Two leads, two pegbacks
Real Salt Lake refused to stop pressing. LAFC refused to clear. Noel Caliskan scored his first goal of the season in the 75th minute and the match finished 2-2 on Saturday night in Utah.
Caliskan pounced on the rebound from Aiden Hezarkhani’s shot and roofed it over Hugo Lloris. The goal came out of sustained pressure and a defence that could not get the ball away, which is not how a team with 11 clean sheets is supposed to concede.
Lloris made seven saves, including a diving stop on Caliskan at the right post in the 58th minute. RSL outshot the visitors 21-15 and forced him to work all night.
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Bouanga and Son took turns
Denis Bouanga opened the scoring in the 14th minute, his 12th of the season. Son Heung-Min sent him away down the left, Bouanga cut right and curled a shot into the top right corner.
Saba Lobjanidze levelled four minutes later, collecting the ball inside the box, dribbling into space and squeezing a finish between Lloris and the left post.
The two LAFC forwards swapped roles for the 38th-minute goal. Bouanga broke down the left, pulled up near the post and picked out Son, who checked his run at the six-yard box and drilled the ball off Rafael Cabral’s hand and into the net.
Tyler Boyd should have made it 3-1 early in the second half and shanked a point-blank chance wide of a partially open goal.
Yedlin saved a point on the line
Son had the winner in the 87th minute. He raced clear, went round Cabral and aimed inside the right post. DeAndre Yedlin slid across and kicked the ball out just before it crossed the line.
The numbers around this fixture keep getting worse for both clubs. LAFC sit on 37 points at 10-7-7 and have gone 0-2-4 in six. Real Salt Lake are 8-9-5 on 29 points and 0-5-3 in eight. Neither has won since before the World Cup break, and neither did much on Saturday to suggest that changes soon.
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