Real Salt Lake vs. Houston
July 2, 2008 by f4denz.
2nd place is just a stepping stone
Both sides have their eyes on first place in the Western Conference, as well as getting rid of their negative goal differential, but if Houston stays true to form we may just end up with a tie. Houston is 4-4-7, with draws in their last two matches and much like RSL they have struggled to score goals, having only scored one goal in their last three matches (0-1-2) while giving up three. RSL has scored two goals in their last three matches (1-1-1) while giving up two, including the last minute own goal last weekend.
Houston is one busy team
So Houston faced off with Dallas last week on the ESPN game of the week earning a 1-1 draw at home, then on Tuesday they were on the road to face the Charleston Battery in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (only one starter Holden saw action) in a match that went 120 minutes and was decided on PK’s which the Battery won 4-3. Interesting that the Battery were down to 10 men from the 74th minute, and then down to 9 men from the 103rd minute, and yet the Dynamo could not pull out a win. With the lineup they played it is sure clear that Houston did not take the match seriously, as they played their reserve roster for the match. Now they travel here to Salt Lake for a MLS match up, but since they are involved in the SuperLiga, they will not have another MLS match up until the 22nd of July.
Houston is finally getting healthy and only Eddie Robinson, Kpene, and Georgeff are listed as out or doubtful, but Ianni and Mulrooney are both nursing injuries. Houston does have a couple players in jeopardy of yellow card suspensions, Ricardo Clark and Dewayne DeRosario both will be suspended with their next yellow card, and Bobby Boswell and Stuart Holden both will be suspended after two yellow cards.
Unbeaten at Home
Only two teams in MLS are still unbeaten at home RSL and TFC, interesting both play on turf and both have four wins at home. RSL has played well against the top teams in both the East and West at home, with victories over DC United, New England, Dallas, and draws against LA, and Chicago. At home RSL has scored 14 of their 18 goals, and have only given up 6 goals when playing at Rice Eccles, Houston struggles on the road scoring only 7 goals while giving up 11.
RSL will be a bit light on the roster, with Dema Kovalenko serving a one game suspension for yellow card accumulation, Espindola, Sturgis, and Tennelle all out with injuries. RSL will also be without back up midfield Matias Cordoba who was released earlier this week, so this means Kenny Cutler will start at the D-mid position, and Williams, Beckerman, and Morales will make up the rest of the midfield. On the bench will be 17 yr. old Alex Nimo, and fellow rookie Kevin Reiman, combined they have zero minutes in MLS play and a combined 463 minutes of playing time for the reserve squad, with Reiman having one goal and one assist. Will we see Yura playing midfield again, as he did earlier this year? Do we bring in Mantilla or Joy on defense and move Wingert or Beltran forward? Jason will have his hands full in this one.
The Match Up
Houston also has to fight a bit of history, they have only won once at RES and have been defeated twice, only once has there been a draw at RES between these two teams. Pat “ice ice” Onstad has been the keeper in all 7 matches between the two teams and has a 1.43 goals against average, Nick Rimando has been in goal for the last 3 matches and has an 1.67 goals against average. So the keeper battler is a close one, with a very slight edge going to Onstad, and this edge is similar to their overall goals against average this season (Onstad 1.16, Rimando 1.27).
On offense both teams have struggled in their recent matches, but both are middle of the pack when compared to other MLS teams, Houston has 17 goals and RSL has 18 goals. The top teams in MLS are the LA Galaxy with 32 goals, and DC United with 28, the bottom teams in MLS are San Jose with 10 goals and Kansas City with 11 goals. So a slight edge will go to RSL, but with Espindola out it really is closer to a draw.
The two teams are tied with 19 goals against this season, the bottom two teams in MLS are the same as the top scoring teams, with LA who has allowed 28, and United who have allowed 26 goals so far this season. The best defensive team is Chicago who has only allowed 11 goals, and no other team is even close to that number in MLS. In recent weeks the RSL defense has been much improved only allowing 3 goals in their last 6 years, while Houston has allowed twice as many (6) in their last 6 matches. So I will have to give an edge to RSL on this one.
So this should be a good match up, I believe the heat and elevation will play a factor despite the 8 pm start time, the temp in Salt Lake is projected at 98 for tomorrow. I expect that both teams will start very aggressively in an attempt to score early and then protect the lead, after the disappointment RSL suffered last week at KC, they will be hungry for their shot at first place in the West. I think RSL gets a early goal, and Houston gets one just before the half, but RSL gets the game winner early in the second half and win the match 2-1 to achieve something they never have before, sole possession of first place in the West, even if it is only for a day (LA faces New England on the 4th).
GAME GUIDE
A quick thank you
So last month my blog was read over 15,000 times, now I realize that many of you may visit more than once a day and I will start trying to do a better job of posting more content. On average about 400 unique measureable visitors hit the site each day, and July is starting off even hotter, on the 1st there were over 1,300 views by over 600 unique measureable visitors. The company I use has trouble validating every visitor, so these numbers are a bit low on the visitor side at least.
Anyhow I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to visit, and please feel free to leave comments or if you would like any particular type of content just drop me an email at roguecavaliers@comcast.net
SEE YOU AT THE MATCH