July 9, 2008 by f4denz.

Prematch, well nothing special except very empty stands with 5 minutes to go before the match, it looks like RSL has all their starters warming up. Santos appears to have about 8 players warming up, perhaps they already went in to get ready for the match. I will try to post every 5-10 minutes during the match, but I think I have to find a better place to sit.

Kick off

Well for RSL it is a mainly reserve starting line-up it looks like Seitz, Wingert, Dema, Mantilla, Morales, Nunez, Kirby, Beckerman, horst, nimo, and Yura for RSL.

Sanchez, Ortiz, Estrada, Figueroa, mares, arce, Castillo, torress, Rodriguez, Herrera, peralta, for Santos

A early counter by Santos, but the shot goes wide of the goal. I think there are a good number of starters in the Santos line up, another break, but the turf monster jumps up and tackles the player. A foul at the 20 yard line gives a free kick but it is played out of bounds.

RSL is having issues getting the ball out of their end of the pitch, finally RSL is getting a little possession, but no real threats on offense so far. Seitz has made an easy save, and pushed another one out of bounds. I like the guy with orange shoes for Santos, much better than the guy with yellow ones.

10 minutes

So far Santos has been the better side, but that is to be expected since they are playing more starters than RSL. So far RSL has not been able to find Nimo. Well it was just a matter of time, but another own goal causes RSL to be down 1-0. RSL got a bit of an attack but a ball played in caused a hard collision in the box and one player from each side went down hard. RSL then got a corner kick, but not much came of it, Kyle Beckerman did get a decent shot on goal, but it went just wide. Santos is looking a bit sharper than our reserves, but our starters are finally getting into the match.

20 minutes

Seitz made a nice leaping save on a shot from about 20 yards out. It was Yura that went down after a head to head collision in the box earlier, but he seems to have recovered. Yura puts a shot on goal, but Dirty Sanchez makes a nice save. A lot more play in the middle of the pitch by both teams, the Santos defense looks like it can be beat, but RSL will still have to deal with Sanchez. It looks like Santos is going to play some nice long balls up the sides, but they have to understand the speed of the turf, so far they have been caught offside a number of times. Oh and a bit shout out to RES security, I think I have had to show my tickets at least 4 times so far.

30 minutes

Well about the 35^th minute Santos got a great shot that just made it past Seitz, and the score is now 2-0 Santos. RSL has gotten a couple chances and a number of corner kicks, but so far everything even remotely dangerous has been handled easily by Sanchez. Not too much else exciting has gone on.

40 minutes

A couple very lack luster efforts by RSL and you can tell that not too many players are taking the match serious, but Dema is busting his butt as always. Oh Paco Torres is the player with the lovely orange shoes. You can see the numbers on their jerseys if you can get past all the ads, including the ones on their socks. No fewer than 3 ads on the back, 4 on the shorts, one on each sleeve, and 5 or 6 on the front. Damm now that is a great example of capitalism at its finest, the whistle blows and the first half is over with the score Santos 2-0 over RSL, perhaps we will get to see some starters get into the match in the second half.

Input by Safaia at the half: We all paid $35 to see most of the reserve players play this match. We know it doesn’t matter when it comes to the MLS standings but come on, we still need to win. Insults are being made in different languages, the away fans swearing in Spanish and the RCB swearing in German. We aren’t playing our strong players this match and so far it shows. We need to switch out Seitz and get Rimando in for our keeper to keep any further goals from going in.

Second Half

Well RSL made a number of changes brining in Cutler, Williams, Reiman, Beltran, not sure what changes Santos has made since you can’t see their names or numbers. RSL has had more chances in the first 10 minutes of the second half than they did early in the first, it looks like there will more changes coming soon as several players are warming up in front of us.

I have to admit that Sanchez playing to the crowd and posing for pictures if funny, he is also laughing as we chant “cook county jail” and “dirty Sanchez”.

65 minutes    

Well it is the 61^st minute and a couple more changes as Borchers, Joy and Deuchar come into the match giving RSL 6 starters in the lineup. Ah Sanchez is gone it appears he needs to catch his flight for his court date on Friday, perhaps now RSL will be able to convert one or two of their chances.

75 minutes

In the 69^th minute RSL scored a goal. Welcome to RSL Alex Nimo, who found the goal, but in the 73 minute it was Mr, Yellow shoes who scored a goal to make it 3-1 Santos, but I have a that we may see a few more goals before this one is over. Not sure what team will be scoring them, because the Santos lineup is mighty fast and doing a good job attacking up the sides and getting chances on goal. RSL gets a corner kick, but this one goes over almost everyone but Borchers plays it back into play but it goes over the top of the goal. Santos wins a free kick just outside the box, and RSL puts 4 guys in the wall but the shot is high and wide.

85 minutes

OK, the where’s famous FCB chant is got to be one of the highlights of the night. I have to say I am really happy that only the fans from Mexico seem to like the wave, hopefully this will be the first and last match of the year that we see that dam thing at RES. Last time Andy got a free kick from that spot, he played a great ball but no one finished, this time he played it high and far over the top of the goal.

Crap a second player with yellow shoes is on the pitch, but the guy with the orange ones is gone. RSL gets another free kick, but they make a save and counter very well and sure enough Santos scores another goal and it is 4-1 with less than 5 minutes left in the match. Oh well it was semi entertaining.

Wow a nice play by RSL to play the ball into the box, but it is knocked out by a Santos player and the following RSL corner kick does nothing to impress. I wonder why in the hell Santos is still attacking when they are up 4-1 with just a couple minutes left? It looks like half the RSL players are simply going through the motions at this point and it is showing, thank god that the clock shows 90 minutes and the match is over. Oh well what can you expect from a reserve match?

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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July 9, 2008 by f4denz.

For several seasons RSL has featured a charity drawing as part of Carnival Real before all home matches. It is a great group of people who raise money for various local charities in need of funds, I have just found out that for the next several matches they will be raising money for family of James Taylor. If you are not aware of the situation, here is a brief summary:

James Taylor was the sole survivor of a medical helicopter crash in Flaggstaff, Arizona. He was a flight nurse on the helicopter transporting a patient from the Grand Canyon when it collided with another chopper taking a patient to a northern Arizona hospital on June 29th. Six people died at the scene. James was taken off life support and passed away on July 4^th.

He worked for Intermountain Health Care for 17 years. At the time of his death he worked as a registered nurse at St. Mark’s Hospital and as a flight nurse. He was a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve. He served as a physical therapist during Operation Desert Storm.

He is survived by his wife, Traci, and three young sons.

I have made it a point to stop by and donate some money before each match, and I have won my fair share of items in the drawings, in fact sitting in my cubicle at work is a great autographed T-shirt I won a couple weeks ago, it is signed 26 RSL players.

This is a great cause and I recommend that everyone stops by and donates a dollar or two, you not only will be helping a great cause, but you just might win some cool stuff as well.

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July 9, 2008 by f4denz.

Well continuing the good things being done by the new RSL front office, the latest will be publicly announced tomorrow, but as with all things the details have been leaked:

RSL: MLS All-Star Game coming to Sandy in 2009 sltrib.com
“With construction of its new stadium nearly complete, Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer will announce Wednesday that the team will play host to the annual MLS All-Star Game next season.
    Sources close to the decision confirmed it, though team and league officials declined to comment; they’re holding a press conference Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the stadium in Sandy to make their announcement. Gov. Jon Huntsman is expected to attend, along with MLS President Mark Abbott and team owner Dave Checketts, among others.”

ON MY SOAPBOX
I know that RSL has been talking with MLS officials about the 2009 All Star match for some time, and if the rumors are correct the announcement will be made tomorrow. I say congrats to RSL’s staff, this is a big match that will allow us to showcase our new stadium not only to MLS, but to the world (if the current format of MLS vs. an international team). Now I did ask Bill Manning and the RSL leadership a couple weeks ago “If we get the All Star game, would we try to leverage our relationship with Real Madrid to get them as the opponent?”. Well of course they couldn’t answer, it is far too early to announce who will be the other team, things like how clubs finish in their own leagues, UEFA Champions League qualifying, and other matters always have to be dealt with.

Wouldn’t that make for a very attractive match up, Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo coming to town to face off the MLS All Stars lead by former Real Madrid poster child David Beckham? It could be a marketing persons wet dream, having two of the biggest names in soccer in town for a match up, wanna bet that you would be able to sell a couple jerseys at that match. How much would you pay for the autograph session featuring both the MLS stars and Real Madrid roster? Did you order extra season tickets yet? Well I may just have two seats available for you in section 4, row 4, seats 1 & 2.

Will this announcement give RSL the boost it needs to get the public sale of 2009 season tickets to top the 10,000 seats sold? Could this announcement, a decent season (even better if we make the playoffs), and a couple live matches at the new stadium in October put RSL over the 12,500 total? That would have to be considered a huge success by any measure. It would place RSL behind Seattle FC and Toronto FC in the total number of season tickets sold, impressive for a team that the cynics said wouldn’t survive. I have a feeling this will be the first of some exciting new announcements coming soon, look for a stadium sponsor to be announced soon, and while no DP is expected this year, I am looking forward to a couple new additions in the next couple weeks as the transfer window opens in just 6 days.

I do wish the local media would have been a little more respectful of the announcement, but what do we expect? After the Trib, Fox News announced it in their sports, so while the details will be out there tomorrow, the surprise will be gone, but it can’t stop the good news. Way to go RSL!!!
OFF MY SOAPBOX

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