May 2, 2008 by f4denz.

Its Open season for RSL in rout Salt Lake Tribune
Real Salt Lake had little trouble dispatching San Jose during Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup qualifying game. The 4-0 final was the first of three possible matches RSL needs for the right to enter the official tournament.   Considering the amount of experience the Earthquakes put out on the Rice Eccles Stadium turf, it would have been real news had RSL not been the dominant aggressor. (Wow it appears RSLFM has found a new voice- sorry RSL doesn’t control the line up of the opposing team- also RSL played 7 players who were not in the starting 11 last week)

Team puts superior depth on display Deseret News
Improved depth was one of the biggest reasons why expectations were so high for Real Salt Lake heading into the 2008 season.
Over the course of such a longseason, along with the inevitable injuries and suspensions, the coaching staff believed more depth would translate into more wins.

Seitz shows his stuff in goal Deseret News
Lost in the shuffle of RSL’s dominating U.S. Open Cup victory Wednesday night was the play of back-up goalkeeper Chris Seitz. He came up with two fantastic saves in the second half to preserve the shutout. His first big save came in the 56th minute when he made a diving save to stone John Cunliffe on a breakaway opportunity.

Quakes lose game, two players San Jose Mercury News
The Earthquakes got an early sign Wednesday that it wasn’t going to be their night. In the ninth minute of their 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, Quakes defenders Jay Ayres and Ryan Cochrane violently collided while battling for a high ball. Both players were taken to a hospital with facial lacerations and concussions. Coach Frank Yallop, after the game, said Ayres might have some broken cheekbones.

RSL defeat Quakes in Open Cup play-in, prepares to face Galaxy American Soccer News
Real Salt Lake defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 in a rather colorful affair at home on Wednesday to move forward in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Kyle Beckerman scored twice, while Yura Movsisyan and Andy Williams also added goals to send RSL into the next round of play against Columbus on May 27. Salt Lake has not had a spot in the official Cup tournament since 2006.

A couple stadium updates

Salt Lake County funds to help stadium? Deseret News
It looks like Salt Lake County could end up ponying up more cash to the Sandy soccer stadium after all. But no money will actually go straight to the stadium. Instead, the county might extend a deal that gives Sandy $300,000 a year for the Sandy Amphitheater. The county has provided that funding for several years now, but the deal was supposed to end this year. (funny I don’t remember any of this controversy when funds were given to the amphitheater)

Sandy OK’s selling of alcohol at RSL stadium Salt Lake Tribune
Real Salt Lake has Sandy’s OK to sell booze at its soccer stadium. But the team and its concessionaire Levy Restaurants will have to garner state approval to secure the four liquor licenses needed. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission meets once per month. (finally some good stadium news from the local media)

That’s it for now a weekend preview for RSL vs. Galaxy coming later today along with the week 6 MLS previews. Until then here is the link to the official game guide for the Saturday match up with LA.

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May 2, 2008 by f4denz.

What is it about the qualifying process of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament that means it will snow in Salt Lake City, last year it was the doubleheader with KC and Fiji in town to face off against RSL. Last night it was San Jose and sure enough as we entered the second half the snow finally appeared:

Thanks for the photo Judge (click the photo to see more RCB photos)

But let’s review the events before the snow, it seems that only matches RSL may win this season are ones in which Kyle Beckerman scores two goals, like he did last night. But Kyle’s goals were not the first big event of the night, so the match started with each team looking for what attacking options would be available. San Jose tried a couple early balls down the side but efforts on both sides of the pitch were quickly shut down. In the 15^th minute RSL was attacking up the middle and a high ball had 3 players going for it, all missed the ball but San Jose’s Ryan Cochrane and Jay Ayres found each other in a very violent collision that put both players on their backs for over 5 minutes, both suffered injuries from facial cuts to broken noses were reported. San Jose was forced to make two substitutions very early in the match, and RSL took advantage when a ball was played into the box, confusion reigned and finally Beckerman pushed the ball into the back of the net 1-0 RSL. In the 33^rd minute Kyle cracked a shot on goal from some distance (20-25 yards) that flew past Burpo and into the back of the net 2-0 RSL, then less than a minute later another ball in the box and Yura puts it into the back of the net 3-0 RSL. There were minor attacks from both sides for the remainder of the first half (plus the 7 minutes of stoppage time); a couple nice saves by Seitz kept the scoreline 3-0 as the first half ended.

So the first half reminded many of how we played against DC United at home as RSL did a much better job of attacking the ball in the midfield, as the second half started both side made a change in their lineups (RSL put in Dema Kovalenko for Kyle Beckerman, and SJ put in Ivan Guerrero for Ramiro Corrales). The match really slowed down as the weather began to pick up, first was a strong wind with an occasional snow flake, but within minutes the snow was going down at a steady pace and the wind just kept it blowing around the stadium. This really limited the ability for long passes and made set pieces a challenge, and even with the orange ball in play, it was hard to see from the stands and vision on the pitch wasn’t much better. San Jose pulled out all the stops and made some nice attacking runs, but Seitz again was able to keep everything out of the net with a couple of super saves, I imagine more than a couple teams would not mind having him as their starter in goal. The match really continued with each team having a couple decent chances on goal, but nothing too spectacular (final shots were SJ 5 RSL 17), as many people were heading for the stands, or already getting warm in their cars, a cheer went up for one more goal, and sure enough Andy Williams was there to make the fans happy as the 90^th minute started Andy put one final goal into the back of the net 4-0 RSL.

So I have to admit that despite the poor weather there were some great moments in the stands last night, first I never expected the RCB to sing Christmas carols, but it happened. Who would have thought that one of the largest cheers of the night was reserved not for a celebration of any of the goals, but when the officials finally called for the orange ball to be put into play, the stands exploded with chants of “Orange ball, Orange Ball” and delight could be seen of the faces of children both young and old. I have to admit I also think the chant of “Kyle Beckerman, green and white army” was of the best moments of the night, surely if Kyle had played in the second half RSL would have been able to celebrate a hat trick, but saving some of that scoring for Saturday night is probably a wise move from coach Kreis. I know he was asked by myself as well as many others if we could done the green and white kits for that match, but I am sure the MLS would probably find a way to make it a issue, and send down an edict about uniforms and may even try to get back to last year’s trend of imposing a fine or some type of punishment.

A couple players really shined last night Olave, continues to impress with his physical play on the back line. I was also impressed with our first real look at Matias Cordoba, who played well in the midfield in his 58 minutes of action, he provided decent pace and was willing to attack the ball whenever the opposing team had it. Of course the man of the match has to be Kyle Beckerman, who was everywhere on the pitch as normal, and did put two into the back of the net for RSL. I was a bit disappointed by the efforts of Kenny Culter, who appeared to be very rusty with his passes and ability to defend and attack the ball; I also have to say that despite the goal Yura had a rough night. A couple times he missed chances to pass to open players, and again on a fairly open play with a chance for a goal, he stumbled and failed to get a shot on goal. Overall a good team effort, players seemed to do a good job in supporting and covering for each other, you can’t argue with the results on the scoreboard.

I will post my TFC vs. NYRB preview later.

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