Gameday Bullets
RSL is back at home for a little Independence Day celebration tonight. The team will be looking to pick up three points for the second straight game, while also extending their season high unbeaten streak to five games. Take a peak at the notes below for some of tonight’s juiciest storylines…
- The impressive depth that Garth and Jason have built up in the midfield will be seriously tested tonight with at least three, and possibly four, players out of the lineup. Kyle Beckerman (United States), Will Johnson (Canada) and Jean Alexandre (Haiti) are all with their national teams for the upcoming Gold Cup, while Javier Morales is still nursing an ankle injury that has him questionable on today’s injury report.
- The diminished numbers will force Jason and Co. into some interesting decisions. With both Kyle, Will and Jean gone, who starts at holding mid? Does RSL still deploy the 4-3-3 that requires a pair of players at that spot? Ned Grabavoy filled in spectacularly for Will last week, but with Kyle gone as well, who can pair up with him? If Javi can’t go, who slides into his playmaking role?
- Conveniently coinciding with RSL’s recent hot streak, is another streak. Striker Yura Movsisyan’s run of four straight games with a goal or assist. Starting with his late goal against Colorado on June 6, Yura has three goals and one assist in four games. Two of those goals were game winners (6/13 - LAG & 6/27 - TFC) while both the 6/6 goal and 6/20 assist came in 1-1 draws…
- Jamison Olave is eligible again after serving a one-game suspension for his sending off in Houston two weeks ago. But with Robbie Russell filling that spot admirably last week and the team’s impressive overall defensive effort in the shutout of TFC, does Jamison return to the starting XI?
- The match marks San Jose’s first ever trip to beautiful Rio Tinto Stadium and the second matchup of the year between the two sides. The first? A May 30 matchup at San Jose’s Buck Shaw Stadium that saw the Earthquakes emerge 2-1 victors. Coincidentally, that was RSL’s last taste of defeat. Revenge?
- Forward Robbie Findley could make his return to the pitch tonight as his injured ankle continues to improve. He may not be fit to start the match, but one would certainly think he’s in the picture for a substitute appearance. His last substitute appearance? Uh, he picked up an 80th minute tally against San Jose. Just sayin’…
With all of that, you’d think there will have to be fireworks at RTS tonight! Oh yeah, that too. We’ve got Independence Day fireworks after the game. So we can guarantee that one!
03 Jul 2009 RSL HQ
I take back anything positive that I said about RSL after their game last week. As witnessed by Espindola’s outburst and Olave’s consistently unprofessional play, RSL plays like immature children because they’re coached by an immature, inexperienced coach. Frustrating and embarrassing game. The only positive other than San Jose’s own goal gift is that RSL has been very consistent in making the otherwise pitiful San Jose look like a decent team.
WE ARE THE MOST INCONSISTENT TEAM I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! I don’t get it? I can see the excuse of the lineup changes but holy crap! We are so lucky to have even come out with one point. Was anyone at the game as bored in the first half as I was watching it on TV? We had a few chances but not nearly enough quality ones. And as for another red card??? JASON…GET A FREAKIN HOLD OF YOUR TEAM! These red cards directly reflect off of you! CONTROL YOUR FREAKIN TEAM. No effort, no enthusiasm, no urgency. Bad game. I really don’t understand this team? COME ON RSL!!! We deserve better
I am glad it is the point in the season where I stop getting too heated about this team. BOOOOO! No long winded rants anymore. I will just boo them. Thank you for boring me on a Friday night and pulling off the lucky RESULT.
Like Rob Stinks, I too am getting more emotinally devested in this team/coach/management/ownership/city/police etc…
Terrible game plan again, I’ve sat through 5 years of long balls, sooo tired. Watch Yura, he is in the starters blocks all game looking for an over the top ball. I must conclude they practice like this. Espy continues to be awful, how he came this far along in his career without a right leg baffles me. Hey Fabian, the MLS has the scouting report now- develop your right foot alread! Same for Wingert- nice corner by the way. Why the crap did you take that right-footed? Your right foot is terrible. Last but not least- my man JK. Bringing on Olave in the 70th when we are down a goal? saving your last sub for the 90th min? Also playing Williams out wide when he is an inside player? You shoulda let Andy play inside and leave cleetus outside- although Clint did well in the center- I think it cost the team overall because we didnt have wide play on that side of the field.
PS. what is up with Sandy PD writing hundereds of parking tickets? seriously what a kick in the arse. And why is the convention center not open for free parking? Isnt that thing tax-payer funded? And it was awesome to see events staff manhandle and rough up some fans wanting to sit on the field for fireworks- as they always have been allowed. I wonder if any of the tough guys got to use their tasers?? Public relations nightmare… I think I am out for this year- see you guys next year, hopefully under a different regime as I have thought that we won’t make the playoffs this year unfortunately. Also not going to renew my 6 season tix as there are much better deals to be had from promotions.
Terrible effort, especially in the first half. There was no energy, team just going through the motions. And I don’t know how many times this year, and especially last night, supposedly professional players couldn’t put a pass within 10 feet of where they should have resulting in missed opportunities. I saw that Espindola red card coming from a mile away. He was getting more and more frustrated by all his misses he should have scored on. He should have had a yellow card earlier that the ref did not call. This is a mediocre team that will be lucky to make the playoffs. The sooner that Kreis and Lagerway recognize this and make the neccessary upgrades the better.
LAME.
start playing offense in the 85th minute. check.
make dismal subs. check.
lose a player to a red after dumbass/boneheaded move. check.
LAME.
what the hell is wrong with this team!? is it checketts? manning? lagerway? kreis? who!?
HOW MUCH DO WE HAVE TO ENDURE BEFORE CHECKETTS DOES SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MESS!?
LAME.
Blame SJ for coming with a defensive nature all game, ugly futbol will frustrate anyone. RSL gave there best.
Also, whats up with the water breaks? IT WAS NOT THAT HOT! Can’t we wait 5 minutes till halftime? The reason that game got so heated toward the end was the ref allowed players to sit around on the field and talk to each other, for an insane amount of time without having any play. What is the league thinking allowing this?
At least the firework show was good…
S. Utah Fan: Yes, the whole crowd was bored until the last 15 minutes of the game where it really picked up. Both teams just played possesion soccer. We kept looking backwards and passing back to the defenders over and over and over… We didn’t even try to get it up to the forwards. But, either way, we scraped by with a tie, better than a loss.
The Dukies frat party needs to end. Ellinger killed RSL in the beginning by favoring his national team players and coaches. Kries and Lagerway are killing this team by favoring Duke players, coaches, and their buddies and trying to mix in an occasional Argentine. It’s not working. Checketts needs to make some changes.
So much for the playoffs in ‘09.
Boo…
The play on the field is driving me crazy. At least in ‘05 I knew what to expect: lovable losers.
If you turn the corner too many times you end up back where you started.
The team decides to give an effort in the last few minutes and then they raise their arms in a “get-into-it” gesture to the crowd. No thanks. I cheer you when you I feel like it. like during the first 60+ minutes.
Hey,about subbing in a defender when we’re trailing! brilliant!
At least the pole is consistent.
Everybody, check out the “I hate the damn pole” page on facebook.
tyler is right!
you guys are way too down, other than that I absolutely hate the way season ticket holders get screwed, and also parking is a joke, and FTP and FES.
other than those points, you guys are all way too negative, san jose is a weak team, so they get a gritty result on the road by playing gritty. Jason took a gamble leaving Espy in the game, and I respect the decision, he was close to scoring and he has had it hard adjusting to the wing, jason and I wanted him to get one goal under his belt. He was so frustrated all game. Olave didnt even do anything that wrong in Houston, he was trying to let his defense get set by delaying the throw in.
You can’t win every game, we got a point, we played terrible, but we got a point. We still haven’t lost since May, and the playoff race is loooonnnnnnggggggg! its the MLS we aren’t stuck in the middle of the table like the EPL.
We will finish strong. I truly believe that.
God Bless Fabian for not taking anymore abuse from that criminal whom should have been red c in the previous skirmish. I mean somebody had to to something. The game was won and lost in the 1st anyway just from letting SJ hang around. As bad as everyone was for almost the entire game save Nick and Javi, I just can not believe Kreis would even remark about Fabian’s card in the presser.
How absolutely funny, two people who a few months ago were begging for Fabi to be in the starting lineup and how he was so productive and how Yura sucked so bad. Now they are ragging on the guy they proclaimed the savior, you know the one with one goal in 532 minutes. While Yura is up to 4 and two assists, all of this strikes me as horribly funny.
Yup boo the team, better stop going to matches, quit. Be what you are accusing the team of, lack of heart, lack of skill, lack of control. RSL is a better team than they showed last night, and I place this one purely on Jason and the staff.
They messed up the formation by taking the guy who has been the heartbeat of our offense all year, yup Clint Mathis(take that you haters) and put him back in a defensive position all match, then take Yura out of the middle where he has found his recent success and put him out wide. Then attack SJ on their strong side instead of attacking the two new guys with under 400 minutes of playing time. Sorry this one is clearly on the heads of the staff, Fabi’s stupid, childish behavior didn’t help us but we were flat as hell until then and it sparked the team to at least try to attack with some level of energy.
For those of you who question bringing in Olave for Beltran, I agree in part. I would have brought him in for Wingert, as his efforts to move forward and support the attack sucked all night. The move allowed Robbie Russell to move to the outside so we could get the attacking back on the correct side of the formation (something we should have done at the start of the match). The sub allowed bodies to move around so we could and yes we did, start moving the ball forward with some effectiveness. We had our chances, Fabi, Yura, Javi, Robbie F. they all had their chances and none of them did the job.
To those ready to pitch the season, good riddance. But before you go, you might just want to look back a year after 16 matches we had how many points? Oh that is right 20 the same total we have this year, how did last year turnout for us? I find it funny that you people have so much passion but so little heart. I just don’t understand the lack of faith or those who fail to see that RSL has scored 9 of their 23 goals after the 75th minute. I listened as fans made more noise during halftime than in the entire first half, not that the first half performance was much to cheer.
Players looked off because they were off, played out of position and away from their strengths in what I can only see as an attempt to teach some players a lesson? Olave should have started, Russell should have been in the midfield with Morales and Grabavoy, and Clint should have been back working with Yura and Fabi on the front line. I wasn’t impressed by anyones performance except Ned’s he was solid and showed great energy, Clint looked pissed about being asked to play defense for the full 90, and Andy simply looked lost out there. Horrible effort and the total of points left on the pitch is now up to 8.
Why do you always look at our positioning last year, Denz? Look at your pathetic blog. You use constantly compare statistics that are useless. Soccer is not a game of statistics.
Where were we last year at the same point in time? Maybe not as well off, but you forget that we made the playoffs on last second goals twice in a row- extremely lucky to have made it last year. We are pissed because we cannot rely on being mid table and hope for a hot streak towards the end. We need to be vying for 1st place all year (home field advantage).
Oh ya, Great! Saturday- LA won, Houston won, Dallas won, Real Salt Lake tied by accident.
A couple thoughts on the game:
Fist off, JK, why are you “sending a message” to a player when you are already missing two starters to international duty. I understand the sitting during any other time, but when you are missing players by something you cant control, why mess with the lineup even more?
Next, Clint, Andy, and Javi NEVER should be on the pitch at the same time for longer than 30 minutes. Andy got sucked in, Javi stayed stagnant, and Clint got caught high, what does this result in? Three players that LOVE space to distribute destroying just that, space. Why JK thought Clint would be productive that deep in our formation is pathetic and just goes to show how little he understands his own players at times. We needed the creativity clint brings on the wing up top and out wide, not next to the SJ forwards.
The first half, AWFUL! That was some UGLY soccer by both teams (nice dive campos). Why the team wouldnt come out with a little intensity on the 3rd of July game at home in front of a crowd just waiting for something good to happen is beyond me. This team confuses me with their heart and passion. It seems they lack the mental strength to stay consistent.
The second 45. The Olave benching bites back. Alvarez goes through 4 RSL players without really doing anything spectacular. Ned dives in, Wingert watches, Russel half asses it, and Borchers goes down like a cheap hooker (sorry bout that part) Olave, and I will put money on this, would NEVER let the player go through like that. He would be sure to, at the very least, give Alvarez a bump so Rimando would have a chance at getting to the ball. That was some of the worst 1-1 defending I have ever seen by RSL.
The time wasting that followed:
Why Kennedy didnt take care of this is beyond me, and it is a huge factor for the rest of the chippy match that followed (along with the lack of calls both ways in the first half) Kennedy has to be one of the worst officials (advertised as best, ha ha) in the MLS. His lack of consistency (he isnt even consistently bad, thats the worst part) and his lack of control lead to games become EXTREMLY chippy and dirty.
The little fight that broke out:
So, lets get this straight, a SJ guy goes down, yet again, and is not asked to get off the pitch. Instead, Kennedy allows him 2 minutes to just sit there and allow time to come off the clock. Did he really expect RSL to just be ok with this? Clint, Javi, Espy, Yura, etc etc all were up in the guys face and the refs rightfully so. This kind of crap cant be allowed. Then, out of nowhere, McDonald decides the bell rang for the 1st round of a fight and is going at Espy. He lands a punch, anyone and everyone in that stadium but kennedy saw that. When I saw the yellow card I laughed, it was just proof this guy doesnt have a clue what he is doing. Then, not 3 minutes later, Espindola gets the ball wide and who comes into a ridiculously high and dirty (both studs up)on him? oh, of course, that guy that just punched him… What espy did was retarded. i will not argue that at all, but it was enough and amazing to me that nobody had done something similar eariler. This game, right there, was gone from Kennedy and not coming back unless something harsh occured. The red to espy deserved, the no card to McDonald? Possibly the biggest miss call I have ever seen. This HAS to be reviewed!!!! If Javi can get an ejection for an elbow that caught pablo barely, McDonald surely should get an ejection/suspension for not only a high dirty tackle but a punch. I am sick of the MLS and their refs. This is ruining the league and the flow of pretty much every game I have seen.
All in all, this game was a gigantic letdown. The performance up to the red was horrendous. How we couldnt finish a happy meal is just beyond me.
Lastly, and I dont mean to put a damper on the “be postitive” posts above, but the playoffs are not the same race as they were last year. First, there is one more team than last year and they are above us. Secondly, it has become very obvious that the usual safe point of 40 points wont be enough to get you into the playoffs this year… that means RSL has to get over 20 points in 14 games, 7 road and 7 home, the rest of this season. That isnt impossible, but surely isnt something RSL has shown they can easily do. Also, I personally think 45 will be the minimum points needed for a playoff spot this year.
I will be at all the RSL games still cheering, but it wont be with the same thought of “lets push for the cup” attitude but rather “i love this team and support them no matter what” attitude. I am sure everyone here will likely follow…
oh and season ticket holders, send a message to the FO. The fact that so many deals are being made for individual tickets and you guys are getting NOTHING is ridiculous. I get the respect of being a season ticket holder is there for you, but something, even something as small as a discount for next years, would at least be a sign that they do in fact care for you still.
With that said, I am out.
Lets beat Club America!!!!
Terrible first half. It seemed that we played into San Jose’s game plan and it worked for them. RSL’s initial line-up a puzzle to me.
I hated the officiating. Awful! But you can’t do anything about it.
I liked the effort in the last 15-20 minutes. Morales and everyone else showed that they wanted the win. Too bad they had wasted the first half and time ran out on them on the second half.
One points separates us from Colorado and LA. RSL can not afford any losses now, specially at home. The bad thing now is having to wait two more weeks for a meaningful game.
I hope fans will not feel like being in an away game this coming Saturday against America. We should show up and support RSL.
Denz, it doesnt matter if we are where we were last year.. don’t you believe in progress? Don’t you think there is a little more expectation this year after last year’s run? This team has been together for awhile now, shouldn’t we expect more from them? C’mon man…We are easily one of the least talented squads- akin to the Jazz in the NBA- but the Jazz at least played hard (well, except for some current “stars”).
I think RSL really misses Dema. He brought fight and hard tackles to the game. So does Olave. For sure the opponents knew where Dema was when they had the ball near him. Our team plays soft, finesse game better suited to La Liga. too bad MLS is more physical like the NFL. Mathis, Espy, Javi, Johnson, Ned, Wingert, Beltran, etc… good players there, but soft.
Dema fought hard, but i don’t think we miss him too much… We need to put some balls into our squad. I really would like to see Alexandre worked into the lineup by next year.