Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas Preview
So I have already predicted a 2-1 RSL win in this match, now let’s go over the reasons why.
RSL Offense
Only once this season has RSL failed to score in a match (0-1 loss at TFC), and last week they scored 6 goals in two matches (4 against San Jose in the LHUSOC, and 2 against LA). Kenny “Dr. Goal” Deuchar finally appears to be finding his touch in MLS as he had one goal against LA on a great header, and another goal in the match stolen by the horrible offside call, and then add in the offensive prowess of Fabian Espindola who in recent weeks has looked very good. In the midfield Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman have proven they can work together to provide good chances for the forwards, and Dema Kovalenko has proven to be a great pick up as no one works harder than Dema attacking every ball he can. Andy gets the start, according to the game guide, Andy Williams will be in the starting 11. Andy has always been exciting, sometimes in good ways and every once in a while in a absolutely puzzling way RSL has nine goals in their first six matches, last season it took eleven matches for RSL to get that many goals, what a great improvement.
RSL defense is still looking for their form
If you remove the 4 goals given up against DC United, RSL has played decent defense all year, some great shots by great players have beaten them, but they would have beaten anyone. Blanco in stoppage time on opening day, Beckham on a superb shot from 35 yards out, and a free kick that never should have counted, but the recent line up with Olave and Borchers in the middle kept Landycakes out of the scoring summary last week. The goal keeping of Nik Rimando has been solid, beaten most often on set pieces where the wall has failed.
Jason stands up for his team
I have seen it many times in other sports, the coach steps up and says what is on the mind of the players and fans, and takes a bullet for his team. In baseball and basketball, you very often see a team rally when their coach is kicked out of a match, knowing that your coach is willing to stand up for you is enough to give you just enough of an edge to get a win.
Dallas’ one trick pony
Finally Kenny Cooper is healthy and living up to the hype, he has four goals in six matches, and the problem is that he is half of the scoring for Dallas, so if you shut down Kenny, you really reduce the Hoop’s offense. Can the big guys on the RSL back line take Kenny out of the game like they did last week with Donovan? I think they can, Kenny counts on his size to get him the advantage at 6′3″ that works against a lot of team, but Olave is also 6′3″ and Borchers is 6′2″, so the size advantage that Kenny gets most weeks, is nowhere to be found against RSL.
A new history
Last years matches between these two teams were all tight matches, a 2-2 draw at RES (a goal in stoppage time by the departed Ruiz), a 2-1 loss at Pizza Hut Park (a Dallas goal in the 82nd minute), and the rubber match was a 1-0 win for Dallas at RES (yup a stoppage time goal). With every match decided in the last 10 minutes last year, I would not leave my seat early this year, but RSL has only given up one meaningful goal in the last 10 minutes in their six matches this year. I expect that RSL will keep their focus this week and a win will follow for RSL 2-1 over FC Dallas.
Game Guide
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on May 9, 2008 at 4:10 pm and is filed under 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.