Back to Back?
Real Salt Lake is back east ready to take on the New England Revolution in a massive game that could go a long way in determining RSL’s playoff fortunes. After last weekend’s road win in San Jose, RSL looks to build on the success and pick up consecutive victories for the first time on the 2008 season. They’re set to kick off in just a matter of moments, so without further ado here is your RSL starting XI:
GK - Nick Rimando; DF - Ian Joy, Nat Borchers, Robbie Russell, Chris Wingert; MF - Will Johnson, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Andy Williams; FW - Clint Mathis, Yura Movsisyan
Bench: Chris Seitz, David Horst, Kenny Cutler, Robbie Findley, Kenny Deuchar, Tino Nunez, Tony Beltran
P.S. For anyone interested in taking in tonight’s game but not joining us at either of our RSL-sponsored viewing parties, the game will be televised on KSL 5.3 and Comcast channel 105.
24th minute: It’s been a physical and exciting opening quarter of this match. We’ve already seen 4 cautions (2 for each team), a slew of chances, and an RSL goal. That strike came in the 13th minute off a Javier Morales left-footed bomb. The play developed with a long ball to Yura over the top and though he wasn’t able get to the ball, he put enough pressure to force Revs ‘keeper Matt Reis out of his box to parry the ball away. That’s all Javi needed, as he pounced on the poorly cleared ball and put his one-timer over the defense and into the back of the net for a huge 1-0 lead.
36th minute: The pace has slowed a bit over the last few minutes as each team has settled a bit and looked to possess the ball more.
Halftime: After an action packed first 25 minutes, things certainly settled down in Foxboro. RSL takes a 1-0 lead to the locker room and will look to put this one away in the second half. There’s still plenty of work to be done however, as New England boasts one of the most talented a potent lineups in MLS. With each team desperate for points out of this match, there’s sure to be plenty of excitement left.
56th minute: The first 10 of the second stanza has seen New England put some pressure on RSL. But the Real defense has been up to the task, easily thwarting the Revs attack so far.
65th minute: A RSL earns a corner we see Head Coach Jason Kreis make his first tactical move of the night. Speedy striker Robbie Findley replaces Mathis up top. We’ll see if Robbie can use his great pace to create some chacnes against this three-man Revs backline.
73rd minute: WOW!!! Andy “Bomma” Williams hits an absolute cracker. Javi brings the ball through the middle of the New England defense and rather than lay off to Yura on his left, he plays a nifty little flick to his right into the path of a streaking Williams. The Jamaican midfielder makes no mistake burying a one-touch rocket into the far upper 90 past a leaping Reis. It marks the first tally of the season for Andy and could prove to be one of the biggest of the season for Real.
77th minute: Not even four minutes after RSL takes the 2-0 lead, New England answers when a swinging cross into the box rebounds out and finds Revs captain Steve Ralston at the top of the area and the veteran midfielder fires his shot through traffic and into the corner of Nick Rimando’s goal.
79th minute: Wow, things have changed here over the last couple minutes. Another cross through the box finds Taylor Twellman at the corner of the area. The prolific striker brough the ball down, took a pair of touches across the line, and fired rocket past a diving Rimando to level this one.
88th minute: This is a true back-and-forth affair. As things have opened up, each team has had some great chances, though it’s certainly been RSL with the more golden opportunities. After coming on just moments ago, Kenny Deuchar and Robbie Findley have combined beautifully for some great chances. If they can’t pull out a win, RSL will certainly feel it left points on the table.
End of Match: We’ve come to the end of this see-saw affair and the 2-2 draw leaves RSL and its fans feeling a bit empty. Things got even worse in the closing minutes as RSL saw Bomma sent off after a skirmish with New England defender Jay Heaps. This sets up a huge match in this Thursday’s Rio Tinto Stadium Grand Opener on national TV as the New York Red Bulls come to town. We’re out for the night, but we’ll be back with a wrap-up of the day’s MLS action and what it means for RSL’s stretch run.
04 Oct 2008 RSL HQ
fire kries! what the hell!?
PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s sad to see that happen, but we still are in a decent situation to get in the playoffs. 2 home games and one final road game. It is just hard to see a 2-0 lead slip away and to be without Williams for the Stadium opener.
Wow!!! absolutely horrible…. I guess that’s why they say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead. Rimando really should’ve done better on Twellmans shot - the defense should’ve done better clearing the ball on both shots. Deuchar should be shot for blowing 2 gimmies for any other striker in the world. This is so frustrating - especially with Chivas getting max points at D.C.
Unacceptable!!!!!!
The inability to finish off this game was less to do with the defense: the two NE goals were not really due to defensive errors, although Rimando should have done better.
The fault lays squarely with Deuchar for not finishing off two chances. The guy cannot finish. To be a professional soccer player, you have to be able to finish those chances. Deuchar has not shown he has any ability to do so this year.
The midfield played pretty well, and Russell did great as central defender with Borchers. Its good to see that RSL has a good replacement for Olave, as Olave’s return is in question for next year.
Javi really played well. Beautiful assist to Bama and nice headsup goal.
Didnt see the game, but it looks like we gave up 2 easy points. Good news is that everyone that we needed to lose, ie Dallas, the Crapids, NYRB, and DC all lost. Leaves us in 3rd place right now with only one point to spare to stay in a playoff picture. Luckingly we our final 3 games with teams that are in the hunt for a playoff spot both in the East and Western Conferences. Thankfully New York and Dallas are at home and we have the Crapids in Denver. I think it is safe to say that the playoffs have already started for RSL. See you all in Sandy on Thursday night!
If I see one more goal due to bad officiating I’m gunna go mad. That second Twellman goal shouldn’t be because there was a handball a good 15 seconds before it that wasn’t called on the wing. Any blind person should have gotten that. Somebody needs to crack down on the terrible officiating in this league. It is absolutely maddening!
I don’t understand how we can keep blowing these 2-0 leads. I was so excited to see that we were up 2-0 with 2 beautiful goals in an away game against the best team in the league. So disappointing to see that. The FO will just say that we will fight back next week and get back into it. We’ve said that ever since we’ve been on the road.
Playoffs or bust? We’ll see….
aj i love how you love to bite kries’ head off. Kries has done an incredicble job with this team, and i love the guys he and largeway have acquired. RSL played well for most the match. Extremely disappointing, but the team has no one to blame but those that were on the pitch. The defense for the lack of clearance and deuchar for not finishing shots that were gift wrapped for him. Findley still needs to work on his first touches, he too missed some great opportunities. I dont know what Bama was thinking. He taunted the player, got the reaction he wanted, and then to react to the reaction and get a red was stupid. He knows better than that. On the other hand. That one point picked up on the road against a very dangerous and talented NE team was big for RSL, especially with 2 huge home games left to go.
Keep pushin RSL
AJ, ya fire kreis….. After he has taken this team from the whipping boy of the league to in the playoff picture. That is why you arent running a soccer team.
What the hell just happened and why do we still have Deuchar?
But I loved seeing Andy punch someone, that was awesome….too bad it wasnt Pablo. Maybe that was just practice.
Lets put this into perspective!!. RSL goes into the home of one of the best clubs in MLS history in what can be considered the most competitive playoff season in MLS history and gets a valuable point. “Yes this team is playing well”!!!! As much as I would liked to have seen 3 points with us up 2-0, I have to say, “good job team”!!!!. Now we have the Red Bulls at home in our new stadium in a game we must win, I say “yes we can”. Next we have Dallas, also a playoff hopefull in our stadium I say, “yes we can”. Finally Colorado to end the season? lets face it! Colorado sucks!!!! &
RSL will get into the playoffs.
although I went into this gamee hoping for a tie, it feels like we lost. glad we picked up a point but we should have had 3! but the lads played an amaizing 75 minutes of soccer. our possession and passing was great! we just need to do it for 90 next time.
georg: Any other day I’d agree with you, but there was no excuse for a draw today. The goals were good; not much that could have been done there really. But to give up the chances at scoring? Findley screwed up a break by tripping, and then Deuchar just failed miserably. That game should have been 4-2, maybe even 5-2, but Findley had a bad game and Deuchar just sucked it up. I like the guy, but I could have made that damn goal. It’s inexcusable that one of our forwards misses two easy shots on an open net.
I agree with Oog on Twellman’s goal. There was an obvious handball that the player got an advantage from and the ref was standing right there. That is completely rediculous.
AJ, are you related to John Ellinger?
I agree about the hand ball. It wasn’t even borderline. He reached his arm out to its full extent and trapped the ball with the underside. The sideline ref was 2 yards away from the incident with a clear line of sight, and the center ref should have caught it as well. Just another two points that officials have taken away from us. I can think of at least 10 points off the top of my head this year that we have lost due to incorrect calls from the refs. I wonder when are we going to start getting any gift calls from MLS officials?
is it too much too ask for Kreis to learn that the “bunker down” tactic isnt working!? JVC, I can think of as many points given up because RSL stops playing aggressively when we have the lead. seriously, this happens ALL THE TIME!
i dont know what the reason is. but from what it seems, once were up, and we should easily win, Kreis’ instructions are to stop with aggressive offense and to play a strong sit-and-wait. CERTAINLY I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THIS!?
Jason, quit playing a bunker-down defensive game when were ahead! it did not work for Ellinger; it does not work for you!
I didn’t see the game but i was pretty happy when i found out we tied. I’m guessing if i would’ve seen it i woulda been pissed also
AJ,
I actually don’t think that the team “bunkered” as much as it has in other games, although I agree they could have pushed harder. Again, I think the difference was more that the forwards did not finish their clear chances on the counter attacks. If they had finished just 1 of the 3 good clear goal opportunities they had in the last 15 minutes we would have walked away with a win.
I think the defense did well. I don’t think you can blame Borchers for the first goal. He was in the right position, sometimes a ball comes across the area that, because of its exact location, speed and angle is very hard to handle. He did okay considering, it was just unlucky that it bounced to Ralston.
Hey, a tie on the road isn’t that bad. yeah RSL should have easily won, but come on! You sound like a bunch of bandwagon fans, be behind the team 100%, win loose or draw. That should include the coaching staff. Awesome job to all the guys!
This is funny.
We are RSL fans who have gotten 5 points on the road prior to this two game road trip. We go win in SJ (which no one expected) and draw in NE (also no one expected) and we are complaining.
You people do realize that we just revived this team right? that after the chivas game everyone threw them under the bus and said it was over, you realize this right?
Yeah, i am disappointed with the draw. But how many times as a RSL fan have you been upset that we drew on the road with a very talented opponenet…?
COme on fellas, we get two wins and the playoffs our ours! Come on RSL!!! lets finish this regular season in style. I smell a winning streak a comin! (3 games anyone?)
Russell was owned on the equalizer goal! He was much closer to the ball than Twellman on the set up pass and made no play on the ball whatsoever. This pulled Beckerman over and out of position. Watch the replay if you can digest it.
Kreis you need a new play book on how to manage a lead on the road!
Ya it’s one thing to expect a loss and get a tie. It is an entirely different thing to be up 2-0 and then get a tie. I don’t care what people were expecting, that is disappointing. We’ve set our standards so low as RSL fans that we are happy with anything. “If we could just make it to playoffs we’d be a good team…” I want to route for a team that is contention for the cup and not just for playoffs. Maybe next year… Funny how it has taken us this many years to maybe, and I do mean maybe, make it to the playoffs. Chivas hasn’t had a problem since the first season. Just because I’m a hard core fan, doesn’t mean I have to butter up the team when they ruin a 2 point lead. I can be disappointed with a team that has talent to be doing much better than they have been since the beginning of this team.
We got a couple of big games coming up, so go RSL and at least get us to the playoffs!
Oog, i couldnt agree more. we gave up a win. we had it, and we gave it up. completely pathetic. this is totally unacceptable.
we should all be disappointed in this ‘draw’. most of you dont seem to be. so how about an analogy:
some of you people are defending RSL’s performance at New England like someone might defend Sarah Palin:
(read in an odd Alaskan/Wisconsin accent) “Well, we didn’t do as bad as we thought we would. So that kinda means its sorta like a win, right?” (*awkward sexy wink*) Some of Real’s fans amaze me. expect something more from your team! they threw away a win. quit defending it like its okay. its not!
and before anyone claims RSL is no longer the whipping boy of MLS, they should remember that we currently have 35 points. that is still 4 shy of the ‘06 season. with only three games left we all still have to hope that we can maybe pull it off this year.
i love this team. im behind them 100%, but that doesnt mean i have to make excuses for their mistakes. bottom line, im still confident that (despite some really stupid mistakes) we can make the playoffs this season. step it up boys, lets win this thing.