Sporting KC Draws With Real Salt Lake

Apr 5, 2014; Kansas City, KS, USA; Sporting KC players Dominic Dwyer (14) and Matt Besler (5) go up to head the ball against Real Salt Lake defenders Nat Borchers (6) and Ned Grabavoy (20) during the second half at Sporting Park. The game ended in a 0-0 draw. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Did you know Jeff Attinella is a wizard? This the only explanation for his eight save performance for Real Salt Lake against Sporting Kansas City in Saturday night’s 0-0 draw.

Attinella, RSL’s backup goalkeeper, turned in a remarkable performance to prevent SKC the opportunity to earn three points. Sporting outshot RSL 20-5 and had several excellent chances on goal that were either thwarted by Attinella or veered wide by his strange voodoo. This seems to be the only reasonable explanation.

“He had some great saves,” manager Peter Vermes told the media after the match. “I think the one Benny tattooed, he came back with a tremendous save there. We were in and around their goal. Again, I thought that we could have done better in a couple of situations. They did a good job to make sure we didn’t get one in on him.”

For his part, Attinella said he felt pretty good after he got his first save out of the way.

“Nerves start to calm down once you get to touch the ball and it just feels like training or like a basic thing again, like second instinct,” Attinella said. “Once you get the first save in, it’s like alright, go time. Then you have other chances to make saves and I was lucky enough to get my hand on a few of them and help our team get a point. ”

This does not mean Sporting was not pleased with their performance. Vermes argued Saturday was their best performance since the first leg of the Champions League against Cruz Azul.

Finding the back of the net wasn’t the only problem Sporting had to deal with against RSL. In the 76th minute referee Arando Villarreal handed out his first of what would be four cards in 14 minutes, three of which were against Sporting. The run of cards included a red card to Oriol Rosell in the 83rd minute that resulted in Sporting having to play down a man for the remainder of the match.

Vermes passed on questions about the cards.

“I haven’t seen the replay yet so I’ll have to take a look at it and go from there. I thought we were disciplined and again, it’s not easy to do that especially when you’re at home and trying to go for the win.”

There were some positive things to happen Saturday, including the return of Chance Myers. Myers made his first appearance since straining his groin strain. It represented the first time Myers, Matt Besler, and Aurelien Collin have played together in 2014.

“There were a few things that we need to go back and rehearse a little bit, but it’s just because they haven’t been together,” Vermes said. “Different guys have been away or out because of injury, but I thought that we were good.”

Sporting has still been excellent defensively even with the backline rotation. After Saturday’s game, Sporting lowered their goals allowed average to 0.80, the lowest in MLS.

Saturday also saw the Sporting debut of Antonio Dovale, who came in for Sal Zizzo in the 80th minute. He did not do much statistically, and Sporting went down a man three minutes after he went into the game, but Dovale showed off some impressive skills even in his 14 minutes of play.

“I think when he came on, he was excellent with the ball,” Vermes said. “He played a tremendous ball into Collin at the top of the box. I think Collin was extremely surprised when he got it. He’s not use to getting the ball like that on top of the box.

“He’s a guy that can open up a defense really well from a place.”

Sporting, now 2-1-3, will have two weeks to prepare for their next opponent, Montreal Impact on April 19. The game will be played at Sporting Park at 7:30.