Real Salt Lake Updates & More Midweek MLS Action
May 29, 2008 by f4denz.
RSL Updates
RSL, Quakes look to gain ground real.saltlake.mlsnet.com
Real Salt Lake return home to take on the San Jose Earthquakes with both teams looking to start the climb back up the Western Conference standings. With just one win in their last six games, both of Real’s victories have come at Rice-Eccles Stadium, last three weeks ago against FC Dallas. The Earthquakes put an end to their four-game winless streak last week, defeating Houston Dynamo at Buck Shaw Stadium in an emotional night for their first home victory since their return to the league.
Quakes announce player injuries web.mlsnet.com
The San Jose Earthquakes announced that they have placed forward Peguero Jean Philippe on the season-ending injury list and defender Jay Ayres on the six-week disabled list. The two players are now not currently on the Earthquakes active 18-man roster.
Quakes sign Lowery and Benton web.mlsnet.com
The San Jose Earthquakes have signed former Kansas City Wizards defender Amir Lowery and goalkeeper Dan Benton. Lowery will occupy a spot on the developmental roster, while Benton will be placed on the senior roster. Per team and league policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed.
Sandy moving forward without county funds for Real stadium deseretnews.com
This city is moving forward with plans to provide $10 million for the Real soccer stadium despite a Salt Lake County decision to opt out of the funding package.
The city plans to create a commercial development area to fund a 20-year bond for the money, economic development director Randy Sant told the City Council in a work session Tuesday.
RSL at FC Dallas Player Grades deseretnews.com/blogs
Here are the grades for RSL’s starting 11 and substitutes:
Nick Rimando (5) — Made a couple timely saves, but he was mostly helpless as things broke down defensively in the final 10 minutes.
Chris Wingert (6) — Put forth a solid 90-minute effort playing right back in the first half and left back in the second half.
Battle of the Bottom-Feeders quakes.american-soccer-news.com
Nine days after the San Jose Earthquakes claimed their first home win, the team travels to Real Salt Lake Saturday to play a team unbeaten at home.
Last Thursday against the Dynamo, San Jose was temporarily relieved of its offensive struggles, resulting in their third two-goal game of the season. Unfortunately, the Quakes have not scored in any other game. The Quakes’ measly six goals are by far the least of any team. No other side has netted less than ten. This has pushed the Quakes into a last place spot in the Western Conference. Many predicted the expansion Earthquakes would have paltry offensive production.
2008 Real Salt Lake Roster Maps thebesteleven.com
These maps show where the players on the 2008 Real Salt Lake roster are from. Foreign-born players are mapped by their nation of birth and players born in the USA are mapped by their hometown, as listed at the official MLS player pages.
RSL vs. San Jose Game Guide
Midweek MLS action
United look to keep their winning ways going
DC United fresh off their 3-2 win at home over TFC play their 3rd game in 8 days as they travel north to face the Revolution, but New England has a share of first place and a win tonight would put pressure on Chicago and Columbus to have to keep pace with them. Let’s face some basic facts, first DC United is better than their record and have traditionally been slow starters, second New England is always one of the top teams in the East. So this really is a match between two powerhouse teams with a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, it should be an exciting match, but I am going to pick a 2-2 draw.
Dallas falls victim to last minute goal
Turnabout is fair play and I have to admit even with my pick for Dallas to win 2-1, I was very happy to see them give up a 93rd minute goal and have to settle for a 2-2 draw. It seems not only can FCD score in extra time, but they can give up goals as well, I did smile as DeRo evened the score.
MLS News Updates
Last Call MLS: Allocation Methods ussoccerplayers.typepad.com
Brian McBride’s impending return to Major League Soccer has produced multiple theories, and Mo Johnston joins a soccer show. As we expectantly wait for a thorough explanation of how Brain McBride will end up in Chicago, it might be worth remembering that Danny Szetela was a lock for North Jersey just before he ended up in Columbus.
SBI MLS Best XI: Week 9 soccerbyives.net
After thrashing the New York Red Bulls 5-1, the Chicago Fire figured to have a few selections on this week’s MLS Best XI. How many? Try a season-high four selections, with two more Fire players earning honorable mention.
MLS Rumors: Editorial Piece on the Racial taunts from Columbus fans mls-rumors.com
Over the last 5 days a lot has happened since someone posted a video of an anonymous Columbus Crew fan hurling racist epithets at an African player for the New England Revolution. We decided that rather than shy away from the story we’d report everything we could find out about the incident and any linkage between Crew fans and organized hate groups after someone sent us some artwork for a band associated with Nazism that had a striking resemblance to a Crew supporter’s logo.
ON MY SOAPBOX
I would like to think that this type of crap would not happen in MLS, but it does and will, MLS and clubs must step up and take action. The sad part is that this will be used by some to try and censor a lot of speech at soccer matches, those who find anything objectionable will say that it will lead to this type of behavior. Some will say this is what happens when you serve alcohol at sporting events, others will say this and recent events at Toronto matches, should lead the league to crack down on supporter groups. I think this is a call for supporter groups to do a much better job of policing themselves, something far too few of them do. What is the line that can be drawn? Can the “… has herpes” be seen as too far over the line? How about the famous “wings of an eagle” chant? I say no, but I do think a line can be drawn at anything racial, or threatening violence, fans will have to decide on issues like the F-bomb, sexually suggestive chants, and others that may be deemed “over the line”. One thing is sure if the fans do not control the behavior in the stands the teams, stadium staff, and league will, and that is something that no fan should be wanting.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
MLS coaches sleep uneasily after season’s first sacking guardian.co.uk by Shaka Hislop
It’s better to be lucky than good, goes the old saying. The new FC Dallas stand-in head coach, Marco Feruzzi, will certainly be feeling that way after seeing his side come from behind thanks to two late strikes by super-sub Dominic Oduoro to snatch all three points at home to a decent Real Salt Lake team, coached by former Dallas standout Jason Kreiss.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
MLS Week 9 Review & Real Blows it
May 29, 2008 by f4denz.
Revolution’s last minute salvation
So on a call that I call questionable, I did not see a lot of contact, but rather more a player losing his balance a battle between two of the powerhouses of the Eastern Conference ended in controversy. A battle that saw both teams take over a dozen shots, a lot of good chances and some nice saves, ended on what has to be one of the most entertaining goals of the season. Steve Ralston goes down, on a “foul”, and New England is issued a PK in the 89th minute, but they are facing Will Hesmer who has made a number of PK saves already this season 3 of the 4 he has faced, stopped the shot by Shalrie Joseph but it deflected out and Kheli Dube took advantage to put the ball into the back of the net and New England picks up 3 points as they win 1-0 to hand the Crew their first home loss. As three teams in the East have 19 points but Chicago takes the lead on goal differential.
Midweek rematch, different result
TFC had to travel to RFK Stadium and face off against DC United, a team they had beat in a midweek battle. TFC struck first on a Dichio goal in the 13th minute and it looked like it would be a repeat of the mid week match, but DC United continued to attack and had several shots on goal, but they finally took advantage of 41st minute corner kick to draw even with the team from Canada as Peralta had a diving header to put the ball into the back of the net. Toronto wasn’t done and in stoppage time of the first half Danny D, would strike again, this time a clear shot from the top of the box went straight into the back of the net as TFC retook the lead 2-1 as the half ended. DC United all season at this point would have packed it up and simply quit fighting, as demonstrated by their 2 wins and 10 goals going into this match, but perhaps they have finally found what has been missing. United would get back in this match on a stupid foul in the box by Wynne and we know what happens for DC when they get a penalty kick, yup Mr. Cheap Goals Jamie Moreno gets his 116th goal to further extend his all time MLS goal lead. As the smoke was still rising from Bara Brava, United struck again as Sutton could not hold onto a shot from distance and the rebound found the foot of Emilio who had no problem finishing to give United the 3-2 win.
Fire catch fire and take over first
Chicago was red hot on Sunday as they went to the Big Apple to face off against the Red Bulls who should have been drinking some Red Bull. The attack started early as the Fire got their first goal in the 8th minute, and they never looked back. Chicago was attacking the whole match, and despite a dive from Blanco in the box as he tried to get a PK, the Fire were the far superior team leading in shots, shots on goal and goals. All told Chicago would put 5 on the scoreboard to New York’s 1, in what was one of the most one sided matches since the two RSL vs. United matches this year.
Galaxy continue to impress
So LA has taken over sole possession of first place in the West on their back to back wins over FC Dallas and then last weekend over KC, a match that was covered on HDNet, so I did not see the match. Goals from Landycakes, Buddle, and Beckham gave LA their 3 goals, while KC scored first on a goal from Claudio Lopez it simply wasn’t enough.
Rivals match up
So when Chivas traveled to Colorado to face off against the Rapids, the best thing that could happen for RSL fans, would be if both teams could find a way to lose the match, since that can’t happen our next best hope would be a draw, something these teams do more often than winning or losing when they face off in the Mile High City. I have this match on DVR, but have not had a chance to watch it yet. I may post a more detailed review later, but I wouldn’t count on it. This one ended with the goat’s picking up a 2-1 win.
RSL blows it
So I am going to place the blame for the 2-1 loss at Dallas on two people, first on Jason Kreis for making an ill advised substitution in the 77th minute, and second on Matias Mantilla the player that was brought on. The first half was tight with Dallas getting the better of chances but great plays by Borchers and Olave, along with saves by Rimando keep the scoreboard 0-0. RSL was forced to play with 10 men after Ian Joy got his second yellow card of the match in the 38th minute. The second foul was clear but not a yellow card offense and the end result was that RSL which had struggled for offense on the road would have to try to get a win with just 10 men. In the second half it was only a couple minutes in before the match would take another turn do to a red card, as Bobby Rhine was shown a straight red for a foul on Morales. Both teams then struggled for a bit to figure out how they would play with the sides now even at 10 men each.
Jason made a good move by brining in Espindola for a struggling Findley which sparked the offensive efforts, but it was followed by a very strange move to bring in Kenny Cutler for Kenny Deuchar with the score tied at 0-0 in the 54th minute. It appeared to be in response to Dallas getting more attacking chances; the end result was that RSL was able to take advantage of a great pass from Morales played through the Dallas defense and to the feet of Fabian who put it far post past a diving Sala to give RSL their first lead in a road match this season. RSL bunkered back as Dallas stepped up their attack in an attempt to respond to the RSL goal, and Dallas continued to play long balls into the box trying to connect with Kenny Cooper or Dominic Oduro (who came on in the 65th minute), they also took advantage of RSL’s weak defense on the wings (as so many other teams have done), but Olave and Borchers were there to protect the RSL lead. But then come the mistakes that cost RSL three points on the road; it was a hot, humid night in Dallas and all the players on both sides looked very tired by the 75th minute. Jason chose to pull Olave out and bring in Mantilla, despite the fact that Olave had been a stud all night long. Within 5 minutes Dallas took advantage and played a long ball into the box that this time found the head of Oduro (I will have to take a real close look at the replay but he may have been offside), but either way he had lost both of the central midfielders (it looks like a mistake on Borchers part as he was the man closest to Dominic) and put the ball past Rimando to tie the match.
As the clock hit 90:00, the score was 1-1, but as RSL history will attest to that doesn’t mean much, and even more so against Dallas. Sure enough, it was in the 91st minute as RSL instead of playing their guys back to protect the draw on the road, had Mantilla all the way up near midfield, and Rocha took advantage of the out of place defense and played a long ball over the top to an onrushing Oduro, and the birdman beat Borchers and Dema could not recover quickly enough to get in the way of the shot as it went past Nick to give Dallas a win that they deserved. They took more shots (16 to 8), had more shots on goal (7-2), and simply took advantage of the mistakes by the RSL defense which had played so well up to the 77th minute.
ON MY SOAPBOX
I still think Jason will make a good coach, but perhaps he needs to spend some time as an assistant first, I am sure fatigue lead Olave coming off, but this is professional soccer and he should have been able to go 13 more minutes, when your protecting a lead on the road pull an offensive player to get some fresh defensive legs, but don’t bring in a cold player to spell a hot player. With the recent announcement of Real Madrid not coming, perhaps we should consider some drastic changes? I say we offer Bruce Arena a real challenge as RSL’s new head coach, he has shown the ability to lead teams both in MLS and at an international level, it has to be better than doing color for the Wizards. I understand we are not a major market, but with a new stadium, a DP spot to use, and some good talent on our roster, brining in a “proven” coach may be the only thing to prevent another season of less than acceptable results.
Sorry Jason, I have to embrace the honest truth, and in a year while RSL’s play may be better (most of the time), and the talent level is improved, we simply have not shown the ability to take advantage of either. Saturday against San Jose in our 10th match of the season, a win can raise us no further than fourth in the West. We have five other home matches before the All Star break; we need a result in each of them and at least 4 wins from the six matches in order to have 22 points. Considering that after the break we have a total of five home games the rest of the season, we will need to get some points on the road and after last weekends performance that is something we will be hard pressed to do. Given the fact that we continue to struggle to get our offensive issues worked out, we have not figured out how to use Kenny Deuchar (hint see how Dallas uses Cooper, duh). Our defense continues to leak like a sieve, despite all the upgrades. Our midfield has got issues as we continue to use players that are more defensive in their playing style in a majority of midfield roles, when our options are down to using Kenny Cutler (a hell of a nice guy), it is a sure sign that we need to improve our roster, perhaps a healthy Nathan Sturgis will help (but he will most likely be gone for a large portion of July and August).
Is it time to finally cut the half million dollar mistake called Nik Besagno? Yes, if you include his earning for this year Nik has made over half a million dollars for 440 minutes of total playing time, I know that a majority of that has been paid as part of the Generation Adidas project, but please it is either time for him to step up and become a player or time for us to send him on his way and let someone else figure it out. Perhaps a trade to Chivas, the new home of the RSL cast offs? Is it time to find ourselves a DP?
I have tried to be supportive this season, and I do see moments where RSL looks like a much improved side over years past, I do think the talent on the roster is better than it has ever been in RSL history, but the only real measure that matters is results on the scoreboard. No team has fewer wins than RSL this season, only one team (expansion San Jose) has fewer points, and it will take a huge effort in the final 2/3’s of the season to even get into the playoff race. I think it is possible, but unless the team begins to respond to Jason better, I have to start to look for a change in on field leadership.
OFF MY SOAPBOX