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New York Red Bulls didn’t defeat Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium again, but they are fortunate not to lose this time, drawing, 1-1.

Onz Chery

The Rio Tinto curse continues.

New York Red Bulls failed to beat Real Salt Lake away from home at Rio Tinto Stadium again. RBNY drew with the Utah-based team, 1-1, on Saturday.

New York’s winless run at Rio Tinto is now extended to eight matches and will grow to 12 years after the season.

Although RBNY was hit by the Rio Tinto Curse again, they were lucky not to lose the encounter. Perhaps, the curse wasn’t in full effect on Saturday.

20-year-old deep-lying midfielder, Cristian Casseres Jr., put New York up, 1-0, in the 13th minute with a delightful shot from outside the box after intercepting the ball.

Then it was all Real Salt Lake. Two of The Metros‘ players had to save the home side’s shots off the line. Kyle Duncan was the first one.

At the half-hour mark, Duncan slid to the goal-line to track an initial shot, but the ball hit the post. RSL forward’s Damir Kreilach tapped the rebound back toward the net, but Duncan was still at the goal-line and blocked the shot as he was getting up.

Seven minutes later, Marcelo Silva headed the ball on frame, New York’s keeper, David Jensen, stumbled as he watched the ball make his way in the net.

Sean Davis was there to the rescue. Although Real Salt Lake’s new signing, Justin Meram, was right in front of him, the new RBNY captain confidently high-kicked the ball away from the goal.

Later in the 70th minute, RSL did score when Douglas Martinez headed the ball in the net. But Martinez’s goal was waived off for a handball.

It was as if Real Salt Lake was the team cursed at Rio Tinto then. But they eventually scored in the 91st minute through Kreilach’s header.

Perhaps the Red Bull players were, yet again, tired late in the game in Utah’s high altitude. There was minimum pressure on Aaron Herrera when he crossed the ball and Tim Parker could’ve headed the ball away but didn’t measure his jump properly.

And there we go again, New York didn’t win at Tinto for the eighth straight time–they were just minutes away from breaking the curse.

Nevertheless, Chris Armas’s men should consider themselves blessed after this trip to Utah because they didn’t deserve the draw. RSL outshot the three-time Supporters’ Shield winners, 21-4.

New York is still cursed at Rio Tinto but was fortunate in their last game there—very fortunate.

Originally from Haiti, Ralph 'Onz' Chery started his writing career as a City College of New York student with The Campus. He also wrote for First Touch, the Cosmopolitan Soccer League and other local leagues. After graduating, Onz started covering the New York Red Bulls for ESNY and joined Haitian Times.