CARSON, CA - MARCH 10: David Beckham #23 of the Los Angeles Galaxy pleads his case to referee Kevin Stott in the first half during the MLS match between Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center on March 10, 2012 in Carson, California. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)
Victor Decolongon, Getty Images
CARSON, Calif. ? Four months later, Real Salt Lake got its revenge on the Galaxy.
In a rematch of last year's thrilling Western Conference final, RSL scored a whopping three goals in the final 17 minutes at the Home Depot Center on Saturday night to spoil the season-opener for the defending MLS champs with an impressive ? and at times dominant ? 3-1 victory .
"Good start to the season. It showed a lot of character, it's good to see what we're made off right off the bat," said RSL captain Kyle Beckerman.
The victory was Real Salt Lake's third straight season-opening victory, with the previous two coming against the San Jose Earthquakes.
After going down a goal in the 71st minute, the trifecta of an own goal, a Javier Morales goal and another by Fabian Espindola delivered the Galaxy their first home loss since 2010.
"I thought we dominated the game, possession-wise we kept the ball. And we're missing some big guns, some new kids showed up tonight and really responded and played great for us. We're happy for the win," said RSL keeper Nick Rimando.
The big guns RSL was missing from its starting lineup were Nat Borchers, Will Johnson, Javier Morales and Alvaro Saborio. The latter two ended up entering the match as subs in the 66th minute, and their insertion into the match raised the level even more for a team that dominated much of the match.
"Really, really pleased. Feel like the guys got what we deserved. I felt that we controlled the tempo for the majority of the match, and we were playing a team that was very focused on counter-attacking against us," said RSL coach Jason Kreis.
Despite being the better team for long stretches, in the 71st minute it was Los Angeles that finally broke the stalemate on wonderful service by David Beckham and an even better finish from Edson Buddle, who found just enough space between RSL's center backs to head it home for the 1-0 lead.
The Galaxy scored again two minutes later ? but in the wrong net.
L.A. defender Sean Franklin redirected a Sebastian Velasquez cross into the back of his own net in the 73rd minute, leveling the score at 1-1.
Velasquez was the first RSL rookie since Mehdi Ballouchy in 2006 to start a season-opener. The humble junior college player was poised throughout the night, and was rewarded for it by contributing to the tying goal.
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