RSL gets a little help as they head to New England
A little help
Well it looked like Real Salt Lake would get a lot of help from San Jose, as with just a few minutes left in the match they held a 1-0 lead over Dallas, but a questionable handball call gave Dallas a PK and Kenny Cooper put it away and the match ended as a 1-1 draw. According to my predictions this will have Dallas end the season with 40 points and at the end of the season they will likely be on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Sportsclubstats website says that a draw boosted the chance Dallas will make the playoffs up to 40.1%, and the draw moves RSL up to 57.3% (almost as good as a SJ win which would have put RSL’s chances up to 57.6). So while we didn’t as much help as we could have our chances of making the playoffs has gotten better as a result of the draw.
New England is up next
Official Game Guide
Well this is a huge match for Real Salt Lake, actually every match for the last month and every match for the rest of October, but on Saturday night RSL could take a big step towards the playoffs. A win would boost RSL up to a 75% chance of getting a third match at Rio Tinto Stadium, and for the first time supporters would be able to watch a match in November. I hope that the hype and energy around the team over the opening of the new stadium doesn’t overshadow the importance of this match. New England is one of the best teams in MLS and have been for several years and while that has not translated into a MLS Cup for them, they are the team that has represented the East in the last two championship matches. That isn’t a problem for RSL in 2006 we drew with the Rev’s at RES 0-0, and pulled off a 3-1 road win, and in 2007 we lost at RES 2-1, but got points at New England with a 0-0 draw. Earlier this season we did pick up a 2-1 win over the Rev’s at RES, so this is clearly a team that we can play with and beat.
I can’t think of a better team for RSL to face on the road, this year New England is just 6-4-3 at home, so they have given up points at home more often than they have gotten home wins. In fact the Rev’s lost last week at home to Columbus 1-0, oh and don’t forget the drubbing by Joe Public FC 4-0 on Sept. 2nd to eliminate New England from the CONCACAF Champions League. In fact New England has struggled lately with just 1 win in their last 6 MLS matches (1-2-3) and with their poor performance in the CCL it is no surprise that they haven’t clinched their playoff spot yet, but with a 99.9% of making the playoffs it would take some really nasty mojo for them not to make the playoffs this year.
New England is once again anchored by their stars, Steve Ralston has 7 goals and 7 assists, Taylor Twellman has been hurt most of the season but still has 6 goals and two assists, Sharlie Joseph is again the man in charge in their midfield and still considered the best or one of the best defensive midfielder in MLS. There are some new faces and names this year that have made a huge impact for the Rev’s; Adam Cristman is in just his second year but has added 6 goals and a assist, Kheli Dube a MLS rookie has 4 goals and 3 assists, and names like Mansally, Nyassi, and Castro all who joined the team this year have paid immediate dividends for the team.
For New England this will be one of the few matches where they aren’t missing players due to international duty, or suspended, but they do still have a few injuries; Cristman is out, along with backup keeper Doug Warren, Khano Smith and Taylor Twellman are both listed as probable. So this should be a very close to full strength squad for the Rev’s. I think their speed on the flanks will pose a problem for RSL, who should look to counter that by controlling possession as they did against San Jose.
RSL will have to stop the New England offense without Jamison Olave, who is suspended due to yellow card accumulation. Kyle Beckerman and Chris Wingert will both have to play carefully as their next yellow card will see them suspended for a match and I would hate for either to miss the opening match at the new stadium. The injury bug still is having an impact on RSL as Espindola and Kovalenko are both listed as out, Beltran is listed as doubtful, and after getting some playing time with the reserves last weekend Nathan Sturgis is listed as questionable, finally Javier Morales is listed as probable, I believe the injury is directly related to their recent mustache episode of Javi and Kyle Show.
It should actually be an interesting matchup, I believe the recent play of Yura will cause the Rev’s to pay close attention to how they support Matt Reis, their back line is good but not as speedy as it could be and the matchups with Albright and Yura should be interesting. I think Clint will have a big role to play, if they don’t pay attention to him he will have some great looks at goal and if they mark him too much they won’t be able to deal with Johnson and Morales coming out of the midfield.
I look for RSL to send a message this weekend that beating a very good San Jose team on the road wasn’t a fluke, and they can make it a real loud message by picking up a 2-1 win over the Revolution on Saturday night. That would bring them home in a good position and ready to get a huge energy boost from having their next two matches in their brand new stadium.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on October 3, 2008 at 3:50 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.