PORTLAND (ABC4 Sports) – Real Salt Lake is moving on to the Round of 16 in the U.S. Open Cup after a wild 4-3 victory over the Portland Timbers Wednesday night.
Mikael Chang scored two second half goals, while Andres Gomez and Danny Musovski added goals in the first half in the victory.
Real Salt Lake will find out its opponent in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
RSL has gone two straight games and 190 consecutive minutes without a goal in back-to-back scoreless draws against Seattle and Houston in MLS play, but exploded for a season-high four goals against Portland.
Portland jumped out to a 1-0 lead as RSL goalkeeper Gavin Beavers’ pass was intercepted by Noel Caliskan, who fed Sebastian Blanco, who put it through the wickets of Beavers for the early lead.
RSL found the equalizer in the 30th minute when Chang’s deflected pass found Musovski in the box, and he buried his second goal of the U.S. Open Cup.
11 minutes later, Gomez drilled a beautiful ball just outside the box into the far corner of the net to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 advantage at the half.
The Timbers stormed out of the gates in the second half, as Justin Rasmussen and Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored goals three minutes apart as Portland took a 3-2 lead.
But Chang scored two goals in four minutes, one off a feed from Gomez, and another off an assist from Musovski to give RSL a 4-3 victory.
RSL won its U.S. Open Cup opener last week by scoring three goals in extra time against Las Vegas in a 3-1 victory.
Real Salt Lake returns to MLS play Saturday at home against defending MLS Cup champion LAFC. The match will start at 7:30 p.m. at America First Field.
