Real Salt Lake 2 – Houston 3 (quick thoughts)

Wow RSL fans likely packed it in a number of times tonight, like after the Houston goal in the second minute, if not then it may have been 3 minutes later as Houston took a 2-0 lead just 5 minutes into the match. When Kyle got RSL on the board in the 27^th minute it looked like RSL might just find a way to once again come back from early mistakes, but nope I knew this match would be decided by the official and when a very, very soft red card was shown to Olave the writing was on the wall for RSL. It was interesting that despite being down a man that RSL actually outplayed Houston for the remainder of the first half and was the aggressive team in the second half and when Yura Movsisyan came on to replace Pablo Campos it only took him a few minutes to do the unthinkable and get RSL even despite being a man down. RSL continued to play well but as the clock hit 75 it was Houston who turned up the energy and the RSL players started to drag after 40 plus minutes, and Houston scored just their 5^th goal after the 75^th minute and took the 3-2 lead. It was just after the restart that Brian Ching was shown red but it was too little and too late as RSL after 50 minutes of playing a man down simply didn’t have enough energy to battle the fatigue, heat and humidity and Houston simply spread out and made RSL chase them.

I have to say I was disappointed with the effort of Javi tonight, he simply looked rather disinterested in the match after coming on in the 45^th minute for Rachid. I was hoping that the move to bring Robbie on after Yura’s goal would give RSL a real boost of energy but he was unable to create much and RSL was unable to get the ball behind the defense for him to run onto. I know they were tired and I know we were a man down on defense but Robbie Russell looked great for minutes and then looked awful for other stretches and it is clear the Beltran was missed, and I am not sure what Wingert was doing but Houston took full advantage of his side of the pitch most of the night and he has to stop trying to take shots from distance, they simply are wasted opportunities. I was impressed with the work rate and the leadership shown by Kyle Beckerman tonight, it was the most involved I have seen him in a match in a long, long time.

So what does this do to the RSL playoff hunt? Well with Chivas and Seattle only getting a point each in their match, with KC beating Dallas, Colorado only getting a point against San Jose, and New York and New England ending knotted and getting a point each, nobody stepped up and made a strong case to separate themselves from the jumbled race for the wildcard spots. RSL sits two points behind DC United for the final spot and with LA leading Toronto (who also is stuck on 34) so anything can happen but RSL will need to work harder than ever to prove that they belong in the playoffs. Last year they got a lot of help from other teams, just like this weekend but I think they still have to find a way to get 3 wins. Next weekend they probably have their best chance away from Rio Tinto as they face FC Dallas who looked great beating LA last weekend and then got beat by KC this weekend, it is clear that RSL will need to handle their business at home and do something they have never done and get a win over New York.

With one match underway (LA 1- TFC 0) and one tomorrow here is how the playoffs stack up:
Houston – 43 pts (1^st in West) – 3 games remaining
Columbus – 42 pts (1^st in East) – 6 games remaining
Chicago – 39 pts (2^nd in East) – 5 games remaining
Seattle – 38 pts (2^nd in West) – 4 games remaining

LA Galaxy – 38 pts (1^st wildcard) – 5 games remaining
Colorado – 37 pts (2^nd wildcard) – 5 games remaining
Chivas – 37 pts (3^rd wildcard) – 6 games remaining
DC United – 36 pts (4^th wildcard) – 4 games remaining

Real Salt Lake – 34 pts – 4 games remaining
Toronto FC – 34 pts – 5 games remaining
New England – 34 pts – 6 games remaining

All the other teams are out of the running, so RSL faces two teams out of the playoffs (@ FC Dallas, and New York) which they need to get the full 6 points against and two matches against teams they are battling for a playoff spot against (@ TFC and Colorado) and I believe that it will come down to the results in these two matches that will really be the ones that matter. The first tiebreaker in the playoffs is head to head record and the only playoff teams that hold the edge over RSL are Houston and Chicago, the second tiebreaker is overall goal differential and with their +7 RSL holds an edge over New England (-4), TFC (-3), DC United (+1), Chivas (+1), LA (+2) and are right now even with Seattle (+7) and trail Colorado (+8) and Columbus (+10). So finishing the season tied on points with many of the team in the playoff race would not be a bad thing, I would much rather see us finish strong and work our way in and not have to rely on other teams finishing weak for us to make it.

While the team and many fans will be very disheartened after the loss in Houston after battling back, I think RSL showed that they can play with the best teams in MLS and even when down a man they are a very solid team but few teams can play down a man for 60 minutes and come back to earn a tie and on this night RSL simply could not withstand the onslaught that Houston was able to put together. It wasn’t a moral victory but it did show that we are very, very close to breaking through for another road win.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

This entry was posted on September 19, 2009 at 11:14 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.