Real Salt Lake's Sergio Cordova, left, and Vancouver Whitecaps' Erik Godoy vie for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match Saturday, June 4, 2022, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Vancouver, British Columbia • Ryan Gauld scored on a penalty kick in stoppage time to give the Vancouver Whitecaps a 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake in a Major League Soccer game on Saturday.
Vancouver was awarded the penalty kick after Aaron Herrera tripped Brian White as he ran into the box. Gauld sent a shot high into the top right corner.
Ranko Veselinovic opened the scoring for Vancouver (5-7-2) in the 31st minute. Justin Meram tied it for Real Salt Lake (7-4-4) in the 52nd.
“We created enough to win the game, so it’s unfortunate not to come away with anything on this one, but every loss is an opportunity to learn and move forward,” said RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni.
Meram lamented the loss.
“We were there,” he said. “We had chances to take the lead. I thought it was a great performance. We just had some unlucky plays happen. We have to pick each other up.”
RSL midfielder Diego Luna, acquired from El Paso of the USL Championship this week, made his Major League Soccer debut in the game as a substitute.
“It felt good,” Luna said. “A couple minutes to start off my career, to step on the field, and the atmosphere was pretty cool. I just came in earlier this week, so I don’t really have much to say yet.”
