Real Salt Lake are undefeated at home no longer.
The Houston Dynamo handed RSL their first loss at Rio Tinto Stadium this season by using a first-half Alex goal to pick up a 1-0 win on Saturday night. Salt Lake had numerous chances to pull level in the Western Conference affair, but were largely off the mark as they put just one of their 15 shots on frame.
The game's decisive play came in the 36th minute. Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark stripped John Stertzer of the ball in RSL's half and played a pass to Alex, who raced forward before smashing a shot past Nick Rimando and into the top right corner of the net.
Real Salt Lake tried to find an equalizer, but their lack of accuracy in the final third doomed them to their first home loss in 15 matches in 2016.
Houston improved to 6-11-11 on the year, but are still in last place in the West. RSL dropped to 12-10-8, but remained in fourth.
Real Salt Lake (12-10-8; 44 points) vs. Houston Dynamo (6-11-11; 29 points)
MLS Regular Season
September 17, 2016 – Rio Tinto Stadium – Sandy, Utah
Attendance: 19,795
Scoring Summary:
HOU: Alex 5 (Ricardo Clark 3) 36
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, Raúl Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley ©; Collen Warner; Boniek GarcÃa, Ricardo Clark, Alex Lima (Andrew Wenger 56), Cristián Maidana (Eric Alexander 74); Mauro Manotas (Will Bruin 84)
Unused Substitutes: Callum Irving, Keyner Brown, Jose Escalante, David Horst
TOTAL SHOTS: 7 (Mauro Manotas, Collen Warner 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Alex, Will Bruin 1); FOULS: 18 (Boniek GarcÃa, Collen Warner 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Mauro Manotas 3); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Cristián Maidana 2); SAVES: 1 (Joe Willis 1)
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Demar Phillips, Justen Glad (Omar Holness 79), Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran; Kyle Beckerman ©, Luke Mulholland (Olmes Garcia 69), John Stertzer (Jordan Allen 51); Joao Plata, Yura Movsisyan, Juan Martinez
Unused Substitutes: Lalo Fernandez, Chris Schuler, Ricardo Velazco, Chris Wingert
TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Luke Mulholland 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Juan Martinez 1); FOULS: 18 (Luke Mulholland 5); OFFSIDES: 1 (Tony Beltran 1); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Joao Plata 1); SAVES: 1 (Nick Rimando 1)
Misconduct Summary:
HOU: Alex (caution) 33
HOU: Sheanon Williams (caution) 54
HOU: Cristián Maidana (caution) 69
RSL: Tony Beltran (caution) 76
HOU: Joe Willis (caution) 81
HOU: Ricardo Clark (caution) 85
HOU: Eric Alexander (caution) 90+3
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Assistant Referees: Gianni Facchini, Cameron Blanchard
Fourth Official: Alex Chilowicz
