Before the game, Real Salt Lake interim head coach Freddy Juarez said his team was approaching the final regular-season game against Vancouver as a playoff game. At halftime, Damir Kreilach said RSL “came here to get three points.”
Real did, and were rewarded.
Salt Lake will host a home playoff game after beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 on the road Sunday. The win, along with other results from around the Western Conference, helped RSL finish third in the conference, its highest finish since 2014.
RSL will play the Portland Timbers in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It shows we’re a good team,” forward Corey Baird told KMYU after the game. “I think beginning of the season, no one was really giving us that. We had to earn it, and I think we have throughout the entire season.”
The L.A. Galaxy lost 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo on Sunday, while the Seattle Sounders beat Minnesota United 1-0. Both of those outcomes allowed Real to overtake the Galaxy in points and Minnesota in wins.
“Results went our way, and that’s what we wanted,” Juarez told KMYU. “Win the match, and whatever else happened, happened. But this was a prep for the playoffs and we got what we wanted.”
Throughout the game, RSL moved from fifth, to fourth, to third, back to fourth and then finally back to third. Fans on social media seemed on pins and needles with every goal scored on Major League Soccer’s Decision Day.
In the end, though, Kreilach’s goal in the first half was enough put RSL over the top.
Other than an early well-placed header by Vancouver that RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando had to save, the first 15 minutes saw both teams feel each other out. RSL had a half-chance on a free kick in the 17th minute, but Kreilach’s header didn’t challenge Vancouver goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau.
Kreilach’s shot attempt was RSL’s first of the game to that point. The midfielder, who played much of the game at striker with Sam Johnson on the bench, finished a header in the 28th minute off a pass from Corey Baird, giving Real a 1-0 lead.
The game almost went from dream to nightmare for RSL in the 69th, when a Vancouver counter led to a wide-open shot by Michaell Chirinos. His shot toward the far post nearly beat Rimando, but Rimando got enough of a glove tip on the ball for it to hit the post and trickle across the mouth of the goal.
Rimando finished the game with five saves and finished the regular season with 10 clean sheets. Adding backup keeper Andrew Putna’s two shutouts, RSL had 12 in the regular season.
The official time and day for the first round of the playoffs has not yet been announced by MLS, but it will be on either Oct. 19 or 20. Juarez said getting to open the postseason at Rio Tinto Stadium is great for the players.
“I think after everything that’s gone on this year, they deserve a home crowd to back them going into the playoffs, give us that extra spark that we need,” Juarez said. “Hopefully we can take advantage of where we put ourselves. Let’s not let it go to waste.”
