Nobody expected it, but Real Salt Lake found an absolutely massive victory over Sporting Kansas City in the Western Conference semifinal — a huge victory for a team that wasn’t expected to have a solitary chance in the match.
Center referee Kevin Stott called an easy penalty in the 23rd minute, with Aaron Herrera chopping down Gadi Kinda just inside the penalty box. Johnny Russell took his penalty strong and into the left side of Ochoa’s net with ease, putting one past the cocky goalkeeper to put Sporting Kansas City up 1-0.
RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni didn’t hesitate to make his first changes of the match, bringing Justin Meram and Anderson Julio in for Maikel Chang and Jonathan Menendez in the 57th minute.