Shakin’ the Quakes
The teams are on the field and we’re about to kick off up here on The Hill. We’ve got the line-ups in front of us and RSL is not messing around. Jason Kreis is rolling out as talented a line-up as he possibly can as we look to kick a two game losing streak and stay undefeated at home. Here are the squads…
Real Salt Lake: GK - Nick Rimando; DF - Chris Wingert, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran; MF - Kyle Beckerman, Dema Kovalenko, Javier Morales, Andy Williams; FW - Kenny Deuchar, Fabian Espindola
Bench: Chris Seitz, Matias Cordoba, Kenny Cutler, Robbie Findley, Dustin Kirby, Matias Mantilla, Tino Nunez
San Jose Earthquakes: GK - Joe Cannon; DF - Jason Hernandez, Ryan Cochrane, Nick Garcia, Eric Denton; MF - Shea Salinas, Ramiro Corrales, Joe Vide, Ned Grabavoy; FW - Ryan Johnson, Jovan Kirovski
Bench: Dan Benton, John Cunliffe, Kelly Gray, Matt Hatzke, James Riley, Jamil Roberts, Adam Smarte
There they are. What are we in store for tonight?
2nd minute: And before we can even post, RSL earns a penalty kick as an Earthquakes defender handles the ball in the box. MF Javi Morales steps to the spot, but sees his shot saved by a diving Joe Cannon. That was a golden opportunity to strike early, but San Jose dodges a bullet and keeps the score level.
18th minute: This one’s been sloppy so far folks. Aside from the penalty, there have been no real chances yet.
34th minute: RSL has consistently held the ball in the San Jose half of the field but has yet to put it together for any really dangerous chances. They are pushing the ball wide and trying to use Wingert and Beltran out of the back. And as we say that, a Morales free kick sees Deuchar nod the ball off the post and Olave follo, only for Cannon to make a sprawling stop. Easily the best action of the game. Hopefully that will get things started.
44th minute: Just minutes before the break, we’ve got our first RSL sub. FW Robbie Findley comes on to replace Fabian Espindola. The home side will try to find a hole in the San Jose backline using Findley’s blazing speed.
Halftime: We’ve reached the break at Rice-Eccles, but not before Javi tests Cannon on yet another dangerous free kick. RSL seemed to find some spots late in the half, but a pair of balls off the woodwork and a few timely saves from Cannon kept the scoreboard level.
60th minute: The second half has been all RSL. Highlighted by a pair of quality strikes, the boys in red have taken control of this match. Just three minutes into the second stanza, a beautiful ball from Javi saw Robbie open at the top of the box and the speedy striker made no mistake as he fired past a diving Cannon for a 1-0 lead. Just 12 minutes later it was Findley who turned provider as he laid a great give-and-go to Javi that put the creative Argentine in on goal alone and, making up for his earlier penalty miss, Morales slotted home to double the RSL advantage.
73rd minute: An absolutely stunning ball from the left wing by Javi finds Andy Williams streaking inside the area. With only the keeper to beat, Andy is down from behind by Nick Garcia, earning RSL its second spot kick of the night. This time it’s Dema Kovalenko who steps up and, this time, Cannon has no chance as the fiery midfielder buries the ball into the back of the net for a 3-0 Real lead.
80th minute: With a three goal lead, Kreis looks set to give a couple players a bit of a rest. The first to go is man of the match candidate Morales as he makes way for fellow Argentine playmaker Matias Cordoba. We’ll be out for the next few minutes, but stay tuned a bit later and we’ll have a recap of the final 10 minutes.
End of Match: The last 10 minutes saw San Jose push the pace, even pulling one back through a John Cunliffe strike. But it was too little too late as RSL used a stellar second half to pick up their third win on the campaign and push their total to 11 points on the season. There’s plenty of praise to go around, but the man of the match had to be either Javi Morales or Robbie Findley. Thanks for coming out tonight and we’ll see you next week, back here on The Hill as Real takes on the Kansas City Wizards.
31 May 2008 RSL HQ
Congratulation!!!
Another pretty good performance at home, similar to other games that RSL have dominated the possession and run of play. San Jose are pretty crappy, but they played like this against Chicago too. The difference last night was that they finished better (what a laser from Findlay to beat Cannon at his near post) and the officiating was decent. We need consistent play like this, particularly on the road. I don’t know why we struggle so much away from home. Maybe the boys feel lost without the gridiron stripes?
Great game, lets try to learn how to do this on the road. I really think if we lost Kreis would have been fired. Finally, we had a solid lineup, glad to see Cordoba get a chance. Borchers and Olave seemed to dominate except for one mistake in the first half. Finally Findley woke up! What we do the next few games really matters. We are only about 2-3 points from a playoff spot right now.
It was nice to see RSL come out in the second half and play with some intensity. The first half was the most boring half I’ve seen at home. If Findley shows up like that every game, we can be a dangerous team. Morales was the man! I rewatched the game on FSC and his passes were amazing yesterday. Good Job RSL! Now is the time to make our surge with 5 of the next 7 games at home.
It’s amazing what playing at home does. If we get up 3-0 we’re in pretty good shape, but it doesn’t do much for me until we hold on to 1 goal leads late in the match. Big win for RSL!
Great game!!! Findley has woke up and hopefully it will stay this way!! I like the way they switched to going towards the north goal second half. I think it helps the guys get some juice from the crowd the second half. Grat job and keep it up!!
Seemed like a decent game from what I could see in the highlights. We better have won that game or I woul have been VERY disappointed. But, we did come away with a much needed win. We gotta do better on the road, it’s killing us! What I hate is seeing the potential we have at home and then watch us fall apart on the road. We have the talent on the team, we just need to get better coaching in my opinion. I just don’t think Kreis is going to cut it in the long run.
Morales has looked really good all season. I think the Argentinians have been doing really good for our team. Espindola is also very good for us when he is healthy. I’m still really disappointed with Deuchar. He very rarely gets a look at goal. For our star striking forward, I don’t know why he isn’t getting more looks at goal. And I don’t understand why he is playing so many minutes for what he does. Nice to see Findely finally wake up too and finish a goal. Let’s keep the momentum rolling. The seaon isn’t over yet!
I have to dsagree with you Oog. Duechar is doing more for us than what is showing up on the stat sheet. Some of the balls that we play into him are awful and he is the type of forward that will thrive with good service because he is better than everyone in the air. He also makes some good intelligent passes on offense. He is also the only threat we have on corner kicks, set pieces, and free kicks which is something that we have severely lacked in the past. He DOES need to demonstrate that he can score a goal with his feet. RSL has not had a player yet like him and I think it is more our fault that we are not utilizing him effectively. That is why he is getting so many minutes. If he finishes the year with 6-7 goals that I would consider to be a success.
I have to agree 100% with the Juice…we’re not taking advantage of Kenny’s strength - he’s 6′4″, jumps well, and is a prototypical target man - on our balls across/into the box. Set pieces notwithstanding, there were a number of opportunities Saturday night where Kenny was unmarked at the top of the 18, calling for the ball far post, and Javi, Beckerman, Dema, even Wingert had ample time to send a ball up and across to his head. When you see Deuchar flick on or win long balls out of the back in the air, it’s obvious he’s going to win that battle most of the time. I think he would be even better in transition than on set pieces, since he’s more difficult to mark while the ball’s in play…he moves very well off the ball.
That being said, it was a great result Saturday night. Findley’s goal was an absolute bomb, and that was incredible precision (and guts!) to go near post on a good keeper. And his follow-up thread to Javi shows that he deserves a spot in that First XI, even if it’s not for a full 90. Good win guys, way to save Jason’s butt for at least another week.
Juice Box Guy,
Gotta disagree with ya on Deuchar. He seems like a nice guy, maybe too nice to be an effective striker (you need some arrogance/cockiness for that position) but he hasn’t finished the myriad of chances he’s had this season. I think it’s too early to give up on him completely, but the trend is not good. He missed a wide open header last game. He’s had fine chances in almost every game and he’s converted only 2 goals in 9 games! Some of it is his positioning (again in this game he was running to the sidelines and taking the ball to cross to the center).
However, overall in the second half the team played nice soccer. When Morales and Williams are on they are the offensive engine that the team needs, but there is no depth at the offensive midfield position. Who is going to replace Williams when he goes for JMNT duty?
The services into the box, both on set pieces and in the run of play were still not good.
However, the scores were all set up by series of beautiful passing. Keep that playing up and you might renew my faith as the “Resurrected Kreis”.
I agree that Deuchar is an effective striker in the air, but I disagree that he is effective in the ground. I’ve watched/listened to every game this year, and I’m disappointed with what he has done. I still have faith in the man, but he hasn’t shown good ball control with his feet, unless he is shielding in the corner. He needs to work on his foot control. He’s had opportunities to take a man 1-on-1, but hasn’t been able to produce on the dribble. I’m hoping he will settle down, and get into the same groove that he was in while in Scotland. He averaged nearly a goal a game. That would be impressive here.
I like Deuchar - he’s dangerous, and it shows because he’s getting double teamed. If he takes more resources to keep under control, it leaves more room for our other dangerous forwards (re: Findley, Espindola) and attacking mids.
I’d like to see him net more goals, but mostly because I want him to see on paper his contribution more, not because I think he’s slacking.
I think Deuchar’s track record speaks for itself. He shares the record in Britain for the most hattricks at any level of play. He scored like a gazillion goals in the SPL. We need to do a beter job utilizing him. He also scored both of his goals t his year against the run of play. Lets not forget the one that got called back on him against the Galaxy. I wonder if he is having a hard time with the Astroturf at Rice Eccles.
Once we lose Andy Williams to Jamaica, we will probably see more of Cordoba (and hopefully not much of Cutler). Sturgis should be getting back from his injury in the next few weeks. Lets not forget that Beltran can play midfield as well, now that Ian Joy is back.