August 30, 2008 by f4denz.

First thing the RSL starting lineup looked very little like what the prematch game guide predicted, but was a very good lineup. Rimando in goal, Joy, Olave, Borchers, and Wingert in the back line, Williams, Beckerman, Johnson, and Javi in the midfield, and Deuchar and Espindola up top. Colorado only had one change from their predicted line up, Cummings was in and Christian Gomez was out of the starting 11, I am not sure why they continue to go with Burpo as their starter he doesn’t appear to be as good as Bouna.

RSL came out playing very aggressive and attacking soccer, very different than the start of the Columbus match a week ago but it could be the comfort of playing at home. Colorado, well let’s just say that their fans had more energy than their team did to start the match. Both sides took a couple early shots, but it was in the 23^rd minute that Javi played a long pass to Andy in the box, who made and incredible back heel pass to Espindola, who put the ball past Burpo and into the back of the net and RSL was up 1-0 early in the match.

The first half saw RSL control large chunks of the match, but Colorado had a couple of chances but Rimando was up to each of them and the half ended at 1-0. The second half was a bit more interesting the RSL defense worked much better than the first, the officials blew a couple calls , and the Colorado players looked drained, as did their fans. In the 53^rd minute it looked as if Espindola had his second goal of the match as Colorado failed to clear the ball out of their own end, it fell to Will Johnson who fired a shot on goal, Burpo deflected it, and Fabian was there to head it into the goal but the official raised his flag to indicate offside. This is a play I will want to take a much closer look at when I do a more detailed match summary.

Well Fabian would not be denied on this night, and just 6 minutes after having a goal taken off the scoreboard he was able to settle a long pass of Javi and chip it over an onrushing Burpo for goal number 3, I mean 2 of the night, and RSL was up 2-0. There were a couple of shots by Yura in the last twenty minutes of the match that Burpo was able to make saves on, but as Yura finds his scoring touch the RSL offensive machine appears to be back on track to help the team make the playoffs and another clean sheet for Nick Rimando on a decent defensive effort by not only the backline but the whole team. I really like the ability to play Kyle in the D-mid role while Dema is out, I think he did a nice job of slowing down the Rapids offense. RSL still needs to work on their defensive recovery, a couple times Cummings caught Nat flat footed, but the fleet of foot Olave was able to get back and provide coverage. Kenny Deuchar didn’t get as many touches as I would have liked but his effort to support on defense was outstanding.

Here are the match stats, I will do a more complete review of the match later tonight or tomorrow as I watch the replay.

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August 29, 2008 by f4denz.

A must win for both teams

With the Western conference being so very close and the teams of the East putting up lots of points, I believe only the 3 guaranteed playoffs spots for the top 3 team will come from the West, so every point is very important but these are precious. First consider that RSL is still crap on the road, there is no other way to say it, but no team in the West has won more than two matches on the road (three teams in the East have at least 4 road wins). Add into that there is a 1 point gap between second and third in the West, but only a 3 point gap between second and sixth, and only a 5 point gap between second and last in the West, so every chance to score points is important, and doubly important when you can keep another Western team from scoring points. Six of RSL’s last nine matches are against Western conference teams with half of them on the road.

Colorado is in the same boat they have 6 of their last 9 matches against Western conference foes, but only two of their match ups are at home. With 24 points a win against RSL would jump the Rapids right back into playoff contention, but they have a huge number of things standing in their way. First is the injury bug, the following players are listed as out for the match: Ballouchy, Cooke, Hughes, Ihemelu, Mastroeni, and Dalby. Three players are listed as probable, Harvey, Burciaga Jr, and Peterson. Colorado has two players that will be suspended with their next yellow card, but only Colin Clark will be seeing action, as Pablo is already listed as out.

Colorado is also dealing with the recent change in head coach, no longer is the dapper dandy Fernando Clavijo in charge, but now Gary Smith is at the helm of the team and nobody was surprised at the change. Gary Smith still is labeled as the interim coach, but has European coaching and playing experience and he has his hands full with a very injury plagued team. Colorado has lost three of their last four matches; including two loses at home and have scored only two goals in their last four matches (both in a 2-1 win over KC).

Real Salt Lake is getting healthier and only Nathan Sturgis is listed as out, but I don’t expect Dema will be in the 18 considering he was unable to practice with the team on Thursday. While listed as questionable Beltran and Joy both practiced with the team and appeared that they were ready to be included in the 18 man roster. But unless RSL can shake the rust and apathy that was rampant in last weekends lost to Columbus, they will be hard pressed to take advantage of the less than stellar Rapids lineup.

I would expect that former Rapids players Kyle Beckerman and Chris Wingert will step up their performances as they face off against their former team, perhaps this could be the boost of energy RSL needs to get them back into the win column after a barn burner in Houston and the season’s worst performance last weekend against Columbus. I think the most interesting match up of the night could be Robbie Findley vs. Cory Gibbs, can the former US national defender do well against someone who likely get some national team exposure soon in his career?

If RSL want to keep the Rocky Mountain Cup, then they will need a big performance tonight as they already trail in the competition as a result of their 0-2 defeat earlier this year at the Dick. A big win tonight will be needed as the third match in this rivalry will be played on the last day of the regular MLS season and once again it will be played at the Dick.

I think the boys looked good in practice and want to accomplish a couple things tonight, first regain the trust of the fans after a couple rough losses, then defend their record at home, where they are the only unbeaten team on their home field, and finally get 3 very important points towards securing a playoff spot for the first time in team history. A couple weeks ago RSL proved they could score early and score often as they put up 3 goals against the West’s best team Houston; tonight they face a Rapids team that has allowed 30 goals to be scored against them this season, and 21 of them while playing on the road.

I am going out on a limb and will predict a 3-1 victory for RSL with goals from Beckerman and two from Findley as RSL controls this match from start to finish in their best 90 minute performance of the year.

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August 29, 2008 by f4denz.

I got a chance to watch Real Salt Lake practice this morning at RES and I noticed a couple of things that I think are very interesting. While Chris Seitz was left off the US roster for their upcoming World Cup qualifying matches, that isn’t a huge surprise but not sure where he was today because he wasn’t at practice, and he isn’t listed as injured. Could there be some future move or trade involving Seitz, who knows but strange that he wasn’t there.

Dema was there but did not practice he was receiving treatment on his injured calf and I would not expect him in the 18 for the match against Colorado, I can tell you all one thing, he is not happy that he can’t be playing. Beltran and Joy are both listed as questionable, but they did practice and both of them looked good. Ian is one intense guy and doesn’t like not winning even at practice, which is something I like to see.

While everyone looked like they were working hard, nobody worked harder than coach Robin Fraser, who took lap after lap around the field prior to team practice starting, impressive display of fitness. I thought it was a good statement about the state of RSL when practice started these two pictures show what happened:

Pre Training Pep talk

Like a scene out of Remember the Titans

I thought the energy level was high and for many the skill level appears to be returning after the long layoff that left a lot of rust that showed up the last two matches. I do expect that we will probably see Will Johnson in the 18 on Friday night and he appears to be very fit.

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August 27, 2008 by f4denz.

So my final installment of the ventorama after the worst performance of the season last weekend against Columbus is a look at our forwards, who have struggled all season. In fact RSL had scored just 22 goals in MLS matches prior to the 18 day layoff and only half of them came from our forwards (Findley-5, Espindola-3, Deuchar-2, Nunez-1), but I have to believe that a healthy Espindola could have gotten more goals based on his 3 goals coming from under 500 minutes of playing time.

So all the preseason hype was around Kenny Deuchar, you know “Dr. Goals”, who came to us with a very impressive record of being a goal scoring machine in the SPL, and having shown himself to be able to score against the “big boys” of Scottish football, but the transition to MLS has been tough for Kenny. I have to say in recent weeks I have been impressed as he seems to have taken on more of a role of creating chances and working in tandem with Robbie Findley, they have made some nice plays together, and not many players work harder during a match than Kenny. He has shown to be a great asset on set pieces both offensively where he provides a great target player, and defensively he has been able to assist in marking other teams target players and done it well. He works hard getting back to assist the defense and attacks the ball in the midfield more than most forwards do. All of that is great, but the goals simply have not come at the pace that many of us, including Kenny expected. To his credit he came into the Houston match late and with us down 2 goals and got us right back into the match with his 3^rd goal of the 2008 season, but we will need much more from him as make a push for a playoff spot.

Fabian Espindola, barring injuries he could have been the star of the team this year working with Javi Morales to create 2 thirds of the “three amigos”, and hopefully as we have seen Espindola return to the 18 man roster, we will see him get more and more playing time and increase his goal total before the end of the 2008 season. I am still holding out hope for a “Fabi and Kenny” show to challenge the “Javi and Kyle” show.

I don’t think many people expected much first team action to come from Tino Nunez this season, he was picked up in the second round of the 2008 Super Draft, but he has played well on the reserve squad and gotten a little time with the first team, he has only two starts and under 300 minutes of playing time, but he has one goal and has shown that he is a tough as nails player who when unleashed will attack every ball that is anywhere close to him.

Yura has jumped into the starting line up recently and while he only has one goal, his play in the Houston match was very impressive he worked hard and played well with Robbie Findley. He has seemed to struggle at RES, very often it appears that the turf is getting the best of him, his footwork looked horrible in the matches at RES and too often he has lost the ball or stumbled before getting off a shot. I imagine that Yura is one of the guys who is really looking forward to getting to the new stadium and being able to play on a nice grass surface. A healthy Yura is a real boost in the arm either off the bench or in a starting role, and it seems he has had his best matches when playing with Robbie Findley.

For the second straight season it appears that Robbie Findley will be the top scorer on the Real Salt Lake roster, his 5 goals leads the team and his 4 assists are second best on the team. Robbie is one of those players with great speed and a touch that is improving week to week, recently he has played really well with both Kenny Deuchar and Yura Movsisyan, and I am excited to see how he will play with a healthy Espindola. Robbie was a bit slow to get into the scoring groove this season, with just three goals in the first 16 matches of this season, but he has picked up the pace with two in the last five. Robbie probably should have been a part of the US Olympic team, he sure couldn’t have done any worse the Brian McBride, and I know he is a heck of a lot quicker.

One question that has to be dealt with is how will our current crop of forwards gel with their new teammate Will Johnson, and while Will is not the experienced proven goal scoring machine that Garth favored and many fans were hoping for, he is the young, talented, and hungry to prove himself kind of player that Jason was looking for to push not only our current forwards, but everyone on the current team to work harder and play better.

One thing is going to be important is that without at least a couple road wins, RSL will not make the playoffs. With 4 more home matches if RSL wins all 4 of them we get 12 more points and that would give us 39 and this year it will likely take 45 to ensure a spot in the 2008 playoffs, so road results have to happen. I for one believe are capable of doing it, but no unless our players act and play like they want it more than they did last week against Columbus.

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August 26, 2008 by f4denz.

Nobody really thought I was done did they, sorry the poor performance this weekend has plenty of blame to go around, and yesterday I tackled the largest issue that I see, which was the play of the midfield. Some people were quick to jump on Rimando in the past couple weeks, but honestly there isn’t a keeper in the league that could have stopped all the quality shots that Real has allowed in the past two weekends. Many people believed the loss in Houston was due to the absence of Jamison Olave, but he was back and played well against Columbus, but still RSL lost, so what exactly is happening to the once stellar defense?

I believe that defense starts in the midfield, if you control the ball, you control the match and that is what been Real Salt Lake’s problem on the road, and even on occasion at home. You simply can not expect the back four and keeper to be the only ones playing defense, in fact if we expect our outside backs to move forward in attack then everyone has to be able to get back when the opposition counters and too often in the last two weeks not only have the outside defenders not been able to get back in time to stop or slow counters, the midfield has been lacking the pace or effort to get back and add their support to the defense.

Robbie Russell has played up to expectations of a new player, who is trying to figure out his role with each different position he is being asked to fill in at. His speed and energy will serve RSL well, and I think he would be perfect at the D-mid slot for RSL. He is a physical guy with size and speed and I believe could handle almost any number 10 in the league. Jamison Olave is a rock in the midfield, a true diamond in the rough that each week shows signs of getting better and is causing offensive players around the league to pay attention to him; I really hope we can secure his services beyond the current loan period. Nat Borchers has found himself left out to hang in recent weeks, by having to cover for rookie Horst in the Houston match, and by Wingert’s failure to get back on defense quickly enough to slow or stop Columbus counter attacks. Chris Wingert is a great player, for the first time all year I have to question his play. I am not sure what happened in Columbus, but it seemed that Chris was slow to move forward and even slower to react and get back into defensive position. Some of that comes from the lack of defensive support from the midfield.

Injuries have really hampered the efforts of the defense; Ian Joy was finding his form and really beginning to be a major part of the defensive wall that was shutting down offenses around the league. Ian has also found his way forward and is proving to be good at playing balls into the area; he also has a rocket of a shot that forces other teams to cover him tightly when he moves forward. Tony Beltran was a early season surprise who jumped in when Ian was out a few matches, and Tony showed real character for a rookie in his battle to keep is starting spot. I expect that we will see more of Tony when he is fully fit; he has got great speed to get forward and then recover quickly enough to make people wonder if he really was that far up the pitch on the attack. I questioned picking Tony as high as we did in the draft, he was projected much lower, but Jason and Garth appear to have been right in jumping at the chance to add Tony to our lineup.

Oh what to say about Nick Rimando? He is too short, we should find a better keeper, or play Chris Seitz, all things heard all around the blogosphere and in the stands recently. Wait, Nick Rimando, the clear MVP of last years team, the goal keeper with 7 clean sheets and until the last two matches was a top 3 keeper in the league. Are those people really going to question Nick Rimando? Well he is still in the top half of all keepers when it comes to GAA at 1.29, despite the fact that the team has allowed 7 goals in their last two matches, only two keepers in the league have more clean sheets, and how many keepers in the league can do this?

Nobody else works this hard, and even if he were a foot taller, this ball was going to get by anyone. When you give Nick a fair shot at a ball he has proven over the last two years that he makes not just the normal expected saves, but very often he makes saves that are unbelievable and has kept is many matches. The problem isn’t Nick.

So we have looked at the midfield and defense, so that means that tomorrow will have to be our forwards.

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