Grade Real Salt Lake's attack vs Minnesota United in playoffs

It was a scoreless battle into the penalty kicks where the individual strengths of the attacking lineup of Real Salt Lake could not break Minnesota's defense in this closely fought game. Herein discusses the key players in the offense of Real Salt Lake, dissecting their performance in terms of contribution, shooting precision, passing accuracy, and effectiveness overall.

Cristian Arango (Forward) Grade: B-

• Passing Accuracy: 86% (12/14)

• Duels Won: 7 out of 17

Arango, as always a finisher, played really disciplined going by his pass completion figure of 86%. Where he suffered somewhat was having a duels success rate. He hardly secured the situation upon contact pressure at 41%. Solid passed but has not produced any breakthrough result.

Emeka Eneli (Centreback) Grade: B+

• Passing Accuracy: 87% (53/61)

• Tackles: 2

• Total Shots: 1 (Penalty converted)

A defender, Eneli came with an excellent passing accuracy of 87%, beating anyone moving in his way in the backline. He remained composed during the shootout as he managed to convert his penalty. His forward movements made him always a threat in set pieces; thus, he presented double defensive and offensive performances.

Anderson Julio (Forward-End) Grade: C

• Passing Accuracy: 50% (1/2)

• War Won: 0 out of 4

Julio had very little involvement. However, during the shootout, he slotted his penalty in with a precise shot. Passing stats and involvement are low, but one gets the sense that it's because Julio found it very tough to breach the Minnesota defense.

Justen Glad (Defender) Grade: B

• Passing Accuracy: 89% (73/82)

• Ground Duels Won: 6 out of 9

• Shots: 1 (Missed in penalty shootout)

Though an aggressive defender, Glad's possession control was impressive, with 89% passing success rate. However, he wasn't cool enough when the going got tough, missing his penalty shot that proved decisive for the team. In any case, his role in defense was crucial.

Diogo Gonçalves (Striker) Grade: C-

• Passing Accuracy: 50% (3/6)

• Duels Won : 0 (0/2)

Gonçalves had a very tumultuous time getting himself inserted into the team's attack and was touched only a few times as he did little to really make an offensive impact. Limited in his contribution to duels, he hardly had any chances where he was wrong with passes, and was mostly nullified by Minnesota's backline.

Diego Luna (Midfielder) Grade: B

• Passing success: 76% (19/25)

• Duels Gained: 5 / 8

Luna was good in midfield where he maintained a reasonable standard of accuracy and looked back to the forwards when the opportunity arose. The inside passing in tight spaces bodes well from behind a defender, but he did struggle when Minnesota did take a drop deep. The control overall was excellent so that the middle part of the pitch was not easily gone around.

Braian Ojeda (Midfielder) Grade: B-

• Final Passing Success: 85% (56 out of 66)

• Won in Duels: 4 out of 9

A balanced possession game was facilitated not once but twice by the repeated midfield passing of Ojedas (85% played in midfield). This poor penalty miss in the post-game shootout marred most of an otherwise fine performances. His efforts both defensively in recoveries against opposition attacks and on defending and supporting the forward can more than be seen. After all, it is something of a shame his late penalty miss proved the giveaway.

Overall rating of Real Salt Lake's attack:

Real Salt Lake didn't capitalize by offense, as they have fewer opportunities in open-play, creating quality chances for the team. The passes of the team were collaborative but failed to convert their passing combinations into concrete opportunity-making situations. In the penalties, the pressure took its toll as the key player of the team could not shoot and gave a defeat to Real Salt Lake at 5-4. The inability to break through offensively in regulation coupled with the inconsistency in the penalty shootout shows where this team needs to improve if it's going to make a run in the playoffs.

Overall Team Offensive Grade: C+

Individual skills flashed, but as a unit, the offense wasn't able to find that creative spark that might have torn open Minnesota's defense. The match did further highlight that Real Salt Lake needs a more decisive and varied attacking strategy in crucial playoff matches.