Real Salt Lake gets a last-minute goal to post playoff win

SANDY — All week leading up to Real Salt Lake's playoff debut, the players insisted they weren't content to just be in the playoffs — they planned on making some noise.

In dramatic fashion, the team didn't disappoint in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal.

After dominating Chivas USA for long stretches on Saturday, RSL finally made the most of those opportunities and sealed the 1-0 victory with a stunning 90th-minute goal from Yura Movsisyan at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Movsisyan's clever back heal sent the crowd of 14,719 into pandemonium and sets the stage for a very interesting Game 2 in Southern California next Saturday.

"We definitely know what we're going to be up against, (Chivas) is going to be desperate to come and get us," said RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman.

The scenario heading into the second leg nearly didn't play out so favorably for Real Salt Lake. It was clearly the better team, but deep into the match it looked as if Chivas was going to escape with the precious draw. That result was unacceptable to coach Jason Kreis, who made tactical decisions all game to play for the win, even replacing a defender with an attacking player in the 80th minute.

Movsisyan made the aggressive approach pay off delivering a 90th-minute winner a week after punching RSL's ticket into the playoffs with a 90th minute tying goal at Colorado.

"(It's) similar only in the fact that we scored a late goal, cause for me that was one of the best soccer games we've played all year," said Kreis. "And it's interesting that it comes on the heels of one of our worst games of the year."

Realistically, the scenario that led to the goal should've never happened.

It should've just been an innocent throw-in by Robbie Russell, and would've been had Chivas midfielder Paulo Nagamura not forgotten his responsibility and allowed Javier Morales to slip in behind him. That brief nap put RSL's most creative player in a very dangerous spot with the ball at his feet. Morales didn't squander the chance, dribbling the ball toward the endline and dropping it back to Movsisyan who cleverly back-healed the ball just inside the left post.

Asked if he was surprised to see Morales so open when he threw the ball in, Russell said absolutely not.

"No actually, because 90th minute is when everyone scores goals, that's when mistakes come. It's whether or not you're ready for them. We got lucky, we were ready for them," said Russell.