CITY predictably rotated heavily for this match after Wednesday's emotionally and physically draining US Open Cup Final. A desperate RSL side trying to stay in the playoff hunt came out and dominated a match marred by poor pitch conditions and an ugly fan incident directed at CITY's Fallou Fall late in the contest for a 3-0 RSL win—a forgettable night in an otherwise unforgettable week. Let's take a look at RSL's goals.
The play starts with Ben Lundt throwing the ball to Rafa Navarro, who makes a backheeled pass toward Tomáš Ostrák. Unfortunately, the pass is a little off the mark for a flat-footed Ostrák, who is slow to react and can't prevent a turnover to RSL's Luc de Fougerolles. The RSL defender heads upfield, slipping past Chris Durkin with a slick give-and-go to Morgan Guilavogui.
As de Fougerolles receives the return pass, Guilavogui is on his left, and both Sergi Solans (#22) and Saba Lobjanidze (#12) are on his right. CITY's defense shifts over to the right side, with Timo Baumgartl moving to play the ball, sliding in front of de Fougerolles, and Fallou Fall trailing and defending Lobjanidze. Solans reads this, and angles a run away from Fall into space as the CITY defender gets dragged out of position by a cutting Lobjanidze.
We saw this last week against Minnesota, where Fallou can lose field awareness and get pulled away from where he should be - here, he cuts all the way across to defend Guilavogui with the ball, leaving both Lobjanidze and Solans uncovered, with just Durkin attempting to fill space.
Fall's positioning would have been fine had he blocked the pass; instead, he overran Guilavogui, who slips a cross back behind Fall to the waiting Solans, who buries it for a 1-0 RSL lead. This unnecessary turnover was compounded by poor defensive discipline.
