Seattle Sounders fall to Real Salt Lake 2-1 on late goal

SANDY, Utah – Dawn broke so promisingly on Tyler Miller’s 23rd birthday, the first light creeping over the Wasatch Range and bringing endless possibilities.

Miller travelled to Salt Lake City with the Sounders knowing he might be making his MLS debut. Official word came an hour or so before kickoff: Goalkeeper Stefan Frei was out with elbow inflammation, and Seattle was turning to its second-round 2014 SuperDraft pick.

For most of the match, Miller played nervously but competently. Real Salt Lake’s first goal wasn’t his fault, a bullet header Miller had no shot at.

But less than four minutes from second-half stoppage time, Burrito Martinez sliced an innocuous cross floating towards Seattle’s goal. And though Miller had plenty of time to camp under the ball, Jamison Olave got there first and headed it into the back of the net.

For the second straight week, the Sounders were undone by defensive miscues and a goalkeeping blunder. Another strong start fell by the wayside as Olave’s 86th-minute winner lifted Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 win over the Sounders on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 19,282 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“It was a good experience,” Miller said afterward, voice small and exhausted. “Obviously I’m disappointed with how it went.”

This time last year, Miller was playing for SVN Zweibrucken in the German fourth division. He’d initially shrugged off Seattle’s interest to take his chances abroad, but the experience wasn’t exactly what he’d pictured – last December, the club admitted it could no longer pay its players and, in fact, hadn’t done so in months.

Miller returned stateside into the Sounders’ waiting embrace, making a single appearance with S2 before undergoing surgery on his right thumb. So it went: Stops and starts, a longer-than-expected rehabilitation but a strong preseason.

Sounders backup goalkeeper Troy Perkins retired over the offseason but rather than sign another veteran, Seattle opted to let Miller and fellow second-year Charlie Lyon battle it out for the No. 2 spot. It was a mark of how highly the club rates both young players. Even though known entities Josh Ford and Tally Hall cycled through training camp, the Sounders stood pat with what they had.

Saturday afternoon represented a chance for Miller to repay their confidence. His first save was noteworthy in more than just a personal scrapbook sense: Miller dived athletically to his right to tip Joao Plata’s curling shot over the bar.

“Getting a couple touches with my feet helped me to settle into the game and get accustomed to the speed and to the crowd,” Miller said. “Definitely, that save really got me going and got me fired up.

“I was excited and nervous. I was looking forward to the challenge. It was a whole bunch of emotion and a whole bunch of nerves.”

Just like their young goalkeeper, the Sounders started positively. They dominated the first 40 minutes or so, edging in front on Osvaldo Alonso’s 28th-minute shot off Nelson Valdez’s flick of Joevin Jones’ pinpoint cross.

Saturday’s match was a blood relative of the season opener against Sporting Kansas City, right down to the deflating run of injuries. Erik Friberg hobbled off in the 18th minute, Jordan Morris was substituted out after banging his head, and Nelson Valdez limped to the bench in stoppage time with an accusatory point toward his left thigh.

Just like last weekend against Kansas City, a dominant spell was followed by a defensive error that changed the shape of the game. Jones, the standout performer for most of the first half, surrendered a corner after getting burned by Jordan Allen on the wing. And Clint Dempsey lost Sunny on the resulting set piece before the midfielder smashed a header past Miller in the 43rd minute.

“Individual mistakes cost the goal,” Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. “When you make mistakes like that, you’re going to lose games.

“I think we could have won today. I think we had all the makings of a win. But you have to play mistake-free to win.”

They didn’t, and a haggard second half limped meekly towards its conclusion when Martinez mishit a cross back across the box.

“I looked up and saw the replay on the scoreboard,” Miller said. “He just got up higher than me. Whether it was a foul or not, I don’t know. That’s up to the referee. He didn’t call a foul so it’s not a foul. I just have to do better there – get up, punch it away and move forward from there.”

The birthday boy then shuffled toward the somber bus bound for a quiet plane ride home, where he’d have plenty of time to replay the moment in his mind and wonder what might have been.