Week 8 Results (ongoing) and RSL News
TFC stand tall against the Crew
In what might be considered an upset Toronto and Columbus battled on a very windy day in Canada, the match was very chippy as the players were not afraid of physical play. Toronto controlled most of the possession and had more shots, and shots on goal, but the match also featured the very questionable officiating of Kevin Stott (RSL will remember him from the Galaxy match), who missed several calls and was very inconsistent in on many others. Columbus had a couple chances but truly TFC played a better match in what ended up as a 0-0 draw which when your facing the best team in MLS has to be considered a victory, if even just a moral one.
RSL News
Real vs. Rapids Reviews
Rapids emerge victorious in the ‘battle of the West’ merinews.com
REAL SALT Lake (RSL) and the Colorado Rapids (CR) played in the ‘battle for the West’ for first blood and a first place berth in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The match took place in Commerce City, Colorado, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, on May 15, 2008. The match was played before 11,414 spectators.
Real Salt Lake blows chance to climb on top of conference race deseretnews.com
Three-quarters of the MLS season remains, but Real Salt Lake definitely missed a golden opportunity at putting its stamp on the Western Conference race Thursday night. Knowing that a victory would’ve pushed it to the top of the diluted Western Conference heap, RSL played an awful second half and the Colorado Rapids capitalized with a 2-0 victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Rapids double up RSL at home sportsnetwork.com
The Colorado Rapids claimed the top spot in the underwhelming Western table with a 2-0 home win over Rocky Mountain rivals Real Salt Lake on Thursday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Major League Soccer action. Omar Cummings and Christian Gomez scored in the second half to lead the home side to its fourth win of the season. With the two late tallies, the Rapids have scored 12 of their 13 goals this season after the break.
Bad News gets worse
Real Madrid pulls out of Aug. 9 visit to SLC sltrib.com
Real Madrid backs out of exhibition with RSL deseretnews.com
Official communication to fans from RSL President via Client Experience newsletter
Royal Club Members,
As Season Ticket holders, I wanted to personally communicate this message to you before it becomes public knowledge later today.
We have recently learned that Real Madrid has decided not to make their U.S. Tour this summer; instead they will be traveling to South America and Europe for pre-season. Unfortunately, they will not be stopping in Salt Lake City as previously planned, but we are hopeful they will return here in 2009 to play in our new stadium.
With this said, we are in final negotiations with a handful of first division European and Mexican clubs to play us in Salt Lake City this season. Please know, we will continue our commitment to bring world class soccer clubs here to Utah as we have done in the past. The bonus tickets that you hold in your package, as well as the Real Madrid ticket will be fulfilled with these future game announcements.
As an organization, RSL values your loyalty and we appreciate your continued support. We look forward to an exciting MLS season and to another set of compelling international exhibitions.
Sincerely,
Bill Manning
President
Real Salt Lake
ON MY SOAPBOX
Coming off a commanding season in the Spanish league to claim another championship their 31st, I am not really surprised that Real Madrid is chasing money versus keeping promises. How much does the Spanish organization really value the partnership deal they signed less than a year ago with SCP Worldwide (read about it here)? So what is the response of the RSL organization, to pack the stadium with fans of some Mexican teams that most RSL fans have little or no interest in seeing, I hope that they put forth a solid effort to get a better replacement than that. Here are a couple suggestions; Barcelona just signed a deal with MLS, how about them, West Ham United, as much as I really could care less about the hammers, they are a team with a huge worldwide following and besides what would be better than hearing “forever blowing bubbles” at RES, perhaps a revisit of the USMNT, what about Roma, Inter, or a team from Italey, how about this get us a DP who is either a incredible forward or a great attacking midfielder, and if you can’t do better than a couple teams from Mexico, how about allowing a $50 refund or $50 credit towards next year season tickets?
I am sure in the next few weeks and months that we will be offered a number of solutions, but I expect more in the way of excuses which would be a big step back in the progress the RSL front office has made in recent months. Add this to the impending debacle of the seat transfer process to the new stadium and not much could be worse for RSL, a team that continues to struggle on the pitch, and now a PR black eye that will be hard to cover up. There are a lot of options for Manning, Lagerwey, and Checketts, none of them are going to be cheap, none of them are going to be easy, too often the fans have been given the same lemons that the team is supplied with, this time fans deserve and should demand the very best lemonade money can buy.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on May 17, 2008 at 6:38 pm and is filed under MLS Review. 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.