MLS Expansion and Real Salt Lake’s place in the West
October 15, 2008 by f4denz.
Well as MLS announced the seven cities vying for just 2 MLS 2011 expansion spots, the fight for the final guarantee playoff spot (currently held by Real Salt Lake) in the west is even more of a dog fight with 5 teams still in the fight for that spot.
MLS Expansion News
Well the seven cities applying didn’t offer any surprises, but if you want to watch the official announcement you can by checking out MLS Extra Time the announcement comes about 5:45 of the clip. To me the two cities that I think will end up with franchises are:
Miami, how can the league ignore a team with the backing of Barcelona? This makes the deal MLS signed with the club this summer seem like it was just part of a much larger plan. Miami is a great city, but can a MLS franchise compete with so many other professional and college teams? It didn’t fair well last time and even with Barca backing the team, unless there is some huge changes to the salary cap and major rule changes on rosters, I don’t like the long term chances of this team.
Vancouver/Montreal, listen one of these two cities will get a team, Garber is nuts about TFC and thinks that another team up north will do as well. I have a feeling that Vancouver might get the team, but I think that Montreal is a much better long term fit. There is a lot of money behind the Montreal bid, and while they may not have a NBA All Star in their camp, they do have the guy who owns half of Liverpool. Montreal is a much more dynamic city and their location on the east coast will fit much better with rivalries and travel.
Does anyone want to get the final Western playoff spot?
As noted on today’s MLS Extra Time, that the teams in the west seem to be more about not claiming the final spot. Dallas (35 points) with just two wins in their last 9 matches, Colorado (34 points) with two straight losses appears to have lost the momentum from their dramatic 5-4 win over New York the last weekend of September. The Galaxy(32 points) with their weekend win over Colorado are back in the race but their recent form really leaves a lot to be desired and I would bet they end up on the outside looking in yet again, so how long will the league let the “premier” team continue to suck? What will the future of Becks, Landycakes, Lewis, and the Golden Balls singers be? San Jose which had a hot streak running after the All Star match, but they only have one win in September or October, and they appear to be a very outside shot a lot will be determined Wednesday night, if they can beat Houston in Houston in their makeup match, well they would jump ahead of LA and be right in the thick of it.
Leading all the chaos is RSL (36 points), who have had several chances to put distance between themselves and the chasers but with just one win in September and no victories yet in October have left points on the pitch in several matches. You can look back to the LA Galaxy match where RSL faced a much depleted team and after giving up an early goal took the lead in the second half only to let LA back in with just 20 minutes left and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. This was followed by Red Bull match where RSL took a lead into the locker room at the half, only to allow two goals in the second half (both on calls that were questionable) to give up all 3 points in a 2-1 loss. The only blemish on RSL’s home undefeated streak came on the last match at RES, the 1-0 loss to Chivas on a horrible defensive mistake by Nick Rimando and Nat Borchers. All of these were matches in which RSL was the dominant team, but allowed the 3 points to slip out of their hands and now find themselves in the middle of a real battle for the final western conference playoff spot.
There have been some upsides to the recent streak of RSL, not many people gave RSL a chance in picking up 4 points during two recent road matches, but a great effort against San Jose saw RSL pick up their second road victory 3-2, and the very next weekend when facing off with New England RSL held on to get a 2-2 draw. The match against the Rev’s was a bit of a disappointment after Real Salt Lake took a 2-0 lead in the match, only to give up two goals after the 75th minute and settle for a draw, but very few people (myself included) thought we would get 4 points out of those two matches. I have been convinced for the past 3 months that the current RSL squad is as good as any in MLS, while they still suffer from communication problems and with so many new faces and injuries have a group of players that haven’t played together as much as most MLS sides, they continue to battle and fight for their spot.
The pressure of opening a new stadium and having a sold out match on national TV, not to mention all the playoff implications has to be huge for players and coaches alike. So after a rough first half, it was good to see RSL dominate the second half, and while too many shots were just wide or just a bit too high, the effort was impressive. All this leads up to the match of the week for MLS, simply put the final Western conference playoff spot will be decided in large part this weekend, and the key matchup will be RSL vs. F*C* Dallas. It is sure to be a barnburner of a match and Fox Soccer Channel couldn’t have picked a better match to show this weekend.
A RSL Reserves Update
CARSON, Calif. (Wednesday, October 15, 2008) – The Real Salt Lake Reserves played to a 0-0 draw with the LA Galaxy Reserves this morning at The Home Depot Center in a contest that was re-scheduled from early September. Galaxy FW Michael Gavin appeared to score for the Galaxy midway through the second half, but was ruled offside, keeping the game scoreless.
With the draw, the RSL Reserves moved to 6-3-2 (20 points) on the season and remained in third place in the single-table MLS Reserve Division standings, while the Galaxy Reserves now stand at 1-6-3 (9 pts.). The result severely dashed the Reserve Division title hopes of Real Salt Lake with one game remaining on its schedule, as the Utah side now sits three points behind the division-leading Kansas City Wizards Reserves, who have two games in hand on RSL. The bright side for RSL today was the opportunity to get significant playing time for a pair of midfielders that have been sidelined due to injury for various lengths of time, as Dema Kovalenko (L calf strain) played the first half before exiting at the break for another returning player, recent loan returnee DF Nikolas Besagno, while Nathan Sturgis (L hamstring strain) also started the match before being subbed out at the hour mark.
The opening 45 minutes to the game saw each team create a pair of chances, but struggle to challenge the opposition’s goalkeeper. RSL strikers Tino Nuñez and Robbie Findley each sent shots wide from inside the box, while Tristan Bowen narrowly missed getting on the end of an Ely Allen cross in front of goal for the Galaxy. LA’s Brandon McDonald challenged Chris Seitz twice, but the RSL goalkeeper was able to save his header from a Josh Tudela freekick and his low shot from distance.
Following a string of substitutions at the start of the second half, the game burst to life over the final half hour, with each team creating chances. In the 68th minute, the Galaxy looked to have gone ahead when Allen’s pass through the Salt Lake defense allowed Gavin to get free inside the box before clipping a shot past Seitz, only to be whistled for offside, keeping the game scoreless.
Eight minutes later the Galaxy again came close as Allen’s corner kick found Jeremy Barlow at the back post. Barlow hit a first time ball back into the center of the box for Israel Sesay, who flashed a shot just wide of Seitz’s left post.
A minute later it was RSL’s turn to go close as a quickly taken freekick was played through for Nuñez, who raced into the box and fired a low shot on goal, only for Steve Cronin to make the save. The final solid chance of the game came 10 minutes from the end when the Galaxy’s Eduardo Dominguez put a header on target from 18 yards out off a cross from Vardan Adzemian, only to see Seitz parry it over the bar.
Scoring Summary:
None
Lineups:
LA Galaxy Reserves – Josh Wicks (Steve Cronin 46), Mike Randolph (Ante Jazic 46), Julian Valentin, Vardan Adzemian, Leonard Griffin, Alvaro Pires (Michael Gavin 61), Josh Tudela (Jeremy Barlow 61), Brandon McDonald (Eduardo Dominguez 46), Ely Allen (Brandon Owens 87), Tristan Bowen (Mike Muñoz 46), Israel Sesay (Raul Palomares 80).
Real Salt Lake Reserves – Chris Seitz, Brennan Tennelle (Kevin Reiman 52), Dustin Kirby, David Horst, Tony Beltran, Nathan Sturgis (Adam Acosta 60), Kenny Cutler, Dema Kovalenko (Nik Besango 46), Alex Nimo, Robbie Findley (Kenny Deuchar 56), Tino Nunez.
Subs not used: Kyle Reynish
Misconduct Summary:
LA – Leonard Griffin (caution) 73′
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