SANDY, Utah — Sebastian Giovinco had two shots on net, including a penalty kick, as Toronto FC tied host Real Salt Lake 0-0 on Saturday in their Major League Soccer opener.

Giovinco was given a yellow card for unsporting behaviour in the 82nd minute. He has 39 goals in two seasons and was the 2015 MLS Golden Boot winner.

"He's definitely a player that we circle and always have to know when he's around and when that ball turns over," said Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who had three saves. "I know first eyes are on him and Jozy Altidore, and I think that goes with Toronto.

"Their first instinct when they get the ball is to play it to them, so I think we did well and finding the spaces they were in closing them down and making it difficult."

Altidore got by two defenders and passed to Giovinco in the centre of the box, but Rimando blocked Giovinco's right-footed shot in the 58th minute. In the first half, Rimando ran outside the goalie box to slow Giovinco with the ball and tripped him while sliding. Rimando then dove to his right to block Giovinco's penalty kick in the 31st minute.

"I thought we had some very good looks early on in the game," said TFC head coach Greg Vanney. "(Rimando) had his opportunity at the penalty spot and he is known for quickly reading things. Call it what you want, we all have our ideas of what happened in that moment. (Rimando) was quick, he was low and to the spot. An opportunity lost in the moment as the game went on."

RSL's Albert Rusnak took two shots and Toronto's Victor Vazquez played 29 minutes in their MLS debuts.

Clint Irwin stopped three shots for Toronto. The Canadian team lost 4-3 on penalty kicks to the Seattle Sounders FC in last season's MLS Cup.

"Clean sheets are always good especially on the road," said Toronto defender Drew Moor. "You walk away happy. At the start of the day, if you would have told us we would have gotten a clean sheet, obviously, we would have taken it of course. I just thought we lacked a little bit of sharpness and it's a good sign that, although this was a decent result, that we're not really satisfied with not coming away with three points at the end of the day"

— With files from The Associated Press