SANDY -- Somehow bizarre doesn't quite cover it.
Real Salt Lake's CONCACAF Champions League opener against Arabe Unido at Rio Tinto Stadium had a little bit of everything on Wednesday night, and for the defending Major League Soccer Cup champions in ended with the only thing that mattered -- three points.
Forward Alvaro Saborio scored twice, including smashing home the decisive goal on a penalty kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time to lift Real Salt Lake to a thrilling 2-1 result over the Panamanian First Division champs.
"I think tonight was in a microcosm everything that's wrong with our game," Real boss Jason Kreis said. "It was a game that wasn't managed properly from the very beginning, and it was always going to lead to what it led to. I can't fault them (Arabe Unido) for their tactics, to sit back especially after they scored a goal and they get an ejection, but we've got to come up with a solution in our game where we're not having players laying on the ground every three minutes and letting them go off the field, and letting them come right back on."
That was something visitors did plenty, keeping the sideline stretcher crew repeatedly racing on the field in the second half to carry players to the sideline. The referee added a conservative eight minutes of stoppage time, which was dragged out even further with "injuries."
"I've seen some wasting time, but not like that," Real goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. "It was kind of entertaining, but also frustrating. For us, it was tough to get a rythmn out there because of how many times the ball stopped and how many times they were on the floor."
Aribe Unido surprised the home side early, as Armando Cooper scored after a collection of RSL miscues.
Just 12 minutes later, RSL found itself with a man advantage as defender Nahll Carroll was sent off for a violent foul against Kyle Beckerman. The home side pounded on Arabe's defense for the rest of the first half, but it wasn't until Saborio knocked home a shot from a Chris Wingert assist in the 45th minute that RSL was able to equalize.
Real outshot the visitors 26-5, but it appeared the match was headed for a draw until Nelson Gonzalez was fouled on the outer edge of the box leading to Saborio earning a kick from the spot.
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