RSL blanked by Columbus at home, draws 0-0

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Original publish date: June 25, 2022

RSL blanked by Columbus at home, draws 0-0

It was a forgettable game and a forgettable outcome in Salt Lake.

June 25, 2022

Well, this match had the promise of being interesting, but RSL struggled to get out of third gear (or, you know, some other gear. I drive a car, but I’m not really a car guy) for 90 minutes against a Columbus Crew lacking real verve.

The biggest early match discussion was certainly a fire at an At Home store, which was quite visible from the east side of the stadium. It was probably more of a talking point than the first 20 minutes, which didn’t provide much in the way of interest or excitement, outside of, well:
8’ Rubio Rubin has a strong shot saved at the near post and pushed on to the post, and it was a screamer of a shot. Just really good stuff from the striker.
21’ Justen Glad sends a header just past the near post, and nobody would have complained if he’d scored. Except Caleb Porter. He’d probably complain loudly about it.
23’ Zac MacMath makes a very nice save from a long shot, pushing the ball onto the bar — Pedro Santos was very, very open from deep and made an incredibly audacious attempt on goal.
26’ Justen Glad has a nice read to prevent a clear one-on-one opportunity, proving once again that he’s a very good defender, and that we should all be grateful that he’s ours.
45+3’ Marcelo Silva picks up a yellow card for catching a Columbus attacker with his elbow going up for a header.
45+4’ Pablo Ruiz picks up a yellow card, too, pushing a defender in the face while applying some high pressure. Or maybe he didn’t get a card? It looks like the official count doesn’t have a yellow card. Maybe this is what I get for watching on the television.
62’ Justin Meram sends a low, dipping shot on goal, forcing an excellent save. Excellent shot, excellent save. It’s the best soccer we’ve seen all night.
66’ Jonathan Menendez and Scott Caldwell replace Rubio Rubin and Pablo Ruiz, respectively.
69’ Sergio Cordova makes a really nice run, picking up a superb pass from Justen Glad. One-on-one with the goalkeeper, he lifts it right into his path. Nothing terribly threatening.
83’ Maikel Chang subs in for Justin Meram, who had a nice opportunity earlier.
90+3’ We have four minutes of stoppage time, but substitutions and injury delays will prolong our misery.
90+5’ Columbus Crew earn a corner kick. They’re not playing it short. There’s a foul. Play continues.
90+6’ RSL has a corner kick after some slow, deliberate play.
90+7’ The game is over.