Real Salt Lake welcome the Red Bulls
November 14, 2008 by f4denz.
Well not many people imagined Real Salt Lake would be in the Western Conference finals, and even fewer probably imagined they would be facing the Red Bulls at Rio Tinto on Saturday for a chance to face Columbus for the MLS Cup. For those of you expecting an early evening on Saturday, you might be in for the longest match of the playoffs. If history is right then, of the eight times these two teams have faced off since RSL joined the league there have been 6 ties, and twice (including earlier this season) New York has won. So will we see extra time on Saturday night, the odds would say yes, but I don’t think so.
History
April 2nd 2005 is a big day in Real Salt Lake history, it was the first ever match in RSL history and it just so happens that New York (then the MetroStars) was the opponent, and in a horrible rainstorm RSL got their first point as the match ended up in a 0-0 draw. The match also was the return of Clint Mathis to New York, where he had last played in MLS. 2005 would also see another historic matchup with New York, it was July 4th at Rice Eccles Stadium and started a tradition of Independence day matches and fireworks for Real Salt Lake. There also were fireworks on the pitch as a 10 man RSL (Dunny got a red card right before the half), but RSL battled back from a two goal deficit and scored two goals in the final 12 minutes of the match to earn a 2-2 draw.
For RSL, Andy Williams and Clint Mathis both saw action in the matches against New York in 2005 and both will likely see action on Saturday. For New York, they have a few more faces still around as John Wolyniec, Chris Leitch, Carlos Mendes, and Mike Magee will likely be on the New York roster, but Seth Stammler is out for the season and Jeff Parke is still suspended.
The 2006 season saw the death of the MetroStars and the birth of the New York Red Bulls, and again when RSL faced off against New York history would be made. On April 15th two winless teams battled to a 1-1 draw at RES, as Jason Kreis scored his 101st MLS goal and RSL got their first point of the 2006 season.
Later in the year the history was not a good thing as RSL traveled to New York on Aug. 26th and suffered the worst defeat in RSL history as they lost 6-0 as they battled a man down for 82 minutes after Jack Stewart got ejected in the 8th minute of the match. That is some history we sure hope we don’t ever see a repeat of, and in my opinion that effort should have been the match that ended the coaching career of John Ellinger.
The history making continued in 2007, on May 5th New York came to Salt Lake City to face a team with a new coach as Jason Kreis moved from the pitch to the bench and took over as head coach of Real Salt Lake. Clint Mathis also was involved in the history as he scored two goals and had an assist on New York’s other goal as the Red Bulls went into the 90th minute with a 3-1 lead and ready to hand RSL’s new coach his first loss. But they didn’t count on Jeff Cunningham scoring a 90th minute penalty kick and then in the 92nd minute Chris Brown tied the match up as RSL pulled out a dramatic 3-3 draw for their new coach. It is that kind of heart and effort that would become the trademark of Real Salt Lake under the leadership of Jason Kreis.
It was late September and RSL still was alive in the playoff hunt but needed a road win when they faced off against New York at Giant Stadium, once again the history that was made wasn’t good for RSL as despite scoring first and then taking the lead back in the 75th minute, New York’s Juan Pablo Angel took a penalty shot to tie the match at 2-2 and that score stood until the final whistle and with the draw RSL was eliminated from the playoffs for the 3rd straight season.
2008
Well this year the two sides didn’t meet up until late in the season, it was Sept. 13th that RSL travelled to New York City and the match was a battle in which RSL outplayed the Red Bulls, but lost due to a couple of questionable calls that went in favor of the Bulls. RSL actually took an early lead on a Yura Movsisyan goal and went into the half with a 1-0 lead, but in the second half Juan Pablo Angel escaped getting called for a foul on Olave and got the ball past Rimando to tie the match up just 4 minutes into the second half. Then in the 64th minute on what appeared to be a play that could have been called offside, New York went ahead on a goal by Dave van den Bergh, as RSL’s road struggles continued.
The return match was on Oct. 9th and history was once again made as these two teams matched up for the first ever match at Rio Tinto Stadium in front of a sold out crowd. The nerves were obvious as RSL struggled at the start of the match and the Red Bulls struck first as Dave van den Bergh scored in the 31st minute and will live in history as scoring the first ever goal at RTS. Knowing that a loss would almost surely end Real Salt Lake’s playoff aspirations for another year, RSL battled back and Jamison Olave scored his second goal of the season. RSL ended up dominating the match and one has to wonder if Jon Conway and Jeff Parke had been suspended for this match as opposed to the following week if the result would have been different?
The future
So it will be a MLS Cup that features two teams going for the first time, we know that one of those team will be the Columbus Crew and in just less than 48 hours we will know who the other team will be. I will be looking at the matchup on Friday and will reveal prediction at that time, but you all know who I am picking to win this one. Until then you can check out the official match guide.
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