August 27, 2008 by f4denz.

So my final installment of the ventorama after the worst performance of the season last weekend against Columbus is a look at our forwards, who have struggled all season. In fact RSL had scored just 22 goals in MLS matches prior to the 18 day layoff and only half of them came from our forwards (Findley-5, Espindola-3, Deuchar-2, Nunez-1), but I have to believe that a healthy Espindola could have gotten more goals based on his 3 goals coming from under 500 minutes of playing time.

So all the preseason hype was around Kenny Deuchar, you know “Dr. Goals”, who came to us with a very impressive record of being a goal scoring machine in the SPL, and having shown himself to be able to score against the “big boys” of Scottish football, but the transition to MLS has been tough for Kenny. I have to say in recent weeks I have been impressed as he seems to have taken on more of a role of creating chances and working in tandem with Robbie Findley, they have made some nice plays together, and not many players work harder during a match than Kenny. He has shown to be a great asset on set pieces both offensively where he provides a great target player, and defensively he has been able to assist in marking other teams target players and done it well. He works hard getting back to assist the defense and attacks the ball in the midfield more than most forwards do. All of that is great, but the goals simply have not come at the pace that many of us, including Kenny expected. To his credit he came into the Houston match late and with us down 2 goals and got us right back into the match with his 3^rd goal of the 2008 season, but we will need much more from him as make a push for a playoff spot.

Fabian Espindola, barring injuries he could have been the star of the team this year working with Javi Morales to create 2 thirds of the “three amigos”, and hopefully as we have seen Espindola return to the 18 man roster, we will see him get more and more playing time and increase his goal total before the end of the 2008 season. I am still holding out hope for a “Fabi and Kenny” show to challenge the “Javi and Kyle” show.

I don’t think many people expected much first team action to come from Tino Nunez this season, he was picked up in the second round of the 2008 Super Draft, but he has played well on the reserve squad and gotten a little time with the first team, he has only two starts and under 300 minutes of playing time, but he has one goal and has shown that he is a tough as nails player who when unleashed will attack every ball that is anywhere close to him.

Yura has jumped into the starting line up recently and while he only has one goal, his play in the Houston match was very impressive he worked hard and played well with Robbie Findley. He has seemed to struggle at RES, very often it appears that the turf is getting the best of him, his footwork looked horrible in the matches at RES and too often he has lost the ball or stumbled before getting off a shot. I imagine that Yura is one of the guys who is really looking forward to getting to the new stadium and being able to play on a nice grass surface. A healthy Yura is a real boost in the arm either off the bench or in a starting role, and it seems he has had his best matches when playing with Robbie Findley.

For the second straight season it appears that Robbie Findley will be the top scorer on the Real Salt Lake roster, his 5 goals leads the team and his 4 assists are second best on the team. Robbie is one of those players with great speed and a touch that is improving week to week, recently he has played really well with both Kenny Deuchar and Yura Movsisyan, and I am excited to see how he will play with a healthy Espindola. Robbie was a bit slow to get into the scoring groove this season, with just three goals in the first 16 matches of this season, but he has picked up the pace with two in the last five. Robbie probably should have been a part of the US Olympic team, he sure couldn’t have done any worse the Brian McBride, and I know he is a heck of a lot quicker.

One question that has to be dealt with is how will our current crop of forwards gel with their new teammate Will Johnson, and while Will is not the experienced proven goal scoring machine that Garth favored and many fans were hoping for, he is the young, talented, and hungry to prove himself kind of player that Jason was looking for to push not only our current forwards, but everyone on the current team to work harder and play better.

One thing is going to be important is that without at least a couple road wins, RSL will not make the playoffs. With 4 more home matches if RSL wins all 4 of them we get 12 more points and that would give us 39 and this year it will likely take 45 to ensure a spot in the 2008 playoffs, so road results have to happen. I for one believe are capable of doing it, but no unless our players act and play like they want it more than they did last week against Columbus.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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August 26, 2008 by f4denz.

Nobody really thought I was done did they, sorry the poor performance this weekend has plenty of blame to go around, and yesterday I tackled the largest issue that I see, which was the play of the midfield. Some people were quick to jump on Rimando in the past couple weeks, but honestly there isn’t a keeper in the league that could have stopped all the quality shots that Real has allowed in the past two weekends. Many people believed the loss in Houston was due to the absence of Jamison Olave, but he was back and played well against Columbus, but still RSL lost, so what exactly is happening to the once stellar defense?

I believe that defense starts in the midfield, if you control the ball, you control the match and that is what been Real Salt Lake’s problem on the road, and even on occasion at home. You simply can not expect the back four and keeper to be the only ones playing defense, in fact if we expect our outside backs to move forward in attack then everyone has to be able to get back when the opposition counters and too often in the last two weeks not only have the outside defenders not been able to get back in time to stop or slow counters, the midfield has been lacking the pace or effort to get back and add their support to the defense.

Robbie Russell has played up to expectations of a new player, who is trying to figure out his role with each different position he is being asked to fill in at. His speed and energy will serve RSL well, and I think he would be perfect at the D-mid slot for RSL. He is a physical guy with size and speed and I believe could handle almost any number 10 in the league. Jamison Olave is a rock in the midfield, a true diamond in the rough that each week shows signs of getting better and is causing offensive players around the league to pay attention to him; I really hope we can secure his services beyond the current loan period. Nat Borchers has found himself left out to hang in recent weeks, by having to cover for rookie Horst in the Houston match, and by Wingert’s failure to get back on defense quickly enough to slow or stop Columbus counter attacks. Chris Wingert is a great player, for the first time all year I have to question his play. I am not sure what happened in Columbus, but it seemed that Chris was slow to move forward and even slower to react and get back into defensive position. Some of that comes from the lack of defensive support from the midfield.

Injuries have really hampered the efforts of the defense; Ian Joy was finding his form and really beginning to be a major part of the defensive wall that was shutting down offenses around the league. Ian has also found his way forward and is proving to be good at playing balls into the area; he also has a rocket of a shot that forces other teams to cover him tightly when he moves forward. Tony Beltran was a early season surprise who jumped in when Ian was out a few matches, and Tony showed real character for a rookie in his battle to keep is starting spot. I expect that we will see more of Tony when he is fully fit; he has got great speed to get forward and then recover quickly enough to make people wonder if he really was that far up the pitch on the attack. I questioned picking Tony as high as we did in the draft, he was projected much lower, but Jason and Garth appear to have been right in jumping at the chance to add Tony to our lineup.

Oh what to say about Nick Rimando? He is too short, we should find a better keeper, or play Chris Seitz, all things heard all around the blogosphere and in the stands recently. Wait, Nick Rimando, the clear MVP of last years team, the goal keeper with 7 clean sheets and until the last two matches was a top 3 keeper in the league. Are those people really going to question Nick Rimando? Well he is still in the top half of all keepers when it comes to GAA at 1.29, despite the fact that the team has allowed 7 goals in their last two matches, only two keepers in the league have more clean sheets, and how many keepers in the league can do this?

Nobody else works this hard, and even if he were a foot taller, this ball was going to get by anyone. When you give Nick a fair shot at a ball he has proven over the last two years that he makes not just the normal expected saves, but very often he makes saves that are unbelievable and has kept is many matches. The problem isn’t Nick.

So we have looked at the midfield and defense, so that means that tomorrow will have to be our forwards.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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August 25, 2008 by f4denz.

In what I believe is our worst performance of the year, we got out played for a full 90 minutes and outscored 3-0 by the Columbus Crew. Now I understand this is a much improved Crew team than in years past, but come on the only match this year that even comes close to being this bad was the early season 4-1 defeat by DC United. At least two weeks ago against Houston we scored, we attacked and for segments of the match we controlled the ball, and the pace of the match, but this match at Columbus has me worried about a lot of things.

Depth, or the lack of depth in our midfield, along with a recent string of subpar performances by our midfield players is my biggest concern. Kyle started the season being a major force in the offense with his two goals against DC United, and then adding another against FC Dallas, but in the last 90 days, the last 14 matches, there has been nothing. If Kyle isn’t comfortable in his current position then let’s move him to d-mid where he can again be a monster on the pitch and help shut down other teams. Then we have Javi, who has been a real surprise this season his 8 assists are tied for second best in the league with Beck’s and Jaime Moreno, but there are matches where either he simply doesn’t show up or the other team is so effective at marking him that it is like he isn’t there. He is our highest paid player, and the reality is that if we want to get his services long term that it will cost a lot of money for a transfer fee and possibly even move him into a DP slot. I am not sure based on his road performance if making him the center of our team is the right decision, Blanco, Beck’s, Donovan, GBS, these players play as well on the road as they do at home, in fact some of them are better on the road.

Now I know that injuries have hampered our midfield with Sturgis being out for a huge part of the season with a nagging hamstring injury, we have to allow him time to heal, and perhaps spend some quality time in the gym adding a bit of strength and muscle to his frame, which should make him less injury prone. I still think a RSL source hit it on the head that he has all the talent in the world, but MLS is a hard physical league and you have to adjust, the example they used was Kyle Beckerman who after several years on the bench and injured finally matured into a MLS player and to be honest he is an All Star player in most peoples books. Dema has been hurt the past few weeks with what is being called a calf strain, and this has been the player whose absence I believe has really hurt RSL the most in the last two matches. Dema is a pitbull on the pitch; he fights for everything and is willing to call out anyone on his team who isn’t putting in the same effort. I am hoping that his injury is healed and he gets back to practicing and playing very soon, we simply are not the same team without him.

Kenny Cutler, oh ginger ninja, I am sorry but the speed simply isn’t there, not even close to what we need from a midfielder who is going to try to push forward and then come back on defense. I watched out of position Kenny caused our defense to have to play out of position and the end result has been scoring chances and goals, and watching him simply get run by several times against Columbus was painful. If we have to play Kenny due to injuries, I get it but his role has be very defined, he is a d-mid and he stays at midfield or in the defensive half of the pitch, he simply hasn’t displayed the ability to get back and cover his defensive responsibilities when he tries to be part of the attack.

Andy, listen I love this guy, he is always trying something and the simple reality is that you saw the difference in the first half against Houston when Andy was in the match and part of the midfield vs. the first half against Columbus when he wasn’t. I know very often when players are facing issues in their personal lives that their on field performance improves as they have a small window of time where they can escape the other issues, and with his national team needing him and his not only answering that call but excelling as Jamaica make a push to get a World Cup spot, we will not always be able to count on a full 90 from Andy. I say any Andy we can get is better than not having him.

Clint, nice to have you back, and I mean it. I think Clint, the new Clint, the new team first, I know my role, I understand my role, that Clint Mathis could be exactly what this team needs, and after not playing for several months he will take a little time to get match fit. But as injuries continue we need to make some shake ups in our midfield and I for one would love to see a Andy- Javi- Kyle-Clint lineup against Colorado on Friday night if Dema is unable to go. That lineup should be able to provide the possession and speed to control the match and when needed get back on defense to assist our back line and prevent breakaways.

OK, Time for work, so more to follow, we still have to deal with our defense or lack of defense over the last two weeks, it is clear that it wasn’t just Olave that makes the difference, and then how to create scoring chances (our two shots on goal against the Crew came from a midfielder and a defender) but for now I am.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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August 23, 2008 by f4denz.

There is a lot at stake on Saturday for both teams, Columbus can leapfrog both Chicago and New England ending up in first place in the Eastern conference with a win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday, while RSL is looking to prove that scoring 3 goals on the road against a good Houston team wasn’t a fluke, but giving up 4 goals was. RSL can’t regain first place with a win, but they can add to their second place lead over the rest of the Western conference and close in on Houston which now has a 5 point lead in the standing, after two high scoring victories (4-3 over RSL , and a 4-0 thrashing of Chivas in the last 7 days).

Neither side will be at 100% for this matchup, Columbus are missing: Hendrickson and Eleio due to injuries and Ekpo is playing in the gold medal match at the Olympics. RSL is still hampered by injuries with Beltran, Joy, and Sturgis out, and Kovalenko is listed as questionable, both Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman are listed as probable. This means that Robbie Russell will likely get his second straight start on the back line, and with Olave back in his normal position the defense should be back to their old stingy ways.

Columbus has been one of the best offensive teams this year in MLS, they are third in scoring with 31 goals, behind only DC United and the Galaxy. Their leading scorer is Alejandro Moreno with 7 goals and 4 assists and he recently was called back into national team action and scored for them in a recent friendly, Robbie Rogers follows him with 5 goals and 1 assist, and the Columbus DP Guillermo Barros Schelotto has added 4 goals and 12 assists to the Crew attack. They also have 6 other players with at least two goals this season, so their offensive power has to be respected, but their defense is a very different case. Only 3 teams have given up more goals than the boys in yellow and black, DC United, and the two teams from LA. Columbus have given up 28 goals so far this year and keeper Will Hesmer has seen his GAA go up to 1.40, compared to 1.20 for Nick Rimando.

RSL has seen a major shift in their ability to score on the road, in their first 8 road matches they scored a total of 4 goals, but last weekend saw them put 3 goals on the scoreboard against a very good Houston team. Robbie Findley leads RSL with 5 goals and 4 assists and Javi Morales is just behind him with 4 goals and 8 assists, last week saw Kenny Deuchar get back into the scoring column with his beautiful 80^th minute goal against Houston, and Yura Movsisyan got his first goal of the 2008 season in that same match. RSL still only has 5 players that have scored more than one goal this season, but recent additions like Clint Mathis and Will Johnson, should provide an offensive spark for the team.

The strength of RSL in 2008 has been the defense, no not just Nick Rimando (who no matter what the cynics say about his height is still one of the top 3-4 keepers in MLS), not just Jamison Olave (his is a big part of it), no not even just the back line, it has been a team effort to stop other teams from scoring, and the results even with last weekends 4-3 loss is that only two teams in MLS have given up fewer goals than Real(24), Chicago with an ungodly 16 goals scored against them, and Houston with 22. The effort of our attacking players to come back and support the defense has been incredible, from Kenny Deuchar pressuring the ball in the midfield, to Yura and Fabian making full field runs to get back and break up plays. With the high power of the Columbus offense, it will take a full team effort to shut them out again like RSL was able to do on July 12^th.

I hate to say it but this one is going to be tough, but RSL rebound and get a point on the road as this one ends in a 1-1 draw.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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August 22, 2008 by f4denz.

RSL ACQUIRES FORWARD Will Johnson

21-Year Old Canadian Striker Acquired From Chicago Fire

SALT LAKE CITY (Friday, August 22, 2008) – Real Salt Lake today acquired 21-year old FW Will Johnson from the Chicago Fire in exchange for conditional SuperDraft picks in 2009 and 2011. Johnson fills Real Salt Lake’s last remaining spot on its 28-man roster as a Senior roster addition.

A Toronto-born son of American parents, Johnson holds dual Canadian and American citizenship. Johnson is the fifth North American native to return from Europe to play for RSL this season, joining current RSL standouts Nat Borchers (Norway), Ian Joy (Scotland), Clint Mathis (Greece) and Robbie Russell (Denmark).

“Johnson is an exciting young player who brings speed, skill and intensity to the field, where he has the potential to be a core member of our team for the long haul,” said RSL General Manager Garth Lagerwey, noting that as a youth, Johnson played for both Chicago Magic and Chicago Sockers, clubs Lagerwey also called home. “His experience in both Major League Soccer and in Holland gives us further options up top and in the midfield.”

Johnson, 21, moved with his family to England as an infant before moving stateside as a 10-year old to Chicago, where he lived until he was 17. At that time, Johnson returned to England in 2003/04 to participate in the Blackburn Rovers‘ youth program. His pursuit of an English professional career followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Brian Birch, who played for Bolton Wanderers FC.

Johnson’s first professional game came in 2005 with the Chicago Fire, playing in six games and scoring his lone career MLS goal against the Colorado Rapids in his first MLS start. At the conclusion of just one season with the Fire, Johnson again moved to Europe, transferring to SC Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie, where he spent the past two seasons, one of those on loan with another top division Dutch club, De Graafschap. During the 2007/08 seasons in Holland, Johnson scored three goals in 39 appearances, splitting time at forward, central midfield and as a right-sided midfielder.It wa

Throughout his professional career, Johnson has also been a prominent member of the Canadian U-23 National Team, scoring three goals in three matches during the Maple Leafs’ run at the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament held earlier this spring. Johnson’s play in the Canadian youth national system has earned him three “caps” with the country’s full national team. All told, Johnson has scored seven goals in 40 appearances with Canada’s U-20, U-23 and senior national teams.

TRANSACTION: REAL SALT LAKE ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO FW WILL JOHNSON FROM THE CHICAGO FIRE FOR CONDITIONAL 2009 AND 2011 MLS SUPERDRAFT PICKS.

Will Johnson
Position: Forward
Height: 5′10″
Weight: 160 lbs.
Birthdate: January 21, 1987 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hometown: Woodridge, Illinois
Last Club: SC Heerenveen (2008) (Dutch Eredivisie)
Acquired: Via trade with Chicago Fire on 8/22/08 in a conditional exchange for Real Salt Lake’s natural 2009 4^th-round and 2011 2^nd-round MLS SuperDraft picks.

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