Jesus Padilla!

After a disappointing trip to Dallas last week, Real Salt Lake was looking to to bounce back with a win against league doormats, Chivas USA on Saturday. Things did not go exactly to plan however, as they could only manage a 1-1 draw in front of a sold out Rio Tinto Stadium.

Ned Grabavoy, the 62nd minute replacement for Kyle Beckerman, made his mark on the match immediately, as he redirected a wayward corner kick clearance with a volley from 19 yards out into the top corner of Chivas' goalkeeper Dan Kennedy's goal in the 67th minute. After an even, back and forth affair for the first hour, RSL finally had the moment they needed to carry forward for three points.

That feeling would be short-lived.

In minute 71, Jesus Padilla, who had literally just stepped onto the pitch, took a ball through the midfield unmarked and lined up a shot on RSL's net. The blast went straight at Nick Rimando, but the all star selection was not able to handle it and fumbled away the equalizer.

Real Salt Lake was never able to get any significant chances from that moment on, and had to settle with a frustrating, if not all too deserved draw.

Man of the Match: Javier Morales/ Will Johnson. After the tying goal (and for the most part before it) it seemed the home side was tring to force everything and they were getting very frustrated. This RSL midfield pair, however, kept pushing and doing all of the right things.  

Fireworks From the Home Side

After the frustrating draw to San Jose last week, Real Salt Lake was looking to light up New England Saturday night and reaffirm their position as one of the top sides in Major League Soccer. To say they pulled that off would be a vast understatement, as RSL struck for five against a Revs squad that was more or less an animated punching bag this evening, while New England was barely able to muster a whimper in the 5-0 drubbing.

Things got going for Salt Lake in the 27th minute, as Fabian Espindola collected a Robbie Russel lob at the top of the 18. Espi made a brilliant move to the side of New England's Emmanuel Osei and made a sliding strike just inside the box, which moved past Matt Reis.

Although New England looked decent early, the goal deflated them and Real started to impose their will  for the rest of the way, especially Javier Morales, who was in a class of his own on the evening. Morales put himself on the stat sheet just before the first half ended, when he lifted a brilliant ball off a restart to Jamison Olave on the back post and, as usual, Olave knocked it home. RSL had grabbed the game by the throat heading into the locker room, and would not let up after that.

One of the big stories leading into the match was the return of Robbie Findley from the World Cup in South Africa. The 19,000+ fans didn't have to wait too long to see their favorite striker, as Findley was inserted for Espindola at the beginning of the second half. Findley had a solid showing, looked very fit, had a few great chances, including one he put away (RSL's 5th) in the 85th minute.

The match, however, belonged to Javi Mo, who absolutely dominated in the middle of the park and really dictated this match for both sides. He was even able to add another helper in the second half, as he streaked down the sideline in the 57th minute and feed Alvaro Saborio with a low ball across goal, which Sabo flicked in to the net with his heal. Saborio also put away Robbie Russell cross in the 52nd minute.

Saturday's performance was an absolute peak in form for the Salt Lake side, as they commanded play from most, if not all 90 minutes.

Man of the Match: Javier Morales was nothing short of a super wizard this evening, everything he did was pure magic as he continued to build on a great 2010 campaign.

Notes: One of the assistant referees was named Elmo Quisenberry, odd name, but he did an okay job...Kyle Beckerman was still nowhere to be found on the bench for Real...and should be said that Nick Rimando looks better than he ever has these last couple of matches, he is jumping out of the stadium on every save or grab