Real Salt Lake vs. San Jose LHUSOC play in & News/Blog updates
A change is coming,
So the weather in Salt Lake on Tuesday was the mid 70’s and breezy, RSL got beat down 4-1 in DC, San Jose got beat 2-0 in NYC, but Wednesday will bring a change, in at least two of those things. See the weather is going to change a high of 47 and a 30% chance of rain or snow (see NOAA for more details), and there will be a winner in the match on Wednesday. The MLS has 8 automatic berths into the LHUSOC tournament, and two additional slots are available for the other teams to compete for, so there must be a winner on the 30th to see who will move to the next step in trying to grab one of those slots. As of this posting there is no official game guide out yet for this match but RSL and San Jose have articles about the matches, just use the links to read the articles.
So this should be an interesting match to say the least San Jose have not looked at all like a typical (RSL) expansion team, and much of the credit for that could go to coach Frank Yallop, who may know the league as well as anyone out there. San Jose has only scored 2 goals in their 4 MLS matches this year, but for their scoring woes, their defense have only allowed 5 goals into the back of the net, in part due to their multi time all star keeper Joe Cannon. RSL has struggled on the road the last two weeks, but should fare better at home, and if history is any indication last year in their first play in game, they won an ugly match against KC. The weather will be much closer to last years match as well, which was 37 and snowing, nothing funnier than watching the second match that night as the Fiji national team saw the orange ball for what must have been the first time in many players lives. Last year RSL got the winner in extra time as Andy Williams scored in the 109th minute to give us a 2-1 lead that held up as the final score.
I would not be at all surprised if we end up going to extra time again, as both teams will probably start line ups mixed with starters and bench players. For RSL it sounds like Talley will be out and Williams in (given his performance in prior LHUSOC matches, this could be a good omen), it also sounds like Beltran will get a start for either Joy or Mantilla, who both are nursing injuries. San Jose will not play O’Brien, but new forward Peguero Jean Philippe is expected to see action on Wednesday. I like a 1-1 regular time score line, and then a RSL goal in extra time, I am hoping that we will get our first chance to see Tino Nunez in a first team role.
Blog and News Update
MLS Weekend: The Donovan Show ussoccerplayers.typepad.com
On yet another big night in Carson, it was Landon Donovan making himself the difference against co-tenants Chivas USA. Also, DC United gets the calls and finds their form against Real Salt Lake.
The Good, The Bad, The Coyote Ugly MLS Week 5 blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/
*Five Saturday matches averaged nearly 20,000 spectators. And then there was the one Sunday game in the Swamp (see The Coyote Ugly).
*Landon Donovan’s hat trick, increasing his league-best goals total to eight.
*The past three No. 1 overall draft picks — Marvell Wynne (2006), Maurice Edu (’07) and Chance Myers (’08) — played 90 minutes in the same match at Toronto.
Garber discusses Soccer Specific Solutions goal.blogs.nytimes.com (don’t miss the audio links on the left hand side of the page)
The commissioner of Major League Soccer is no longer concerned about the league’s survival. Don Garber is instead focused on finding soccer-specific solutions to the next set of challenges facing the 13-year-old league.
Turnabout is fair play: DC United crushes RSL deseretnews.com
Carey Talley hobbled through the Real Salt Lake dressing room with an ice pack on his right knee, thanks in part to a collision early in Saturday’s game with a D.C. United player. But the pain was more severe in his words and expression following a 4-1 loss to United before 23,269 fans. Two weeks ago, Real beat United 4-0 in Utah. But Saturday they fell to 1-3-1 while United improved to 2-3-0.
Stadium Update James Edward’s blog deseretnews.com/blogs
I swung by RSL’s Sandy stadium late Monday afternoon to get a quick update about the construction progress, and I thought I’d relay some information. I spoke with Elliott from Icon Construction and he informed me that the project is about 65 to 67 percent done. It’s been about a month since I’ve visited the stadium, and the progress is incredible.
Update from RSL FO via Fan Experience email
Tomorrow Wednesday, April 30, vs. S.J. Earthquakes 7:00 p.m. Kickoff
LHUSOC Open Cup Qualifier; Winner plays @ Columbus
Carnival Real begins at 6:00 p.m.
Item of the Game: Cinch Sack
Special Green Kits will be worn by RSL to commemorate our Green Initiatives and to celebrate Earth Day 2008! Availability of these special green kits for purchase is limited so call us at (801) 924-8585 or come by our front office at 515 S. 700 E. Suite 2R Salt Lake City, UT 84102
That is all for now, OFF MY SOAPBOX see you at RES
This entry was posted on April 29, 2008 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Blogs and News Links, The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.