Real Salt Lake vs. New England
June 21, 2008 by f4denz.
Unbeaten in 7 visit unbeaten at home
Well unless we get another tie, one of these streaks is going to be broken. During the 7 game unbeaten streak by New England they have scored in every match, and RSL have not given up a goal in their last 3 matches and only 1 late minute goal against San Jose back on May 31st in the RSL four game unbeaten streak. Both teams are coming of matches on Wednesday, in which both teams got draws as well. So can RSL do something they have never done before and get a win over New England at RES? It will be a tough challenge against a New England side that is 5-1-1 on the road and looking to extend their lead in the Eastern Conference. A win for RSL and they could move as high as second place in the Western Conference race, depending on the result from the Colorado vs. Houston matchup.
Kings of the East
Well it seems every year that either DC United or New England are at the top of the Eastern Conference, this year is no different as United have struggled New England has excelled despite a number of injuries and missing a lot of players for national team duty. The team that has represented the East in the last two MLS Cups will be missing some players during their visit to Rice-Eccles Stadium, Shalrie Joseph, Khano Smith, and Kenny Mansally will be gone on national team duty. The injury bug continues to hamper Taylor Twellman who along with Castro and Valentino are doubtful, while Cristman, and Parkhurst are probable but nursing injuries. I think the biggest threat to RSL will come from Nyassi and Dube working together up the sides in attack, something that RSL was very susceptible to earlier in the season.
RSL looking for offense
Three weeks ago Robbie Findley came on for an injured Espindola against San Jose, and RSL was able to put three goals on the scoreboard in a convincing victory. The next week RSL got shut out by a world class effort by Kevin Hartman as they got a 0-0 draw at home against the Wizards, then last weekend in a match filled with firsts RSL picked up a victory over Chivas on the road on a goal by Robbie Findley. A midweek battle against San Jose saw RSL take 24 shots, but a couple questionable calls went against RSL and another 0-0 draw at home. So while the RSL defense has helped Nick Rimando get three straight clean sheets, only one of those resulted in a victory, so everyone is waiting for the RSL offense to step up. Some good news is that Yura Movsisyan should be available to be play, and Andy Williams is back from his stint with the Jamaican national team. RSL will still be without Espindola’s offensive abilities, and Nathan Sturgis is still out as he tries to recover from a nagging hamstring injury.
I keep waiting for Deuchar’s efforts to pay off; he is working hard both in the attacking third as well as the rest of the pitch. A couple times his touch has let him down in when he had great chances, but more often it has been the failure of RSL to get quality balls into the box from either crosses or set pieces. I think RSL is still struggling with how to play with a true target player in the box; we have always had players who run into attacking position vs. a stand up attacker. I do think we have seen RSL trying to do better on set pieces, as we often can move 3 great targets into the box with Borchers and Olave moving forward to offer more attacking options.
The RSL defense has been massive, limiting San Jose to 7 shots and only one on goal, limiting Chivas to 8 shots with 4 on goal, KC got off only 7 shots, during their current clean sheet run. The efforts of Olave and Borchers in the middle of the defense and continued solid play from both WIngert and Beltran on the outside, both have made it easy for Rimando to improve on his GAA which is now down to 1.31.
It will really be up to the offense to offer the scoring support that will allow the defensive efforts result in a win against a very tough foe.
The wildcard
As much as I hate to be doom and gloom, I fear that RSL may suffer a third match impacted by the officials in a negative way, as this weekend we will have to deal with Kevin Stott (of the horrible LA match at the beginning of May). I can only hope that he remembers the screw job he did on RSL then and will be looking to keep himself out of the match. I have watched a number of other matches in which Stott has been the head official and more often than not he has made wrong decisions and improper calls that have impacted the results of the match. Perhaps we will get lucky and he will get some bad shellfish or something else to keep him from being able to officiate the match.
I am going to go out on a limb and predict that RSL will score, but so will New England; this one will be a 1-1 draw against the best team in MLS this year (so far). Yes I think we will have a chance to win the match but a poor call will prevent RSL from getting the win.
GAME GUIDE