This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sandy • Real Salt Lake's Nat Borchers shrugged off a monthlong sinus infection that forced him to keep a handy bottle of Robitussin on the top shelf of his locker.
RSL's Kyle Beckerman shrugged off frustration at the unyielding whistles of referees, saying after his team's 1-0 victory against Sporting Kansas City that the flurry of calls was an embarrassment to the sport and insulting to any soccer fan who paid to enter Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.
Borchers and Beckerman overcame their personal hurdles, though. And they teamed up for the contest's lone score on a direct free kick at the 54-minute mark, taking a game that previously belonged to an aggressive Sporting KC club and placing it in the hands of an efficient RSL squad that has used four consecutive victories to leap into third place in the MLS Western Conference.
"[Sporting KC] held the line. Fortunately we dropped at the right time," said Borchers, who compared the series of events that resulted in the goal to a basketball-style in-bounds play.
"I just made sure I curled my run. [Beckerman] curled the ball. Jimmy Nielsen's in no-man's-land. It's a pretty easy goal," Borchers said.
Sporting KC goalkeeper Nielsen was lost before Beckerman's kick even sailed through the air.
RSL coach Jason Kreis said that his club entered the match knowing that its free-kick line held a significant size advantage.
In an uneven back-and-forth contest that featured 18 fouls and just six shots, every structured attempt to put the ball in the back of the net was invaluable.
"Credit to Kyle for a quality service and credit to Nat for a real composed header," Kreis said.
Beckerman knew that his kick was "dangerous" as soon as it rocketed from his foot. The ball shot upward then curved downward, lifting above Sporting KC's defense before finding Borchers' head.
"We're super focused on them, both offensively and defensively," Beckerman said. "If there's going to be a game that's going to be decided with free kicks, then we better be good at them. … In a game like this where there's not much, that can be the decider of the game and tonight it was."
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