RSL News/Blog Updates & other tidbits
Kreis was right, so says US Soccer
U.S. Soccer Referee Week in Review Week 6
Referee team performances were solid in 5 of our 7 games. In two of the games, the referee’s performance failed to match the intensity level of the game and, consequently, the games lacked the entertainment value that has been a hallmark of many matches thus far this year. Referee teams need to sense the flow and “atmosphere” or spirit of the game and recognize the danger signals as the game develops. In the two aforementioned games, the referee relied too much on personality and too much on flow to manage the game. Referees must recognize that, as the game/situation changes, they must adapt their personality to EXCEED the intensity levels of the players.
Video Clip 9: Galaxy at RSL (38:43)
This example illustrates the mechanics outlined above. It also, however, shows how the manner in which the referee signals “wait for my whistle” (ceremonial free kick) can be misinterpreted by the defending team as an indication of Indirect Free Kick. Look at the height of the referee’s arm. His signal to hold the kick is similar to the indirect free kick signal. For this reason, US Soccer recommends that the referee hold the whistle no higher than his face and point to it clearly distinguishing an indirect signal from the “wait for my whistle” signal. In the press, the coach was quoted as saying the goal should have been disallowed because the free kick was indirect. Also remember that a foul that looks like dangerous play can be a direct free kick when contact is made with the opponent.
Video Clip 12: Galaxy at RSL (42:15)
This decision is very unfortunate as it takes away a potential game winning goal as the score is tied 2-2. At the professional level, this type of decision cannot be made as the attacker is at least 1 yard onside when the ball is passed by his teammate and there is plenty of time and space for the AR to make a proper decision. Notice the ARs position, 2 or more yards behind the second-to-last defender. Therefore, the ARs view of the goal scorer is skewed. With the ARs position, the goal scorer will seem to be in a more advanced position than he is in actuality. We must get this right!
ON MY SOAPBOX
One has to wonder why it took so long for this report to come out? Normally this report is finished and published mid week, but this report was a full 5 days late and after another weekends matches, was this done to gloss over the mistakes and hope that a weeks action would steer attention away from the injustices? MLS and US Soccer have to come up with a way to do better than just apologize for the mistakes, if you can fine and suspend a coach for pointing out the truth, what punishment is levied against the officials who make the errors and cost a team a victory? If you want the league to be taken more serious around the world, then getting these issues resolved has to be a top priority.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
RSL vs. FCD fallout
RSL Wins Ugly Over Dallas American-soccer-news.com
Real Salt Lake preserved its undefeated home record on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas, overcoming a weak start and a Dallas equalizer to earn what was characterized as an “ugly” win.
RSL head coach Jason Kreis said, “That’s probably one of the worst games we’ve played this season, in my opinion. And maybe that’s a good thing because maybe we need to learn how to win ugly, and tonight was that case.”
RSL earns ugly win sltrib.com
There were a number of milestones achieved in Real Salt Lake’s 2-1 win over FC Dallas on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, and not all of them were good. On the negative side was the fact that RSL coach Jason Kreis thought it was the worst match his team has played all season.
Wodraska: Give me wins, losses – not ties sltrib.com
I had a great time at the Real Salt Lake game recently when I was assigned to write a column on David Beckham. The game started out great with two goals by the home team, then got even better when Beckham scored twice in a five-minute span with two kicks that displayed the accuracy and strength that once made him the best player in the world.
ON MY SOAPBOX
OK, first I don’t know who Lya Wodraska is and to be honest after reading her option piece on soccer I don’t care. First David Beckham has never been the best soccer player in the world, not now, not at Real Madrid, not for England, and not at Man U, not once has he been the best player in the world. Next please do not send someone who has no or little understanding of soccer to cover the sport, ties are a part of the sport and always have been, not every sport needs to cater to the typical American sports fan. Changing rules has not helped the NHL get a larger impact on the US sports market, and never will. Understanding that soccer is about the accomplishments of a season, and not an individual match, while MLS has catered in part to the US need for a playoff, when you look at the top tier of world football, seasons are won or lost without playoffs. If you’re going to offer opinions please take time to at least learn a little about the history of the sport.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
RSL picks up an ugly, much needed victory deseretnews.com
Real Salt Lake has definitely proven since its inception that winning doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time — and in RSL’s case — years to figure it out. Amid a tumultuous week in which coach Jason Kreis was suspended and captain Carey Talley was traded away, RSL might’ve taken a step in the winning direction Saturday night.
Real Salt Lake backups fall to Dallas deseretnews.com
For the second straight weekend Real Salt Lake’s reserves found themselves in the midst of a goal-scoring fest Sunday morning at Quinn’s Junction. This time, however, it was RSL’s defense that did most of the breaking down. Leading by a goal at the break, Real’s reserves surrendered three goals in the second half in falling to FC Dallas’ reserves 5-3.
(I love that the local media is providing some coverage of the reserves, good job)
FC Dallas at RSL player grades By James Edwards at deseretnews.com
Here are the grades for RSL’s starting 11. There were some tough choices because even though his team won the game, coach Jason Kreis thought it was one of the the team’s worst performances of the year: The only thing that matters at the end of the day are wins.
FC Dallas suffers first road loss of season Dallas Morning News
FC Dallas suffered its first road loss of the season Saturday, dropping a 2-1 decision to Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium. “A frustrating loss, a disappointing loss,” said Dallas coach Steve Morrow, whose squad fell to 2-2-3 overall and 1-1-2 away from Pizza Hut Park.
Game Grades: FC Dallas vs. Real Salt Lake 3rdegree.com (a very good FCD blog)
I did not see all of the match so grades won’t be forthcoming, but from what was witnessed it’s pretty obvious that it was more of the same.
Please note that Cooper’s fantastic strike came yet again from a ball behind the defense that allowed Kenny to run into the box. Again, it was a fantastic goal and came from Rocha’s smart, quick decision making - but it highlights this team’s total inability to score a goal via a build up from midfield.
Other RSL & MLS news
Beltran and Seitz named to U.S. U-23 roster RSL Media Relations
U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team head coach Peter Nowak has named the 22 players who will participate in the Toulon International Tournament in Toulon, France, a squad that includes a pair of Real Salt Lake players - D/M Tony Beltran and GK Chris Seitz. The bulk of the U.S. team will arrive in Toulon this Thursday, May 15, and will have five days of training before their opening match against Turkey on May 21, at 3:30 p.m. local (7:30 a.m. MT). However, Beltran and Seitz will travel with their Real Salt Lake teammates to Denver for Thursday’s Rocky Mountain Cup clash at the Colorado Rapids (7:30 p.m. kick-off, live on ESPN2) before departing for France on Friday morning.
The Commissioner Speaks web.mlsnet.com
Like many of you, I watched the recent episode of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption when co-host Michael Wilbon vilified the practice of MLS fans throwing streamers at opposing players when they’re getting ready to take a corner kick. PTI showed video of Red Bulls midfielder Claudio Reyna with dozens of streamers around him. Wilbon, who has been a supporter of MLS and the sport of soccer in the past, was literally outraged at this practice and referred to it as ‘minor league.’ Clearly, I disagree.
(this article has some nice comments from Garber’s visit to Salt Lake)
Steven Goff’s “The Good, The Bad, The Coyote Ugly” blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider
THE GOOD
*Columbus scoring three goals in 10 minutes to win its fifth straight and improve to a league-best 6-1-0.
*After two losses and four ties, the two-time defending champion Dynamo has a victory.
MLS Weekend: No Threat Of Relegation ussoccerplayers.typepad.com
Red Bull New York, New England, and Houston finally got help from the usual suspects. Juan Pablo Angel got his first goal of the season, Taylor Twellman made his 2008 debut for the Revs with a game winner against Chivas USA, and Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario got their first goals seven weeks in.
SBI MLS Power Rankings: Week Seven soccerbyives.net
As if the Eastern Conference wasn’t already strong enough, Juan Pablo Angel and Taylor Twellman finally opened their goal-scoring accounts to give yet another boost to the stronger of the two MLS conferences.
Yes, the domination of West by East continued last weekend, with East teams going 3-0, all on the road, against the West. The standings don’t lie. The two teams with the best records in the West, Colorado and FC Dallas, would both be in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Wow.
MLS Philly makes hires as it grows web.mlsnet.com
Keystone Sports and Entertainment, LLC, just became a whole lot stronger. And more experienced. The ownership group for Major League Soccer Philadelphia 2010 announced the hiring of two more key executives on Monday — Rob Smith as director of operations and Dave Debusschere as chief financial officer. Both executives will officially begin their assignments on June 2.
( I really could care less about the hires, but check out the link for sketches of what their stadium might look like, very cool)
This entry was posted on May 12, 2008 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Blogs and News Links. 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.