Real Salt Lake at FC Dallas: Report card

Nick Rimando

Rimando was big as usual with excellent positioning and three saves in the match. His save in the 24th minute was huge and should be a nominee, if not the winner, for MLS Save of the Week. Grade: A+

Tony Beltran

The right back made deep runs into the FCD defense and made a number of excellent crosses, the only problem was that there was no one on the other end to make them count. He played a solid 90 minutes in competing with the size of Brek Shea or the the speed of Marvin Chavez. Grade: B

Jamison Olave

The center back did well containing his fellow Colombian Fabian Castillo. Olave kept the teen sensation out of the box all night and kept his one attempt well off the mark. His defending was sloppy at times with three fouls, and one of his challenges could have given Dallas a penalty late in the contest. Grade: C

Nat Borchers

Borchers had another excellent game and earned a well-deserved 'A'. He snuffed out danger from the area all night and helped keep RSL's goals against total to a league-low to two in MLS play. Grade: A

Chris Wingert

The left back wasn't too involved in the game as FCD put most of its attacks down his opposite side. He and Borchers had excellent distribution from the back, but was a little out of position when George John nearly scored in the 24th minute. Grade: B

Ned Grabavoy

Grabavoy paired well on top of Beltran on the right side. With Beltran pushing up most of the match Grabavoy was able to squeeze into the middle more than usual where he looked a little uncomfortable at times. Grade: C

Andy Williams

Williams was solid all night and consistently pushed the ball forward throughout the match. He helped RSL dominate possession all night, but the only problem was that only four shots came from controlling nearly 63 percent of the possession. Grade: B+

Kyle Beckerman

It's not going to be on any score sheet, but the RSL captain didn't give away the ball all night, which was part of the reason that RSL had 79 percent passing accuracy on the game. He also managed one of the two shots on frame that RSL in the game. Grade: A

Will Johnson

Johnson showed his range from distance by testing the FCD keeper early in the match with what was arguably RSL's best scoring chance all night. He was a little suspect defensively a few times, but he more than made up for it with his work rate. Grade: B

Alvaro Saborio

Sabo scored while clearly in an offsides position for the second consecutive match. While he is starting to find the frame it is his positioning that is giving problems up top. Sabo is still desperately seeking his first goal in MLS play, and needs to find it soon to bring his swagger back. Grade: D

Arturo Alvarez

The stat line that is most telling for RSL's score line this match was that both men up top failed to not only shoot on goal, they also failed get any shots off at all as well. For a striker, that's as bad as it comes. Grade: D

Substitutes

Collen Warner

His fresh legs gave Real a slight surge of energy late in the second half, but sadly it didn't create anymore offense for the visitors. The young midfielder has work left to do to earn his spot in the starting 11. Grade: C

Jean Alexandre

He came on just before the nearly two-hour rain delay and wasn't on long enough to give him a fair grade. Grade: I

Overall Team

As a team RSL dominated possession and defensively it kept FCD's potent offense off the score sheet for only the third time this season. A point on the road against a top team in the West can only be looked at as a positive result, but the Claret and Cobalt's offensive issues continued with a season-low two shots on goal from four shots. Fabian Espindola and Paulo Jr's recovery seems more important than ever. Grade: B-

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