RSL beats Houston 3-2 at home to tie for first place in Western Conference

SANDY — Real Salt Lake added another scorer to its dynamic attack in a 3-2 victory over the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday at America First Field.

Braian Ojeda took advantage of a slide by Chicho Arango who placed the ball right at his feet in the upper part of the area with the game tied 2-2 in the 67th minute.

The steady midfielder weighed his options and then picked the open right corner of the goal for the game-winner and his first score in an RSL uniform after 56 games in Utah.

RSL is now tied for first place in the Western Conference with LAFC and LA Galaxy, both with 40 points.

“Midfielders who don’t score a lot of goals do a lot of work behind the scenes, work that is rarely recognized on television. They are the engine,” coach Pablo Mastroeni said of Ojeda. “They are the ones who make things happen, and when they are rewarded like Ojeda did tonight … it’s fantastic.”

A back-and-forth affair saw an early goal from Houston in the eighth minute, followed by an RSL equaliser through Andres Gomez in the 22nd minute, and a goal for either team to end the halftime break.

Diego Luna gave RSL the lead with a long-range strike in the 42nd minute before Houston’s goal to tie the game at 2-2 in the 55th minute was ruled an own goal by Andrew Brody.

The Dynamo entered the game on a six-game unbeaten streak and exposed a leaky RSL defense that had to fill gaps left by an injury to Justen Glad and a green card absence for Brayan Vera.

Full-backs Bode Hidalgo and Bryan Oviedo have been transformed into temporary center-backs for a defense that has conceded six goals in its last three games.

“There were people missing, but I don’t think it had anything to do with our performances and our goals,” Luna said. “Everyone is capable of doing what they need to do and I think we lacked some of those things. We just have to keep fighting, but I think we could have scored four, five or six goals in this game.”

RSL lead the West in goals scored with 43 and the attack has not lost a step thanks to Arango who has not missed any more time after leaving the last game with a head injury.

The Clarets and Cobalts remain in Utah for a rare home game against Eastern Conference powerhouse Atlanta United on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MDT on AFF.