Real Salt Lake and LAFC Play to 2-2 Draw in a Night Saved on the Goal Line

The final score read 2-2, but the feeling in Sandy, Utah, was of a point saved by the skin of the team's teeth. Real Salt Lake had to fight an uphill battle for much of the night, and as late as the 87th minute it looked like the win was slipping away down the drain. Yedlin wouldn't let that happen.

LAFC came out swinging and made their intentions clear early. Denis Bouanga opened the scoring in the 14th minute, his 12th goal of the season, and from that point on it was obvious the visitors hadn't traveled to Utah to sit back. The visitors doubled their lead just before halftime when Bouanga himself set up Son Heung-min from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 in the 38th minute. A goal and an assist from the same player left Real Salt Lake up against it heading into the locker room.

The home side's response took time to arrive, but it eventually came. In the 75th minute, Noel Caliskan pounced on a rebound inside the box and poked it home to make it 2-2. It wasn't a pretty play or a highlight reel goal, just being in the right spot at the right time, which in soccer often counts for as much as any shot from outside the box.

With the score level, the match turned tense, the kind that gets decided in the small details. And the clearest detail of all came in the 87th minute. Son Heung-min found a gap in the home defense, slipped through and even beat goalkeeper Rafael Cabral to leave an empty net staring at him. Everything was set for LAFC to make it 3-2. Everything, except for the recovery run of DeAndre Yedlin, who came from behind and swept the ball away with a sliding tackle practically on the goal line. It's the kind of play that never shows up in the goal-scoring stats but ends up being the difference between winning, drawing or losing.

The result leaves both teams stuck in stretches that just won't break. Real Salt Lake (8-9-5) is still without a win in their last five matches since the World Cup break. LAFC (10-7-7), for their part, are now six games without a victory, with two losses and four draws in that span. Numbers that are starting to weigh on a club used to fighting near the top of the conference.

Neither side will have much time to dwell on it. The schedule shows no mercy: LAFC will host New York on Wednesday, while Real Salt Lake travels to face Houston that same day. With both losing streaks still very much alive, both teams arrive at those matches needing a win to snap the drought and, in the process, quiet the doubts starting to creep into their locker rooms.