With their backs against the wall Real heads to San Jose
RSL get a boost
With LA losing 3-1, Real Salt Lake gained some ground on their chase for the playoffs, RSL now has a 40% chance of making it to the post season for the first time in franchise history. If Real wants to control their own destiny waiting on other teams to lose is not what they want to do, they have to get some wins. Houston failed to secure their spot, a win at TFC earlier would have locked up a playoff spot, but with their draw they are simply 99.9% likely to make the playoffs, so that is one of the three Western spots down and two to go. With both Colorado and FC Dallas facing tough Eastern conference foes, Real Salt Lake could get a boost if both of those teams lose, but nothing would be sweeter and help the team turn things back around to their better days than a road win.
Back against the wall
RSL sits tied for 3rd place in the West with 31 points and a 8-10-7 record, I said it earlier in the year that I thought RSL would need 42 points to secure a playoff spot this year, and while I thought LA would make a big splash in the second half of the season and that San Jose would continue to struggle (I was wrong on both counts as LA is 1-5-3 since the All Star break and San Jose is 4-0-3), I still believe that 42 is the magic number for RSL.
So how do we get there, if we can pull two wins off at home (which is no sure thing) that would give us 37, so that means we need 5 points from 3 road matches, a win and two draws or two wins. Either that or we will need a lot of help from other teams to get into the playoffs, and I think this weekend we have a matchup that we can win, despite our troubles on the road. In talking with a couple players on Friday, they did not lack confidence, but they also realize the task is big and not going to be easy.
Beat San Jose, period
It is simple I believe the RSL season comes down to this match, a win and the momentum is RSL’s and making the playoffs is for the first time not just a possibility, but a reality. We will be facing a team that hasn’t lost since the All Star break, but while they have started scoring goals San Jose, they have only had 3 clean sheets in their last 10 matches. RSL will have to hope that Yura is still hot after not scoring last weekend, and that someone else can step up on the offensive side RSL has 5 goals in their last 5 matches and I believe they will need at least 2 in order to beat San Jose. Can the Real Salt Lake defense get back to playing the way they did in June and July? The defensive mistake last week was the reason for the loss, no questions asked, and in the last 5 matches the defense has allowed 8 goals and had only one clean sheet. Communication will be the key and mistakes like last weeks have to be eliminated, twice this year clear communication mistakes between Borchers and Rimando have cost RSL points, no more mistakes like that can be made if the playoff push is going to get any results.
San Jose’s Cannon has been impressive, and he single handedly got the Quakes their 0-0 draw when these teams faced off the last time. He faced 24 shots and made 4 saves in the 0-0 draw at RES back in June. San Jose has added some key players since the last time these two teams faced off, Darren Huckerby (4 goals, 4 assists in 8 matches), Arturo Alvarez (3 goals, 1 assist in 6 matches), Scott Sealy (1 goal, 3 assists in 8 matches), and Francisco Lima (2 assists in 8 matches) all have played huge roles in the resurgent San Jose attack. They will be a real test for RSL, but so much offensive power almost always mean that the other team will have great chances to counter, with Wingert and Joy both being very good at pushing up the wings this one could really end up being a shoot out.
Control your own Destiny
It is simple, RSL must win this match if they want to control their own destiny and despite a horrible road record (every Western team has a horrible road record-no team has more than 3 wins), this is a match that RSL knows they have to win and unlike the match at LA, I expect everyone to play with a very high energy level. Javi must prove that signing him to a new long term contract was the right move for Real, captain Kyle Beckerman knows that a lot of eyes are on him and wondering what has happened in recent months, newcomer Will Johnson has quickly won over fans by playing hard for 90 minutes and the 21 year old is setting an example for many of his older teammates, Yura Movsisyan is proving to everyone that he is deserving of a starting role and Robbie Findley is poised to make a breakout any time by using his speed to spark the RSL counter attack.
This one is going to be exciting; the shame is that almost nobody will see the matchup. I have no idea why there is no local coverage either in Salt Lake or San Jose, I understand the HDNet thing, but when matches were played on HDNet in LA, Colorado, and other markets somebody steps up with local coverage but no such luck for fans tonight. I am going to go out on a real limb and pick RSL to win 3-2 in a wild and exciting match.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on September 27, 2008 at 8:37 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.