SANDY, Utah – The FC Dallas Reserves left Sandy’s America First Field wet and cold, but with three points in tow courtesy of a comprehensive 3-0 victory over their Real Salt Lake Reserves counterparts on Tuesday. With the win, the FC Dallas Reserves move to 3-1-0, their nine points good for a share of the Central/Mountain Division lead alongside the Houston Dynamo, while the RSL Reserves’ third straight defeat dropped the Utah side to a disappointing 0-4-1 halfway through their 2012 MLS Reserve League calendar.
Rainy conditions in the first half made for some slippery footing, hearty challenges and tense moments, culminating with a 34th minute altercation that followed Dallas forward Ruben Luna’s sliding challenge into RSL goalkeeper Kyle Reynish, which resulted in a yellow card shown to the Dallas attacker. Luna would help move the scoreboard shortly thereafter in the 41st minute, his lobbed ball across the six finding forward Jonathan Top, who slammed a side-volley past Reynish and inside the bottom left corner to put the visitors up 1-0.
The FC Dallas Reserves doubled the advantage shortly after halftime off a penalty kick opportunity, created in the 49th minute when RSL defender Chris Schuler clipped Luna inside the box. Midfielder Bruno Guarda would earn a caution for dissent shortly after the foul, but he was composed enough to bury the spot kick low and inside the right post seconds later to put Dallas up 2-0. Five minutes later the visitors tacked on a third, as defender Mike Ambrose swung a ball in from the left wing to on-rushing striker Scott Sealy, who placed his re-directed header off the right post and in.
Tensions once again rose to the forefront in the 80th minute, when RSL Reserves forward Paulo Junior was shown a red card for a reckless challenge in the center circle against Top, followed shortly thereafter by Guarda’s ejection for making contact with the referee in the ensuing scrum. The Claret-and-Cobalt’s best chances of the day came in the 88th minute from midfielder Jordan Allen, but the RSL-Arizona Academy product saw both of his shots from within 10 yards blocked by a scrambling Richard Sanchez, who entered the match at goalkeeper at the halftime break and combined with starter Chris Seitz for the shutout.
The FC Dallas Reserves will resume play with the road against Sporting Kansas City Reserves (1-1-1) at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on Tuesday, May 1 (7:30 p.m. CT). Click here for the full 2012 MLS Reserve League schedule on MLSsoccer.com.
Scoring Summary:
FCD – Jonathan Top (Ruben Luna) 41
FCD – Bruno Guarda (penalty kick) 49
FCD – Scott Sealy (Mike Ambrose) 54
Disciplinary Summary:
FCD – Ruben Luna (caution, Reckless Tackle) 34
FCD – Bruno Guarda (caution, Dissent) 49
FCD – Bruno Guarda (ejection, Unsporting Behavior) 80
RSL – Paulo Jr. (ejection, Reckless Foul) 80
Real Salt Lake Reserves (4-4-2): Kyle Reynish (c) (Lalo Fernandez 67); Terukazu Tanaka, Leone Cruz, Chris Schuler, Chris Estridge (Carlos Salcedo* 75); Yordany Alvarez, Enzo Martinez (Jordan Allen* 60), Jonny Steele, Sebastian Velasquez; Paulo Junior, Emiliano Bonfigli
Substitutes Not Used: Taylor Bowlin, Luis Gil
FC Dallas Reserves (4-4-2): Chris Seitz (c) (Richard Sanchez 45); Alex Lee, Matt Hedges (Aaron Guillen* 88), Mark Barone, Moises Hernandez; Jonathan Top (Flavio Guzman* 81), Bruno Guarda, Victor Ulloa, Michael Ambrose; Scott Sealy (David Robledo* 60), Ruben Luna
Substitutes Not Used:Bryan Leyva
Guest player
**RSL-Arizona/FC Dallas Academy player
Referee: Alex Krelo
Referee Assistants: Hamed Sadeghi, Alan Jimenez
4th Official: Brad Jensen
