September 26, 2007 by f4denz.

First let me apologize for not posting anything in a few days, I have been out sick since Friday (no standing in the rain for 3 hours Saturday did not help), and last night after the coach’s radio show I fell victim to a couple hours of Halo 3.

Saturday was an interesting match against Colorado; you could tell that the weather was a huge factor in how both teams played. I was very impressed by the leadership of Kyle Beckerman, who stepped up his level of play against his former team. It really was an even match with both teams taking a dozen shots with 5 on goal by each team, the difference was Brown being in the right place at the right time, Kyle Brown that is. A good finish to a rebound that simply fell his way, a good omen for RSL, a team that has seen a number of things not fall their way this season. I was impressed by the crowd who endured the worst weather in months, to watch the match. Even those who made the trip from Colorado, stayed until the end.

On to other things:

An Interview with Uncle Dave Deseret News Q&A session with RSL owner Dave Checketts. Some honest answers to some well asked questions

Naming the new stadium This link is from last week but I found two things to be very interesting, how bitter the anti soccer/stadium venom is (read the article comments) and the understanding that you have to be careful about potential stadium nicknames (shame that Colorado didn’t think about that- Dick’s)

Interview with Freddy A recent interview with Freddy Adu, good stuff.

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September 21, 2007 by f4denz.

Well we are just one tie short of equaling last season’s 9 draws, it is a shame we have no chance to get close to the 10 wins of last season. We do still have a chance to either reach or beat our inaugural season total of wins (5), and we are ahead of that years 5 draws, and tied with our first year total of 20 points. Yes, I do expect that we will capture a few more points, but still progress as a team has not been up to what the organization or the fans expect.

On Wednesday, a large crowd saw the best and the worst of RSL, and MLS. RSL played a decent tempo match, but failed to convert as many scoring chances as they should have. RSL played a hard physical match, and they picked up a couple yellow cards (one of which will keep Esky on the sideline for the Saturday match against Colorado). RSL dominated the stat’s with more shots, shots on goal, corner kicks, fewer fouls, more possession, and yet they only were able to get a draw at home. For a casual sports fan who showed up to see Beckham (like the gals with multiple signs offering their bodies to David), most of them saw a fairly entertaining match.

The first half saw decent football, with very solid defense by both teams and saves by both keepers. As the match moved to the second half both teams stepped up their attacks and counters, the pace was much quicker for the last 30 minutes than it had been in the first 60. A clear foul by Joe Cannon (once the best keeper in the league, now the whipping boy of the MLS), led to Carey Talley’s third goal of the season, a blistering PK, I was left wondering where the yellow card for Joe was. He made a clear grab of Yura’s foot to prevent him from getting to the ball, but this was where the casual fan may have missed what has been a trademark of the MLS season. You cannot have a league of professional soccer players and teams, if you do not have professional and competent officials, it was clear last night that several calls critical to the outcome of the match were missed or called incorrectly. It is funny that even on a world stage; the officials have really seemed to lost the ability to get it right. Is it because fans now have access to much better quality video of the matches, replays on the scoreboards, I am not sure of the cause but I am sure that even on the grandest stage of world soccer, the World Cup, the officials were suspect at best and incompetent at worst.

I did enjoy that pockets of fans from all over the stadium, really seemed to enjoy the match, in between our RCB chants and the Samba Drumming (my god make them go away, they annoy far more people than the RCB does), you could hear chants being started in the north end of the stadium and I even heard a couple from the KFC corner.

But back to the match, after the Talley PK, the pace of the match became frantic. The Galaxy were very desperate in the attack which opened up more chances for RSL to counter, after a clear foul in the box, in which Esky attempted to go in between two LA players, but was fouled hard, a fact that did not escape the LA TV crew covering the match. On the other end of the pitch in the 80^th minute a lite tackle of Randolph by Kipre, presented LA with a PK chance of their own. Would Landycakes, blow a third straight PK, come on no way, no matter how much he may annoy everyone including his own team, he is a great player. Yes, he buried the PK and we were even at 1-1, and just a few minutes later Landycakes would make a great pass to Glinton and the Galaxy were up 2-1 with the clock edging towards the 90 minute mark. I saw a large number of fans depart the stadium, but I knew something was going to happen, I could feel it in the air. As I urged the now downtrodden RCB and other fans to cheer louder, Javier Morales then got to play the role of hero for RSL, he buried a free kick into the back of the net (it looked so Beckhamesqe). With the score tied at 2-2, the RSL attack did not stop, every open chance RSL fired the ball at Joe Cannon, and in stoppage time a very close (so far I have seen photos and video that look like the ball was first played by more arm than chest by Gray, and also crossed the line prior to Cannon punching it out of goal), but in typical MLS fashion, neither the main official or linesman was in position to really see the play. So the final whistle blew with the scoreboard showing 2-2, on what proved to be a much more entertaining match than many expected.

On other topics:

New Real Boss Anaylitical a good introduction piece by the Deseret News on new RSL GM Garth Langerwey (who seems a nice fellow, had a couple brief conversations with him on Wednesday night)

From ussoccerplayers.com

SOCCER WORLD IN SHOCK AS NICOL FINED

New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol has been fined an extra $1000 by the MLS Disciplinary Committee after making “public comments of a critical nature towards the game officials.”

Nicol sounded off after the Revs’ 4-2 defeat at DC on September 9.  He felt, somewhat strongly, that Ben Olsen had committed a foul on one of his players shortly before setting up DC’s go-ahead goal.  Red-faced, he was red-carded for making his views known on the sideline, then automatically suspended for the next game and fined $500 before yesterday’s bonus top-up.  He later apologized for setting a bad example.  Again.

Who would be an MLS coach?  Of all the tasks they face — ridiculous schedule, plastic fields, complex trading and roster rules, control-freakery from MLS HQ — the most difficult of all must be resisting the temptation to criticize our beloved game officials.  Bets are off that he won’t be the last.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 19, 2007 by f4denz.

So the announcement has yet to be officially made on the MLS controlled Real website, but the Salt Lake Tribune and other sources are announcing that Real Salt Lake has hired Garth Lagerwey to be the general manager of the team. I found a very interesting article about MLS GM’s and what that role includes or more importantly doesn’t include with the current model of the MLS and how the league is run.

It will be interesting to see how Garth fits into the RSL FO; a GM should be the first step in a major overhaul of the front office, and perhaps even more changes on the pitch. Surely with the new stadium moving forward at a rapid pace, there are a number of business decisions that need to be made. Will Garth be more of a controlling force on the business side and leave most of the team operations to Jason? Or will he be putting his fingerprint on the entire organization? Only time will tell, this also opens up the question on who will RSL chose as their president. Am I the only one who thinks the hiring of a coach, then a GM and finally a President is perhaps out of order? One would think you would start at the top of the organizational chart, but when has RSL ever done something we thought they would do?

I did like the quote of the day on ussoccerplayers.com website ““You can sit here and mope, but that’s not going to help things get better.” – Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian”

Too many people have taken the sit and mope, or bitch and whine approach. I found it funny that often in soccer overseas fans get louder when their team is behind, even in the DC United match last week, the Bara Brava got louder when RSL tied the match, than they had been when DC was up 1-0. Here is hoping that all fans at tonight’s match can understand that sitting and moping makes for a miserable time, but cheering, yelling, clapping, and just plain making noise in support of your team can make losses, draws, and wins all much more enjoyable.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 18, 2007 by f4denz.

So once again I am using my lunch break at work to post a quick response to what I find to be the humorous nature of both RSLFM and her reaction to comments. So the great advocate of free speech, once again tries to belittle people who comment by bringing up issues that she really does not know much about.

Refunds for the Galaxy Match, has a single team issued any kind of refund for a LA Galaxy match because Beckham is hurt, no not a single MLS team has done so. No not a single MLS team should offer a refund; players get hurt, they get red cards, things happen. Would you expect Larry Miller to offer a refund because Shaq got hurt, no not a single fan would expect a refund. But please continue to tell people that you’re offering a neutral perspective on RSL. Good Grief. If the facts were known RSL has done everything in their power to work with the Galaxy to get David to make the trip to Salt Lake and do some type of appearance at the match, but if you only want to see bad, then that is all you will see.

A good article about Beck’s imapct on MLS From the SL Tribune, a decent read.

Peter Mellor’s messy dismissal, what was messy about it. A new coach, made a change in one of his assistants, it really is very normal and happens in every sport. Is Peter a great guy, sure he is but Jason wanted someone of his own choosing. By the way did Nick Rimando play better in the matches with Mellor as the GK coach, or since then?

Bad Faith negotiations with impoverished African FA’s, I have to assume that she is speaking about the inability of the Liberian national team to pull their heads out, first time they fail to file the correct paperwork and RSLFM puts the blame on RSL for this. This last time they filed the paperwork but failed to provide the Visa needed for Willis to travel, once again their fault but according to some all of this is the fault of the RSL FO, plain and simple lies and untruths.

MLS rule violations, wow a guys calls a friend about a potential job and gets fined for it. A mistake, yes, but an intentional violation, no you can instead chalk it up to a brand new coach making a mistake. Ask yourself where was the advice of John Ellinger, or other members of the old coaching staff on this matter? Then the comment about Shalrie Joseph, that is not Jason’s fault, it actually is mine. I did not know that coach’s were not allowed to talk about specific players on other teams, when I asked him on a radio show if a player like Shalrie would be a good fit on our squad. A great defensive midfielder, it was a question about what is still a weakness in the RSL lineup. But again, some would make this offense out to be some huge conspiracy of the FO and Jason to interfere with the Revolution.

Publicly blaming players for losses, every coach has laid blame for losses on players in the case in question where Jason called out Jamie Watson, I disagree with his evaluation but it is his right as coach to do so. It may be poor taste but to label it as dishonest is just again an attempt to throw mud.

Have the first couple of months with Jason at the helm gone well, no but can all that blame be put on him. Of course not, the organization still is lacking a General Manager, a President, has been operating on a shoestring budget (due to stadium construction costs), but we have also seen the team get some exciting young talent, the 3 Amigo’s, Beckerman, Findley, Sturgis. It looks like a team is being built for the future, something Chivas did last year and look at their success this season. I think trying to accuse RSL of playing some version of “bunker ball” shows that you have not been paying attention to the last several matches. Against Houston, we simply got out played by their offense but continued to attack, not sure how you would classify that as bunker ball, but hey why not. In DC we played a totally aggressive style of attack and counter attack that provided a incredible match to watch, shame is we did not finish as well as we should have but I would never be embarrassed by the way we played against them. The TFC match, we had to play very defensive at the start of the match, since Toronto launched their offensive from the sound of the whistle. By the time we had settled down and began to play a more offensive/ counter attacking style, the Red card came out and the match changed into a very ugly defensive effort by RSL, but was it “Bunker Ball”, not really a team down a player will almost always have to play a much more defensive style in order to try and get a result.

Sorry, but once again I see a bunch of sour grapes and not much else. Shame is everyone knows that the effort and honesty should be better.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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September 17, 2007 by f4denz.

OK,

So Wednesday night I watched RSL in what I consider their best performance (a complete 90 minutes) of the year only to lose a tough road match to DC United, one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the league. Then on Saturday afternoon, I watched a complete meltdown of RSL. They played on their heels to a much less talented Toronto side, they committed stupid fouls (ending in a red card and two other players picking up suspension causing yellows), and they simply failed to take as many shots in the match as they had in the first half against DC. I am sure someone will mention playing on a very different style of turf (it was mentioned at least 4 times during the match by the commentators), but that was not the real issue.

I am not sure what it was, but I have to admit that I now am baffled by what I saw. I am pissed by what I saw; there simply is no excuse for a team to play that poorly. With the exception of Nick Rimando, not a single RSL player put forth an effort that I consider to be worthwhile. I know can begin to understand the level of frustration felt by many fans, for the most of the year the effort has not been as good as we expected, but in recent weeks many of us thought we had turned a corner.

I remember watching the Houston match just over a week ago, and how RSL showed heart in battling back from 4-1 down (shame is they didn’t battle as hard before they were down 4-1), and thinking if we could just show that much heart for 90 minutes. You follow that up with an honest 90 minute effort against DC, but then the debacle of Toronto. Was it a meltdown of emotions and physical effort after the previous two matches? I am not sure I can explain it any other way; I can not believe that it was just a lapse in judgment or ability that lead to a 0-0 draw against a team we should have owned on the pitch.

Here is hoping that some of the boys have pulled their heads out, and will put forth a worthy effort against two teams we should be able to beat at home. The Galaxy, are still the walking wounded and we should be able to score against the one defense in the league that has looked worse than ours. Then comes Pablo and Medhi on for the 3^rd match against the crapids this season, anything less than a win against them will be unacceptable by most fans.

OTHER NEWS AND LINKS

Problems at Home Depot Post Match For those who watched last Thursday’s match with the Galaxy and the Goats, the incident with the flares that delayed the match was only the tip of the iceberg.

It isn’t just Jason who has to rationalize defeat or try to add a positive to a loss or tie.

What went wrong:Week 25
Teams don’t lose without good reason.  Coaches articulate their disappointment and rationalize defeat or a failure to score goals.

“On the play, I thought it was a pretty even game, to be honest. The score flatters them but a 3-0 loss is a 3-0 loss and that’s what we’re looking at.” LA coach Frank Yallop is in forgiving mood after losing to Chivas USA.

“We can’t give away goals like we did today. We’re just absolutely so naïve with our fight and our will to do better. Guys just don’t take responsibility. For me, you have to make sure that you feel that something is your fault, and I think our guys don’t. They don’t take responsibility.” Yallop’s less happy after the 3-1 home defeat by Houston.

“Today was….I’m actually speechless.  I felt the guys gave a great effort, I really feel bad for them, because whatever they try in front of goal it’s just not going in.  It’s ricocheting off someone, it’s going by for corners, and it’s getting cleared off the line.  We have clear chances and it’s just a matter of putting one of them away.”  Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston doesn’t believe in the old adage ‘You make your own luck.’
 
“It was very disappointing.” Coach Steve Morrow spares us words and excuses in describing the FC Dallas second-half performance at New England.

“There’s not a whole lot positive I can say about our team’s game tonight except for the fact that we fought very, very hard.”  Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis is similarly curt after his team managed just one shot on target at Toronto.

“I have no comment — talk to the referee.  The referee is the one who influenced the game tonight. That’s all I have to say.”  Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid implies that his team’s 3-2 defeat at the Wizards was out of its hands.”

RSL outshot, outmanned, but not outscored (he forgot outplayed) Deseret News coverage of loss to Toronto

Rimando salvages 0-0 tie SL Trib review of the Toronto Match

10 Man Real extends Toronto’s scoreless streak Review of the match from a Canadian perspective (with their flappy heads and all)

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