Real Salt Lake 2- LA Galaxy 0 (a look back)
June 14, 2009 by f4denz.
How amazing is it that once again RSL finds a way to win a match at the Home Depot Center? RSL’s first ever road win May 13th 2006 with a 3-0 win over LA, our first road win of 2007 came on September 1st 2007 at the HDC with a 2-1 win over the Galaxy, in 2008 our first road win of the year came June 14th with our first ever road win over Chivas in a 1-0 match. Was it destiny that Real Salt Lake picked up the 2-0 win over LA last night? I don’t believe in destiny, but you have to say that the trend is nothing less than amazing.
Aggression and domination were the themes of the night, the first half was simply the best half RSL has played on the road all year and to be honest it rival’s in my mind the 6 goal half against New England as the best half of the season. The decision to be aggressive and play the 4-3-3 on the road, paid dividends early as RSL dominated the pace and had a incredible amount of possession. LA tried to counter and when they got behind our defense that showed some cracks early (mainly as a result of pushing forward so much) was buoyed by the efforts of individuals, as Nick Rimando made some huge saves and Jamison Olave was simply in the right place at the right time more than once on the night.
For Nat Borchers the shot in the second half was his first goal in a RSL uniform and couldn’t have come at a better time, and lifts RSL to 10 players having scored a goal this season. Making the statement of head coach Jason Kreis in preseason ” We don’t need a 10 goal scorer, we simply need more goals from more people” seem like a very wise comment. In 2008 we had a total of 40 goals from 12 players and through 13 matches this year we have 18 goals from 10 players, at this rate RSL will surpass last years goal total by 2.
Yura Movsisyan picked up his 3rd goal on the season and it was the second straight match were he found the back of the net, and while I thought the goal would come from Clint, he was the provider on both of the goals but it appears that he may not get credit on the second goal. Espindola played better than he did in San Jose but still was unable to find the back of the net, but he did provide some great balls into the area that created some of RSL’s most dangerous chances.
I was worried early in the second half as it appeared that LA came out of halftime with some adjustments, including the insertion of Chris Klein to the lineup, that made them look much more dangerous than they had in the first half. It was that aggression that lead to the Borchers goal as RSL was able to counter and get some critical corner kicks and set pieces, including the one in the 51st minute that allowed RSL to regain the momentum. Both sides battled back and forth until the 65th minute when Eddie Lewis got a stupid red card for a silly act, but throwing the ball at or to (depending on whose version you listen to) a player that is on the ground is a very stupid thing to do. Even more so when you are dealing with an inexperienced official who has issued red cards like they were candy.
After the ejection you could see the desperation set in for LA who became frantic in their efforts to get back into the match and while RSL looked a bit rattled by the LA attack it again was great plays by Olave, Rimando, Johnson and others that allowed RSL to maintain the clean sheet giving Nick Rimando his third of the season and dropping his GAA down to 1.07, which is 6th best in the league.
Will this win help RSL get back on track? Is this the key to a good midseason run like the middle of last season? The first 10 matches ended with a 3-5-2 record, the first 3 matches of the middle third of the season have us 1-1-1 with 4 matches at home and 3 on the road. It will be critical to get some type of result in those road matches, but against a surging Houston, a recovered Columbus, and a always tough Chicago it will be no easy task. Confidence from the win in LA should be enough to boost RSL’s confidence and the two goals prove that we can score against a top keeper, and a defense that had allowed only 14 goals in their previous 12 matches. I think if RSL can come out of the next 7 matches with 3-2-2 and 11 points that they will be at 26 with 10 to go, which isn’t as good as it should be but sets us up to control our own destiny over the final third of the season.
OK that is it for now, but I just want to say to all those cynics and critics that I addressed on Monday, that finding fault is easy, but looking for the good and trying to build on the positives is a much harder task. Perhaps just a little faith in the players and staff that took us to the Western Conference Finals last year is justified, and I am sticking by the goals I set for RSL back in December, I will review those goals this week and see where we are with just two matches until the midway point of the season, but if they can pull two wins in those two matches, they will be on track for one of the major goals.
OFF MY SOAPBOX