Sandy • Albert Rusnák went a gutsy route with his first penalty kick in a Real Salt Lake jersey: the Panenka.
Rusnák leaned back, surveying the goal with his weight on his right foot. He began his approach, accelerating as he went. And then, he stopped and tapped a shot right down the middle.
There was nothing goalkeeper Luis Robles could do at that point. He had already committed to his left, and the chip floated right past him.
That goal lifted RSL over the Red Bulls 1-0 on a snowy Saturday night at Rio Tinto. RSL claimed its first win of the season, three games in, after a draw on an own-goal equalizer and a steamrolling in the home opener.
“I was ashamed after the LAFC game for the whole week,” Rusnák said of the 5-1 loss last week. “I didn’t want to leave the house, didn’t want to see anybody, because that wasn’t acceptable. But then again today was our chance to get it right.”
Rusnák’s fourth-minute penalty kick came out of a video review that went RSL’s way. After some deliberation, Red Bulls forward Carlos Rivas was charged with a foul in the penalty box on RSL center back David Horst.
Joao Plata, who normally takes penalty kicks, was sidelined by a hamstring injury. So even before the match, Rusnák decided, “If there was a PK I want it no matter what,” he said.
It was then that he decided he would put it down the middle, but when he picked up the ball to put it on the spot, he began to second-guess himself. He set it down, stepped back, and went with his first instinct.
Through the next 86 minutes, RSL made sure that goal was all they needed.
“I didn’t care how this game looked, as far as beautiful or pretty,” RSL coach Mike Petke said. “Go back to last year in the big losses that we had during the summer, and I explained to everybody that I’m not going to compromise how I want to play because maybe we have injuries or because we’re going through a rough patch.
“This was entirely different after last week. This was about getting back to everybody working together, committing themselves to get back, defensive transition, and it didn’t matter how it looked at the end of the day.”
It wasn’t always pretty. The Red Bulls edged out RSL in shots, passing accuracy and possession, but Real Salt Lake scrapped it out.
“New York Red Bulls is the best team that I’ve played against in the way they press,” Rusnák said, “the way that they don’t let you play any type of soccer that you want. And I mean they did an unbelievable job even today.”
Goalkeeper Nick Rimando fought through some leg pain, which led to center back Justen Glad taking some of his goal kicks, to make four saves and keep a clean sheet. One, a one-handed tip in the 25th minute, denied Vincent Bezecourt of an equalizer. Just as impressive, in the 53rd minute, he pushed a dangerous Tim Parker header wide of the goal.
“Nothing surprises me with this guy,” Glad said of Rimando. “I’ve seen it all from this guy. He’s a beast.”
With the snow dumping on the field now and again, the weather was reminiscent of the conditions in which Petke led RSL to its first win last season in his RSL coaching debut on April 8 against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Rusnák labeled RSL a snow team.
“As soon as I saw snow outside this afternoon around 1-2 p.m. I had a feeling,” Rusnák said, “it’s going to be us.”
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