Real Salt Lake vs. Chivas USA part I
October 30, 2008 by f4denz.
As important as this match is, I will be doing my pregame post in two parts, this part will look at the 3 regular season matches between the two sides, and a little bit of review of the history between the two clubs.
Part two will be a look at the match coming up, what do the pundits have to say about the match, former RSL players now with Chivas, and what I think will be the RSL keys to victory on Saturday.
Regular Season review
Well if you were to just look at the fact that Real Salt Lake is 1-2-0 against Chivas you might despair at RSL’s chances on Saturday, but if you watched the matches you would have a very different opinion. It was week two of the MLS season and RSL made a trip down to LA to face off with Chivas at the HDC (Home Depot Center), the final score was 3-1 but when you look at how the match was played it was much closer. Chivas controlled the first half of the match and went into halftime with a 1-0 lead but in the second half RSL was the more dominant team and controlled the possession, on a cheeky goal by Atiba Harris Chivas went up 2-0 but RSL answered back just two minutes later on a goal by Kenny Deuchar to get back into the match at 2-1. RSL had a number of good chances in the second half and as the match got close to the end RSL pushed everyone forward looking for the tying goal, Nick Rimando made some great saves to keep the match close, but in stoppage time Esky got a 3rd goal and the final was 3-1 in what was a close match.
When RSL headed back to the HDC in mid June, they had not gotten a single point on the road 0-5-0 was their record, but this time RSL looked even better than the week two matchup and scored a first half goal and went on to protect that lead for the rest of the match, this one got physical and personal as there were 7 yellow cards in the match. Not only was it the first road win of 2008 for RSL it was part of the turnaround of the RSL season, the next 7 MLS matches the RSL defense would give up only 3 goals, and post a 4-1-3 record and get themselves in first place in the Western Conference standing for the first time in franchise history.
The final regular season match between these two sides was also a huge date in RSL’s season and history as it would be the last match played at RES (Rice Eccles Stadium), and the 1-0 loss on a fluke goal given up by a disastrous communication error between Nick Rimando and Nat Borchers, almost sunk RSL’s playoff hopes and ended RSL’s undefeated home record for the season. This loss moved RSL’s playoff chances to the lowest point since the 1-0 victory over Chivas at the HDC in June, only twice all season were RSL’s chances lower than after this loss.
The match itself was controlled by RSL, who outshot Chivas 17-8 and owned the majority of possession in the match and having the much better scoring chances, but like Colorado found out last weekend the best team doesn’t always come out on top. Once again Esky was in the right place at the right time against RSL and after Nick and Nat both fell down it was easy for him to put the ball in the back of the net. Dan Kennedy was up to the task that night and made a number of incredible saves, but after a bizarre red card last weekend RSL will not see Dan in goal this weekend.
A little bit of history
So everyone knows that both teams came into the league in 2005, but how many remember that fact that RSL finished two points ahead of Chivas at the end of the MLS season? The two teams faced off 4 times during the regular season in 2005 with Chivas winning both matches at the HDC and RSL winning both in Salt Lake, one of the losses in LA still holds the record for worst RSL defeat as we went down 5-1. Of the 6 players to score on that night, only one is still playing for either team and it is Clint Mathis, all the players for Chivas who scored (including the OG by Brian Kamler) are gone. Despite finishing ahead of Chivas in the MLS standings RSL challenged them to a 5th match after the regular MLS season and it was RSL that prevailed 1-0 in that rubber match. Of all the goals scored by either team in the 5 matches in 2005, only RSL’s Clint Mathis and Andy Williams are going to see any action in this playoff match, all the others are either with different teams or no longer in MLS.
Prior to the start of the season RSL won a coin toss and got the #1 draft pick in the MLS super draft and chose Nik Besagno (who was 16 years old at the time) and Nik is one of only 4 players still on the RSL roster this weekend that were on the roster for the first match in 2005 (Andy, Kenny Cutler, and Clint Mathis). The number two pick went to Chivas and they chose Brad Guzan who is no longer with the team but playing in the EPL. Believe it or not in 2005 the Galaxy won the MLS cup and since then they haven’t even made the playoffs.
2006 saw Chivas make some huge progress as a team and they finished the regular season in 3rd place in the West and made the playoffs. Once again RSL faced Chivas 4 times, but this time 3 matches were draws and only the season opener played at the HDC saw either side get a full 3 points as Chivas won the match 3-0. For RSL 2006 would be the start of the Ante Razov era in matches against Chivas as he scored twice in the opener and wasn’t finished scoring against RSL yet, and while nobody scored in the second match a 0-0 draw, in the 3rd matchup between the two teams Ante would score again in a wild 3-3 draw. While Ante would not score in the final match of the season, he did take 4 shots to lead Chivas in a match that ended the 2006 regular season with a 1-1 draw. Chivas moved on to the playoffs and RSL’s season was over as they missed the playoffs by 4 points. The highlight for RSL was the fact that despite finishing last in the West they were better than 3 of the teams in the East and they had the MLS golden boot winner in Jeff Cunningham who scored 16 goals in 2006.
Last year was a rough year for RSL, after a promise from Dave Checketts of making the playoffs, RSL finished dead last in the West and only expansion Toronto had a worst season. RSL was a full 13 points away from a playoff spot; meanwhile Chivas won the West by a single point over Houston. 2007 saw the change of head coaches from John Ellinger to Jason Kreis and the start of an almost total rebuild of the team. The MLS moved to a new 30 match season, so RSL only faced Chivas 3 times, twice at the HDC and once at RES, but the result was the same in each match with Chivas taking all 3 matches and RSL only scored in the match at RES.
The first matchup of the season saw RSL fall 4-0 and Ante Ravoz entered the history books by scoring his 100th MLS goal against us and Maykel Galindo scored twice to blow RSL out of the water. The second contest between the two teams was again played at the HDC, but this time RSL played better but still could not score in the 1-0 loss, the good news is that Ante didn’t score against us, the bad news is that he had an assist on the only goal of the day and he continued to haunt RSL. In a sign of how much change took place in the 2007 season, this match was played in late August and of the 14 RSL players who saw action in the match, only 6 are still with the team today (Williams, Rimando, Wingert, Findley, Espindola, and Kyle Beckerman).
The final match up saw RSL lose 3-2 at RES, but the loss saw RSL much better and actually control large chunks of the match and lead Chivas in shots 13-8 and shots on goal 8-4. Ante Razov didn’t score or have an assist in the match, most likely caused by the fact that he didn’t see any action in the match because he was out injured. Again for RSL only 7 players who saw action in this match are still on the team (Seitz, Wingert, Williams, Findley, Espindola, Beckerman, and Yura Movsisyan), but two RSL players from that match are now part of the Chivas side (Carey Talley, and Atiba Harris). More on the former RSL players that now play for Chivas is coming in part II of my preview of the playoff matchup between the two sides.
OFF MY SOAPBOX