RSL practice update and Wizards match preview
May 16, 2009 by f4denz.
Well yesterday was a long but fun day, it started out at Rio Tinto with RSL practice and ended some 14 hours later after a lot of fun activities and time spend with good friends. I am going to post a couple of pictures from practice, more of them will be available at connect.roguecavaliers.com. Every player took part in practice in one way or another, Ian and Davis Horst were both riding the bike as they are still nursing injuries but they both seemed to be in good spirits and when I asked Ian about the report that he should be back in about 10 days he smiled and said we will see. You never want to rush a hamstring injury, they can ruin entire seasons and in some places they have ruined entire careers.
Javi and Kyle catching a quick break
Seitz goes airborne
Clint was practicing set pieces
Chris goes one on one with Leo in front of a lot police motorcycles
Real Salt Lake vs. KC Wizards
For RSL this match is huge, mammoth, as RSL will play 4 of the 5 matches after this one on the road (@DC, @SJ, @LA, and @Houston) and only two home matches after this one before the 4th of July weekend. So a win against KC is simply going to be a must tonight, there should be few if any excuses for RSL, injuries will only impact Ian Joy, Nick RImando, and David Horst, while KC will be without Adam Cristman, backup keeper Kronberg, and Chance Meyers.
Last year these teams faced off twice in MLS action at Rice Eccles on June 7th when Kevin Hartman made 7 saves to keep the score 0-0 in an exciting matchup, in the return leg in KC Real played a good match but when they gave up their only own goal of the season in the 89th minute it gave KC the 1-0 lead. RSL is 2-1-1 against KC in Utah, with a slight 1 goal differential as RSL has put up 7 to KC’s 6 in those matches.
This matchup is between two evenly matched teams, RSL comes in with a 3-4-1 record in their 8 matches, while KC comes in with a 3-4-2 record in their 9 matches. KC has scored 12 goals and given up 12 goals, KC had relied on 5 players to score their goals (Wolff-4, Lopez-3, Arnaud-3, Hohlbein-1, and Kraus-1) so it will be key to close down on those top 3 goal scorers. For RSL 9 different players have contributed in RSL’s 14 goals, lead by Robbie Findley who is tied for the MLS lead with 5 goals.
Here are the probable lineups:
GAME GUIDE
A thing that might make a huge difference is that Yader Reyes is officiating just his second MLS match, and our favorite official is Kevin Stott will be the 4th official, at least there the damage he can do is minor. This match is really going to break down to the defense of RSL with Seitz in goal against the powerful forwards of KC, you know when you have a striker in Lopez who has 3 goals in 9 matches who is likely to start the match on the bench that you are facing a good team. With Morales back in the midfield and Olave back into the lineup as well, it should be the RSL side that scored 12 goals in 3 matches at Rio Tinto while giving up just 2 goals.
After the poor results last week, the knowledge that they only have 4 road matches coming up and that those matches bring along their own challenges, this match will be one where RSL needs to accomplish two things. First get back their confidence, the LA match was the first time they didn’t get all 3 points at home and the adjustments against Chivas last weekend provided a closer result but still another road loss. So coming out early and playing that aggressive attacking style we have seen at Rio Tinto will be very important to getting a good result. Second, getting all 3 points in order to keep up with rest of the Western Conference, Chivas has a blistering 22 points in 9 matches and are 8 points ahead of all other MLS teams, Seattle has an impressive 14 points (4-2-2) to start their inaugural season, and both Houston and Colorado have 11 points. Getting 3 points could move RSL up to 3rd in the west, depending on how the other sides do, anything less could put RSL in a very deep hole going into the stretch of road matches.
RSL looked ready in practice, the weather will be incredible 70’s and sunny, the stadium will be almost packed (there were few seats left yesterday), and they are playing at Rio Tinto, where they simply have been impressive this season. This one should be close but I look for RSL to get out their frustrations of last week and get a 3-1 victory.
Other Match Predictions:
Chicago 2 - TFC 1
Colorado 1 - New England 1
Houston 0 - New York 2
Seattle 2 - Dallas 1
DC United 1 - Chivas 3
Columbus 2 - LA 2
OFF MY SOAPBOX
