US national hopeful Findley scores 1st goal of season as RSL beats Houston 3-1

Findley scores 1st goal of season

SANDY, Utah — Alvaro Saborio scored twice and U.S. national team hopeful Robbie Findley got his first goal of the season as Real Salt Lake beat the Houston Dynamo 3-1 on Thursday night.

Houston captain Brian Ching, who is hoping to make the U.S. team for the second straight World Cup, returned in the second half after being out for the Dynamo (4-4-1) since April 1 with a strained left hamstring.

Ching and Findley were both picked for the 30-man preliminary national team roster on Tuesday. The Americans begin final training for the World Cup next week in Princeton, N.J.

Javier Morales added two assists for Real (4-3-1), which scored the first three goals on Thursday and held on in a game that got rough several times, especially in the second half.

Houston’s Mike Chabala and Joseph Ngwenya both received yellow cards for Houston and Real’s Nat Borchers also got a warning card from the officials.

Findley scored on a header in the third minute and missed two other shots on breakaways. He kicked one right to the hand of goalie Pat Onstad about a minute before he scored, then got free again in the second half and shot wide to the left.

Any offense was welcome by Findley, who had yet to score this season after leading Salt Lake last year with 12 goals.

Saborio, an MLS rookie who had two career goals entering the game, put Real up 2-0 on a header in 24th minute and added another in the 61st. He also missed on a header that went right to the

Brian Mullan scored for Houston in the 72nd minute.