VANCOUVER, B.C. — The road woes continue for Real Salt Lake.
Led by Camilo, who scored a goal and tallied an assist, Vancouver held firm on their home pitch, knocking off Real 2-1 at BC Place on Saturday evening.
It is the fourth straight road loss for Salt Lake in Major League Soccer action, and fifth consecutive across all competitions, dropping the team to 13-9-3 (42 points).
Both sides started the match strongly, trading some decent chances in the opening 45 minutes. Real’s strongest came in the 25th minute when Alvario Saborio got on the end of a Javier Morales cross and cheekily headed it past Vancouver goalkeeper Brad Knighton and defender Jay DeMerit, but the ball rang off the near post and was cleared.
Knighton and DeMerit collided on the play, with DeMerit briefly returning for a few moments, before being subbed off for good with concussion-like symptoms.
Defender Andy O’Brien made his MLS debut after joining the Canadian side just barely a week ago in DeMerit’s place.
RSL also made a key substitution at halftime, subbing off Morales as a precautionary measure due to adductor strain tightness, and bringing in Luis Gil for the second 45 minutes.
Camilo punched Vancouver into the lead in the 58th minute, taking advantage of a fortunate bounce after a Real Salt Lake clearance attempt in the box deflected off of defender Chris Wingert and right to Camilo’s feet for straight-line attempt from 12 yards out.
Vancouver doubled up the scoreline in the 64th minute, with Dane Richards hitting a 25-yard screamer just inside the near post after Darren Mattocks quickly turned a Camilo touch across at center to Richards.
Salt Lake cut into the deficit in stoppage time when defender Nat Borchers smashed home a header from Paulo Jr., who made his return to the RSL matchday lineup following a short-term loan to minor league Ft. Lauderdale.
• SPORTING KC 2, UNITED 1: At Kansas City, Kan., Graham Zusi notched the winning goal and his 10th assist to lift Sporting Kansas City to a win over D.C. United and into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference on Saturday night.
Teal Bunbury also scored for Sporting (13-7-4), which broke a four-match league winless streak at Livestrong Sporting Park. Kansas City had gone 0-2-2 at home since beating Toronto FC 2-0 on June 16.
United (11-8-3) looked positioned to pick up a road point until Zusi collected Kei Kamara’s long cross in the 63rd minute and shot past goalkeeper Bill Hamid.
Bunbury headed in Zusi’s corner kick in the 13th minute, putting Sporting up 1-0, but Nick DeLeon equalized in the 23rd minute for D.C..
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