Coming off strong showing, Revolution fall flat vs. Real Salt Lake

The Revolution followed up their best offensive showing of the season — a 5-0 deconstruction of FC Montreal on Aug. 24 — with a tepid 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake at America First Field in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday.

Real Salt Lake (13-6-8, 47 points), which entered in third place in the Western Conference, rode a pair of goals on either side of halftime and New England (8-15-2, 26 points) turned up few offensive chances, getting outshot, 20-8, and trailing, 10-2, in shots on goal.

Entering the match just 2 points below the playoff line, the Revolution did little to prove they’ll be dancing this postseason after Braian Ojeda sent a long pass up to Anderson Julio in first-half stoppage time. Revolution goalie Aljaz Ivacic made a poor decision to come out of the net and Julio slipped around him before ripping a left-footed goal from the edge of the box.

In the 56th minute, a free kick was deflected multiple times in the box before it landed at Philip Quinton’s feet and the 24-year-old center back flicked in another left-footed goal.

One of the Revolution’s rare chances came in the 66th minute when Carles Gil sent a corner to Xavier Arreaga, whose header clanged off the crossbar. Three minutes later, Giacomo Vrioni missed a header to the left. Vrioni hit the left post on a breakaway in the 90th minute, although it appeared he may have been offsides.

It was the first matchup between the teams since 2022, and the Revolution haven’t defeated Real Salt Lake since 2007.