Real Salt Lake bounced back from their defeat to Los Angeles Galaxy last week with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS.
The game started slowly as both teams struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances but the hosts were the first to threaten with Chris Schuler putting his header just wide from a corner.
After the break, Salt Lake took the lead on the counter-attack as Nick Rimando's kick found Joao Plata, who lifted a cross into the box for Luis Gil, and he made no mistake heading the ball into the bottom corner.
The visitors tried to respond immediately as Camilo Sanvezzo lifted an effort just over the bar after the home side had failed to clear the lines from a corner.
Vancouver thought that they were level when Corey Hertzog fired a shot past Rimando and the ball bounced towards the goal, but Nat Borchers was there to clear the ball off the line just in time.
That miss was to cost the Whitecaps as Salt Lake doubled their lead with a lovely flowing move that was finished with a composed shot into the corner by Javier Morales to seal the three points for his side.
Simon Sinclair
