Real Salt Lake blog

Back on July 22 I wrote a post saying that Espindola was our key to scoring goals!  It was GREAT to have him back.   Right after that I posted that the MLS needs to figure out a way to track offsides electronically.  Well, Espindola came back, and the ref’s waited several minutes to call his second goal offsides.  At least I got half of what I wanted.

I also commented that if Real Salt Lake would get one good striker to play up top with him they had a shot at the cup.  That is not going to happen.  But I think that they still have a shot at it.  The key?  They HAVE to get their road game together.  When they play on the road they look tired, cautious, defensive, and frankly I wonder if Jason has them playing for a tie.  RSL MUST win road games to make it to the cup, and with the final NOT being in Salt Lake, They MUST win road games to WIN the cup.  My one hope is that as they run for the final points, and qualifying they will catch a spark of energy and do something that they have never done before…  Perform well away from home.

I will say, it was GREAT watching that game last night.  Espindola deserved a HatTrick, and RSL deserved a win.  The C.Rapids looked like, well…  C.Rap…

By Micah Olson

As much as I hate the C.rapids, and as much as I hate to see it happen, Real Salt Lake fans need to prepare themselves to see the Rocky Mountain cup head back to the mile high city.

With the first of three games aganst the C.rapids being a 2-0 loss on the road, and an RSL attack that is lacking potentcy, mixed with Real’s ugly road game this year, and the fact that the only other match up this season will be in Denver “The Ugly City” Colorado.  RSL’s hopes of a cup do not look to bright.

In order to win Real Salt Lake would have to win or tie this game tonight, and then win at Colorado.  If they win tonight by three, and then tie in Colorado that would work as well…  But I do not see a three goal win comming out of RSL’s attack.

by Micah Olson

After Saturdays game I actually found myself feeling a little better than I did at half time.

I was not impressed with Mathis, he had a few good plays, but even more that weren’t. However, after a few more games he could be looking pretty good, we will see.

Horst was a total flop, maybe this will finally teach Jason that reserve players should not be your second string! But even with our lack of bench players, Jason has only had one year to put this team together. It is actually pretty impressive that we have as good of a starting team as we currently do. The bench will come, I think.

And looking at the game. Our back four was missing 1/2 of its normal starters. Our Defensive midfielder was Cutler… What can be expected, short of disaster? Houston had all of their starters, was at home, and was well rested, but not to the rusty point like RSL, and we only lost by one. True, it could have been a 6-2 loss, with some of Houston’s chances, but it could have, just as easily been a 4-4 tie, which would have been a HUGE victory for RSL.

I really do wish that we had a new striker, but Deuchar’s goal was excellent! And, for that matter, so was Movsisyan’s! Espindola looked good too! What Yura lacked in awareness Fabian displayed. If our group of forwards can pull it together (maybe, just maybe, with some extra attacking midfield options coming from a Clint / Morales combo) we could look pretty good. Lets hope so… We have a lot of road games, something RSL still has not figured out. Whatever happens It will be an exciting end of the season.

With a score of RSL 2 - HOU 4 obviously I am disappointed with RSL’s defense.  I now have another name to add to my RSL’s worst list, David Horst.  What a lackluster, ponderous, novice.  He has ZERO idea what he is doing out there.  I understand the difficulties of not having access to a group of starters, but that happens in sports.  The best teams are able to adjust…  RSL is not one of the best teams, as evidenced by their play thus far tonight.  They have completely fallen apart.  The early Real Salt Lake goals were achieved by a breakdown on the Houston back line, but they have fixed those issues, and have RSL’s number now.  The one thing that has not been fixed is the hap-hazard back line of RSL.

Jason had better change something, or RSL will be absolutely embarrassed tonight.  If they haven’t been already…

by Micah Olson

It’s leftovers for dinner tonight kids! We all wondered when Clint started practicing with RSL, playing in reserve games, etc… But I didn’t take the rumors seriously. I mean, does anyone other than Jason Kries like Mathis? The way I recall it, we were so anxious to get rid of him last time that we kept paying him salary money when he was shipped out, because no one else was willing to! He was an out of shape, unmotivated, past his prime player, with serious anger issues because… well to put it candidly, he stinks. The ref’s hated Real Salt Lake, because he was such a whiner. But it sounds official. Garth Legerway just confirmed the move on Kall700 about 15 minutes ago (he did say that Greece had to sign off on it). The only way I would be happy with this move is if it meant that we don’t have to see Tino Nunez, or Cutler on the field EVER again. But I honestly would be very disappointed to see Clint get a starting spot over any of our current guys.

I guess that hearing this news has put me in a bad mood, because I quickly thought of other dark clouds looming on the RSL horizon.

1) The mystery striker that we have all been waiting for… Garth said that they have a guy that they “may” offer too. Which means that if they really had offered another player (which he said they had) a few weeks ago, that it fell through. AND being the media guy that he is, he began prepping us fans for the possibility that we may not get a new forward this year with a comment that if they don’t get this guy RSL will stick with who we currently have, and battle it out. (Or something like that).

2) We are going to play Houston this week. A team frustrated that they lost in penalties in Superliga. It will be hot, humid, and RSL is not in top shape after a LONG break. Look for Houston to try an vent some frustration on a team that, in their eyes, may not belong in the #1 spot. I think that we will not be #1 after Saturday.