Joao Plata penalty secures Real Salt Lake win over Sporting Kansas City

Jul 25, 2015 at 4am UK

Morales (34'), Plata (73' pen.)

FT(HT: 1-0)

Real Salt Lake edge out Sporting Kansas City with a 2-1 victory in their MLS clash thanks to goals from Javier Morales and Joao Plata.

Published: July 25 2015 | 06:03

Last updated: July 25 2015 | 14:25

A second-half penalty from Joao Plata was enough to guide Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the MLS.

The visitors were the first team to threaten when Marcel de Jong lifted the ball in from the left and Roger Espinoza headed at goal, but his effort was saved by Jeff Attinella.

Real hit back with a good opportunity of their own when Plata latched on to the ball outside the box and drilled a left-footed strike towards the bottom corner, but Tim Melia made a good stop.

Salt Lake took the lead in the 34th minute when Javier Morales weaved his way through the Sporting defence before slotting an effort under Melia into the net.

The home side came close to doubling their lead just before the break as Abdoulie Mansally lifted the ball into the penalty area, but Plata's first-time strike clattered off the post.

In the second half, Kansas City drew level through an impressive strike from substitute Benny Feilhaber from distance as he curled an effort into the bottom corner.

Salt Lake almost retook the lead as Luke Mulholland raided forward down the right and cut the ball back across to Devon Sandoval, but the forward's effort crashed off the post.

Jacob Peterson could have handed the visitors the advantage as he latched on to alow cross from Krisztian Nemeth, but Attinella made a reaction stop to deny the striker.

The hosts were presented with the chance to go ahead when Olmes Garcia was brought down in the penalty area and a spot kick was awarded. Plata took the penalty and buried his strike past Melia.

Sporting pushed to get back into the game, but Attinella continued to be in inspired form as he made another good save to stop Peterson's close-range strike from finding the net.

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Eastern Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Miami Inter Miami	34	22	8	4	79	49	30	74
2	Columbus Crew	34	19	9	6	72	40	32	66
3	FC Cincinnati Cincinnati	34	18	5	11	58	48	10	59
4	Orlando City	34	15	7	12	59	50	9	52
5	Charlotte FC Charlotte FC	34	14	9	11	46	37	9	51
6	New York City FC NY City	34	14	8	12	54	49	5	50
7	New York Red Bulls NY Red Bulls	34	11	14	9	55	50	5	47
8	CF Montreal Montreal	34	11	10	13	48	64	-16	43
9	Atlanta United Atlanta	34	10	10	14	46	49	-3	40
10	DC United	34	10	10	14	52	70	-18	40
11	Philadelphia Union Philadelphia	34	9	10	15	62	55	7	37
12	Toronto	34	11	4	19	40	61	-21	37
13	Nashville SC Nashville	34	9	9	16	38	54	-16	36
14	New England Revolution New England	34	9	4	21	37	74	-37	31
15	Chicago Fire	34	7	9	18	40	62	-22	30

Western Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Los Angeles FC Los Angeles	34	19	7	8	63	43	20	64
2	Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy	34	19	7	8	69	50	19	64
3	Real Salt Lake Salt Lake	34	16	11	7	65	48	17	59
4	Seattle Sounders Seattle	34	16	9	9	51	35	16	57
5	Houston Dynamo Houston	34	15	9	10	47	39	8	54
6	Minnesota United Minnesota Utd	34	15	7	12	58	49	9	52
7	Colorado Rapids Colorado	34	15	5	14	61	60	1	50
8	Portland Timbers Portland	34	12	11	11	65	56	9	47
9	Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver	34	13	8	13	52	49	3	47
10	Austin FC Austin	34	11	9	14	39	48	-9	42
11	Dallas	34	11	8	15	54	56	-2	41
12	St Louis City	34	8	13	13	50	63	-13	37
13	Sporting Kansas City Kansas	34	8	7	19	51	66	-15	31
14	San Jose Earthquakes Earthquakes	34	6	3	25	41	78	-37	21