salt Lake is a quality team, barely losing the MLS championship in an overtime shootout last year. The Portland Timber were in town, and since Portland is at the bottom of the league standings, we came in expecting a win even though 3 of RSL’s star players were not in uniform because they were chosen to play for national teams at the World Cup.

So, we were expecting good things. From the start, Real Salt Lake looked like the stronger side. We had chances to score early, and then finally found the back of the net after about 30 minutes. The place erupted. It was fun.

However, enthusiasm damped after we gave up two quick goals on counter attacks from Portland. At the half, we were down 2-1. The second half was no fun at all. One RSL player got kicked off the pitch early and Portland added another cheap goal late. Megan and I had attended a very exciting RSL game a couple years ago, but this one did not have the magical ending. We ended up losing 3-1 to lowly Portland.