We’re up on the hill and the game vs. Saprissa is underway, so we’ll just get straight to the lineups.

Real Salt Lake: GK – Kyle Reynish; DF – Ian Joy, Matias Mantilla, Jamison Olave, Dustin Kirby; MF – Kyle Beckerman, Kenny Cutler, Alex Nimo, Dema Kovalenko; FW – Kenny Deuchar, Robbie Findley

Bench: Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers, Fabian Espindola, Javier Morales, Yura Movsisyan, Chris Wingert, Tino Nunez, Kevin Reiman, Adam Acosta

Deportivo Saprissa: GK – Keylor Navas; DF – Victor Cordero, Gabriel Badilla, Alexander Robinson, Andres Nunez, Bryan Oviedo; MF – Walter Centeno, Manfred Russell, Armando Alonso; FW – Alejandro Alpizar, Ronald Gomez

Bench: Jose Francisco Porras, Yader Balladarez, Ariel Santana, Alonso Solis, Ever Alfaro, Jose Luis Cordero, Jervis Drummond, Jairo Arrieta, Celso Borges, Carlos Chacon, Randall Porras, Michael Barrantes

Much like the Santos game a couple weeks ago, we’ll see a unusual combination of players taking the pitch for RSL tonight. We’ll also surely see a slew of substitutions, so stay tuned for those (they’re always exciting to blog about!)

Make the jump to read about the action…

10th minute: Each team’s had their share of possession in the early going. RSL nearly took the early lead, however, as a free kick off the foot of Dema found Deuchar in the center of the area. The big Scotsman fired on frame, only to see his effort parried away by the Saprissa keeper.

25th minute: It’s been all RSL for the last few minutes, as the boys in red have really put the visitors on their heels for the last 15 minutes. We’ve already seen our first pair of bookings as well, with both Dema and Saprissa’s Bryan Oviedo being booked for similar tackles on one another.

36th minute: Real continues to push hard but has, of yet, been unable to put that final ball in the net. To his credit, the Saprissa keeper has been up to every challenge so far, making several good stops to keep the scoreline level.

Halftime: We’ve reached the break and it’s still knotted up 0-0. The last 10 minutes were fairly exciting as RSL held form and pushed for a tally. Robbie had a great chance off a Dustin Kirby cross from the right flank, but the speedy striker’s header couldn’t quite squeeze in as it ricocheted hard off the right post. Stay tuned for the second half, RSL’s bound to put one in at this rate.

51st minute: They’re off in the second half and we’ve got a handful of substitutions for you. Coming in we’ve got Chris Wingert, Fabian Espindola, Yura Movsisyan, Tino Nunez, Javier Morales, and Nat Borchers, while coming off were Ian Joy, Dema Kovalenko, Kenny Deuchar, Robbie Findley, Alex Nimo, and Jamison Olave. This marks the first time since the May 31st match against San Jose for forward Fabian Espindola and it’s great to see him back on the pitch.

56th minute: Saprissa came out firing to start the second stanza, earning a couple dangerous chances in the first couple minutes. But it’s been all RSL since. Just moments ago a scrum in front of the visitors’ goal saw another Real shot find the post. They just can’t catch a break right now.

58th minute: As soon as we start trumpeting the home side’s dominance, it’s Saprissa that finds net first. Striker Ronald Gomez slots home a nifty ball from midfielder Walter Centeno to give the Costa Rican champs the 1-0 lead.

62nd minute: And against the run of play, we’ve got another Saprissa goal, as midfielder Armando Alonso pounces on a mistake from the RSL backline and slots home to earn a 2-0 lead.

We’ve got another RSL sub as Adam Acosta replaces captain Kyle Beckerman in the midfield.

69th minute: One more RSL substitution as midfielder Kevin Reiman replaces Espindola on the left flank. Don’t worry folks, it’s not an injury concern, he was only slated to play limited minutes as he’s just returning from the long injury layoff.

79th minute: We’ve got to check out for the remainder of the match. We’ll be back as soon as we can to give a rundown of the final minutes (where hopefully RSL can put a few in the net to make this one a result more indicative of the flow of this game!)

End of Match: Sorry it took us a little bit to check back in. The final few minutes of last night’s game did not disappoint on the excitement front. It all started in the 83rd minute as a scuffle broke out just outside the Saprissa penalty area. Members of both squads got into it with one another, taking issue with the rough play to that point. By the time things finally settled down each team had a player sent off, with RSL forward Yura Movsisyan and Saprissa defender Gabriel Badilla seeing red for their actions.

Real continued to push hard for the final few minutes, earning chance after chance on the Saprissa goal. The efforts finally paid off early in stoppage time as Chris Wingert and Tino Nunez put together a wonderful give-and-go at the top of the area putting Wingert in on goal alone with the keeper. The steady defender made no mistake with his shot as he got RSL on the board and pulled the score to 2-1.

The goal proved too little, too late for the home side, however, as they could not find the equalizer in the frantic last few minutes of added time. The 2-1 loss marked the second consecutive loss in exhibition play for Real Salt Lake. The guys are next in action on Monday night when Toronto FC makes their sole visit of the season to Rice-Eccles Stadium. We’ll see you then…