Real Salt Lake 2 - DC United 1 (a quick look)
April 11, 2009 by f4denz.
So I have a couple minutes before the Seattle vs. KC and Chivas vs. Galaxy matches get under way and I am watching the 0-0 NY (I hate their new jerseys) and Houston, and I thought I would quickly post the numbers and a few pictures from the match, which saw Real Salt Lake get their second straight win. I will post a complete review tomorrow when I rewatch the match, and will upload more pictures as well.
First up I have to admit when I was wrong about the weather, as the first half was (Holy Crap a fight breaking out in Houston, this is one of the few where I saw the official getting pushed around) rainy but the temp was OK, but at least I got the goal by RSL after the 75th minute right.
Anyhow the first half numbers were RSL 9 shots, 6 shots on goal, and 1 goal, they also had 3 yellow cards (Morales, Wingert, and Borchers), the goal was a 40th minute goal by Jamison Olave with assists going to Robbie Findley and Will Johnson. For DCU they had 3 shots, 1 on goal, and 1 goal, they picked up one yellow card (Gomez) and their goal came in the 38th minute from Luciano Emilio with assists going to Fred and Chris Pontius. It looked clear to me that RSL had a hard time dealing with the 3-5-2 formation which lead to a very crowded midfield. Here are some first half pictures:
Robbie gets a headed shot on goal but Crayton makes the save
Yura gets wide and deep and his cross gets blocked out for one of the 4 RSL first half corner kicks
Olave gets his first shot on goal but this one is saved by the keeper
Kyle Beckerman played his best match of the short season, here he forces Gomez to foul him, shame that Kevin Stott either missed the call or simply didn’t call it.
DC United did a nice job of pushing up in attack but here Olave uses his head defensively
Johnson played in a ball and Olave found it and redirected it
And he watches it going towards the goal
Next up is a little celebration with the fans and his teammates
Will gets high to play the ball back into the United half of the pitch
And the half ended 1-1.
The second half numbers are 6 shots, 2 on goal, and one goal for RSL, The goal came in the 80th minute from Morales with assists going to Beckerman and Findley. For United they had 3 shots with just one on goal, they also picked up two more yellow cards (Burch, and McTavish). So on the night RSL had 15 shots, 8 on goal and two goals, DCU had 6 shots, 2 on goal and one goal. Each team had 3 yellow cards, some were very soft and several fouls and a couple potential cards were simply missed or not called by Stott. Both sides used all three of their subs, for RSL it was Cox in for Beltran in the 59th minute, Grabavoy for Mathis in the 74th, and Williams for Findley in the 89th minute. DC United brought in McTavish for Fred in the 69th, Doe in for Gomez in the 75th, and Quaranta for Wallace in the 82nd minute.
Here are a couple more pictures from the second half:
Javi had a great second half, I think it was his best half of the season so far
Cox does a nice job of pushing forward into the attack
OK, I have to get the pictures off my other memory card, so here are the post game quotes from RSL:
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the result:
“I just told the guys in the locker room that I had a coach tell me once before, ‘It is the very best teams who can win ugly.’ So that must make us one of the best teams, because that was ugly. I thought the second half was a lot cleaner for us defensively, but I think some of that was D.C. might have played that second half a little bit like they wanted a draw.
On grinding out the three points:
“We are historically a team that would have gone into that game and had difficulty, and may have walked away with a draw or even a loss. But we ended up finding a way to win it, so I think our guys should be proud of that.”
On starting a winning streak:
“It’s huge. We set it out for them at the beginning of the season, and I reminded them again yesterday that it was an opportunity to win two games in a row, which we didn’t do all of last year. I think the guys are very happy that they have won two in a row, and now they want three.”
REAL SALT LAKE DF JAMISON OLAVE
On his first-half equalizer:
“It was a cleared corner that Will [Johnson] shot into the box, and I was able to approach it and convert it past the keeper.”
On getting the win:
“We won as a team, playing the full game, and the important thing was getting the three points. We didn’t want to leave here with a tie.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF JAVIER MORALES
On getting back-to-back MLS wins for the first time since 2007:
“It’s very important for our team because last year we weren’t able to convert (winning streaks) and this year we are able to, so it helps us move up the standings.”
On how the game-winning goal developed:
“I wasn’t waiting for (the ball) … I thought Robbie [Findley] was going to go for it. But then it came to me, so I took it.”
RSL MF KYLE BECKERMAN
On getting back-to-back wins this early in the campaign:
“It was huge for us. We really put a lot of importance on this game to kind of get over the hump. We believe we’re a championship team, and to do that you’re going to have to win two games in a row. We wanted to get another win, so now we go on the road to try and get three in a row.”
WOW, Keller just got red carded in the 30th minute for handling the ball outside of the box, so could KC be the first to take down Seattle? It sure makes their work next week at Chivas a whole lot more difficult. I am going to watch the match and will finish up this post after the matches.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
BACK ON MY SOAPBOX
Well the first real adversity that SSFC faced and the end result was their first loss, as they go down 1-0 against KC at home. Chicago, Chivas, and New England(off this week) are the only unbeaten teams, while FC Dallas, Houston, New York, Columbus, and the LA Galaxy all still don’t have a win yet. A ton of ties as LA vs. Chivas and NY vs. Houston end in 0-0 draws, Colorado vs. Columbus and FC Dallas vs. Toronto both end in 1-1 draws, and Chicago vs. San Jose ends 3-3. Only KC and RSL were able to secure all 3 points in MLS action this weekend.
So back to the RSL match photos:
Crayton caught himself having to hide his face after being caught laughing at the taunts that the south end supporter groups were sending his way
A couple scary minutes as Yura goes down and his leg gets bent back at a strange angle. He would be OK
Yura and Robbie both were working hard trying to get the second RSL goal
But is Javi who gets to be the center of the celebration (I missed the goal shot, too many people in the box, but I got a decent shot of the pass to Javi from Kyle- tomorrow)
Yura again battled for the full 90 minutes, but didn’t get his first goal of the season. He did take two shots one on goal that required a save by Crayton and the other went wide left
Wingert shows his appreciation for the fan support
Coach Kreis answers a few questions after the match, Click Here to hear or download the press conference (unedited) it is about 4:15 long.
OFF MY SOAPBOX (again)
Real Salt Lake vs. DC United preview
April 11, 2009 by f4denz.
In 2008 when DC United came to RES last April it ended up being one of RSL’s most impressive victories a 4-0 drubbing of United, but just 2 weeks later RSL traveled to RFK and suffered its most embarrassing defeat going down 4-1 to United. But a lot has changed since then and both sides will look a lot different when they take the pitch on Saturday afternoon, here is what the projected lineups look like for Saturday:
Game Guide
For RSL there are 6 changes from last years first matchup between the two sides, and for DC United there are 8 changes, for RSL the 4 goals were scored by Beckerman (2), Espindola, and Findley so 3 of those goals were scored by players who will be on the pitch Saturday. From the second match DCU again will probably have 8 players that were not on the pitch for the 4-1 win, and none of the goal scorers for either side will be in the starting lineup, RSL’s goal was scored by Carey Talley who is gone. For United had two from Moreno (both PK’s) who is suspended for a Red Card last weekend, also scoring for DCU was Marcelo Gallardo who is no longer with the team, and Santino Quaranta may see action off the bench but is listed as probable with a hamstring strain.
DC United
DC United come into the match with a 1-0-2 record, so they haven’t been beaten in 2009 they have scored 4 goals (Emilio-2, Gomez-1, and Pontius-1). Many would say that a big part of the success United has had this year is the return of Christian Gomez from a horrible stretch at Colorado. United had an opening weekend draw against the Galaxy 2-2, in which United clearly was the better team for 80 plus minutes but Landycakes scored twice in the final 10 minutes to cause the draw. Next up was a 1-1 draw at home against Chicago which is also undefeated so far in the 2009 season, and last week they pulled out a win against the Houston(who has a single point) despite being down a man for the last 20 minutes of the match.
For DC United I really think the match comes down to the performance of 3 players, first is Ange N’Silu the striker from Congo picked up in the off season. Ange spent 6 years with Le Havre AC of the French Ligue 1 but never saw first team action, last season he played in Switzerland’s FC Le Mont scoring 25 goals in 31 matches. Will this success translate to MLS, well so far he hasn’t but with Moreno out of action there will be more pressure on him to perform.
Next up is rookie Rodney Wallace who was the 2009 first round draft pick of DC United and played his college soccer at 2008 College Cup champions Maryland. He is being played in the midfield but last year in college he mainly played on the back line. How will he be able to deal with RSL’s wide midfielders? Clint Mathis is in great form and making some great runs and completing incredible passes to create scoring chances, and Will Johnson is just waiting for a quality look at goal, his speed and talent will pose a big challenge for the rookie.
No player is going to be under a bigger spotlight for DC United than Louis Crayton, who is getting the start for an injured Josh Wicks. Crayton has only 13 starts in his MLS career and a 1.46 GAA in those matches, his only start this year however was a clean sheet against Houston. So with Yura cranking off shots every 19 minutes, and Robbie coming off the first ever MLS hat trick, Louis will probably be forced to make a good number of saves as RSL have taken 30 shots in their first two matches and 13 of them have been on goal, that is one every 13 minutes of play.
Real Salt Lake
So after taking a hard loss in Seattle two weeks ago, RSL rebounded in great fashion last Thursday night to beat the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew 4-1. That score is thanks to the 3 goals by Robbie Findley who like any good striker found himself in the right place at the right time on several of them. But not everything has been coming up roses for Real, I think the play of Javi Morales has been below expectations in both matches. Kyle Beckerman rebounded from a horrible Seattle match and played well against Columbus, and the same can be said of Tony Beltran who was all over the pitch against Columbus and reminded why many people think he has a great upside. I expect a big match by Clint Mathis, who finally got some points last week with his two assists and really forcing the pace of the attack and causing a lot of problems for the Crew midfielders and defenders.
The only time that DC United has been able to beat RSL in Salt Lake was the 2005 expansion season, but since then RSL has a pair of 2-1 victories at RES in 06 and 07 to go along with that 4-0 win last year. This time they won’t be able to blame the turf, but DCU will still have to deal with the elevation and with the early start time (4:00 local time) there should be a good crowd to support the home side. One very interesting stat from the previous matches between the two sides, of the 13 goals that RSL has scored against DCU, 6 of them have come after the 75th minute. For United 4 of their 17 goals have come after the 75th minute, so no matter the score this is a match you will want to stay until the final whistle.
So perhaps nobody for RSL will be under more pressure than Robbie Findley, after last weeks performance I expect both fans and DCU defenders will be keeping a close eye on him. For Robbie he couldn’t be facing a better team, in his 169 minutes against DCU for RSL, he has 3 goals and a assist on 4 shots. Another DCU killer for RSL is Kyle Beckerman, who also has 3 goals against United in his 253 minutes against them. I am sure that coach Soehn will point out those numbers to his players, and that might really play into the hands (or feet) of Yura and Will both who may be given a bit more space by the United defense.
For both Soehn and Jason Kreis this is a rubber match, both coaches have been in charge of their sides for 4 matches against each other, and both are 2-2-0. In fact only once have the two sides tied, out of their 8 matches it was the 2006 match at RFK that ended in a 1-1 draw.
Predictions
In the past it has been either Jamie Moreno or Christian Gomez who have been the RSL killers for United, but with Moreno out on suspension his 5 goals and 2 assists will not be a threat. Gomez will clearly be the most likely threat he has 3 goals and 3 assists in his 5 matches against RSL, but the RSL defense is much improved over the last time Gomez faced them in the Red and Black. I expect that the RSL attack will prove to be too much for the 3 man backline of United, too much speed and too much talent. If head official Kevin Stott can handle not being in the spotlight and calls the match well and fairly, I am not so sure he can call any match well, so let’s hope for fairly, then this one should be an exciting match.
It will end 3-1 RSL with goals from Yura, Beckerman, and Findley. Another victory, and perhaps even a more optimistic prediction, the weather will be in the high 50’s at match time with very light showers on and off, but nowhere near as much rain as the Columbus match.
In other MLS action:
Toronto 2- FC Dallas 1
San Jose 1 - Chicago 2
Columbus 2 - Colorado 2
Houston 1 - New York 0
Seattle 3 - KC 1 (yes Keller will finally give up a goal)
LA Galaxy 1 - Chivas 2
OFF MY SOAPBOX
Late Updates
So it seems that DC United will be without the player who really is their heart and soul, Ben “Geico Caveman” Olsen didn’t make the trip and that will likely force United to either change their 3-5-2 lineup into a more traditional 4-4-2, or rely on players that are unfamiliar with their current formation. My bet is that they insert John DiRaimnodo who they picked up from Colorado in the offseason off the waiver draft, they also have very unproven players Brando Barklage and Andrew Jacobson, but it is clear that losing both Olsen and Moreno will reduce the odds of United getting any type of result against RSL today.
Weather update, so I was just watching the local forcast on the Weather Channel, and they are saying most of the showers should be done by noon but the temp may not get out of the mid 50’s. Either way it sounds like we got a break and hopefully fans will take advantage and come out to see the mid day affair at Rio Tinto, here is the link to the parking map if you’re not sure where to park. Also don’t forget that after the RSL match there will be a matchup between local high school powerhouses Copper Hills and Lehi.
If you have Comcast and want to record the match on channel 111 you will need to manually set your DVR, since the match isn’t showing up in the program guide, or you can record the DC Untied feed(most likely) via the MLS Direct Kick Package.