Even the weather seemed determined to make Real Salt Lake’s home opener at Rio Tinto perfect. RSL Fans had a new song to sing, we were still riding high after last week’s win at the Home Depot Center and the nasty rain and wind forecasters promised didn’t materialize until early Sunday Morning.
Fabián Espíndola scored on a breakaway in the 39th minute and Luis Gil knocked home a rebound in the 58th after some lovely left-side build up play, and RSL absorbed the Red Bulls’ second-half pressure to hold onto the shutout. It was the same lineup they fielded against the Galaxy, with Chris Schuler, Sebastian Velasquez, Luis Gil and Paulo, Jr. starting in place of recovering Nat Borchers, Will Johnson, Javier Morales and Álvaro Saborío, respectively. The latter two subbed in in the second half, as did Johnny Steele, making his RSL debut.
Like the game against L.A., it was hardly a one-sided affair. RSL controlled the tempo in the first half and created three or four quality chances either side of the break, but New York came out much sharper for the final forty-five minutes. Thierry Henry was especially active. He made runs and distributed balls that kept Nick Rimando and the RSL back line busy, and he tracked back tirelessly to contribute on defense. He dialed up a near-miss bicycle kick from twelve yards that was fun to watch, too.
The Red Bulls seemed doomed by their failure to work together as a unit for extended stretches. They knocked eight or ten balls needlessly out of bounds, seemed confused on defense and never completed the final passes on their promising chances. There were signs of structural improvement, though, and they were missing regulars Rafa Marquez (suspension), Juan Agudelo (U-23 USMNT duty) and Luke Rodgers (visa issues), so there does seem hope this season can pull together better for them than last season.
Moments after I tweeted “Loving 2nd-choicers @Paulojr23RSL, @TiaN_Futbol, @luisitogil21 and Schuler,” I read this post-game quote from Coach Kreis: “We don’t have second-string players, we have players.” Fair enough. And in this season’s first two games, the depth, young as it may be, is looking better than last year. While I still think part of the love/press heaped on Velasquez after L.A. was due to our (soccer fans’? sports fans’? Americans’?) distasteful penchant for a mascot, a single face with a lovable and digestible story attached to it, he’s living up to the hype. He holds the ball well, beats people on the dribble, makes great passes and plays tenacious defense.
Defense was what carried the day, team-wide. Both goals came from good plays combined with lucky bounces, but without a commitment to defense from every player it could have been 2–2 or worse. That may be one thing Paulo offers that Saborío can’t, or won’t match—an immediate mental switch from offense to defense when the ball is lost anywhere on the pitch. RSL gets a fair amount of attention around the MLS for it’s ability to possess the ball and move it around the midfield, but the times they look really good are when they combine that with smart, organized team defense. So often Saturday night New York was forced into rushed clearances and bad passes when three from Salt Lake collapsed space quickly after a turnover.
The night’s highlight, for me, came late in the first half. Shortly after he scored, Espíndola took a rare corner kick. He hit it poorly, and the easy clearance from New York sprung Henry for the counter. He took it down the left side of the field and beat his defender outside the penalty area. Three yards from Rimando’s right goal post, Henry seemed to have his choice of a low-angle shot or a cross into an onrushing crowd. We’ll never know which he chose because Espíndola slid in out of nowhere to tackle the ball out for a corner after a 120-yard sprint, end line to end line. Ninety-five minutes of that from him, just about every game.
Another promising sign after RSL’s early success: Kreis is not satisfied. He praised what and who deserved praising, but pointed to a few areas to work on. “I think we still need to improve on the number of players we are getting forward and involved in our attacks. We have some nice fluid movements to get the ball up to our forwards and we need more players to do that than just Luis Gil, and he was often times late in his running to support the forwards. We need to have two or three midfielders and always an outside back involved.”
New York and L.A. may not agree, but Kreis sees nowhere to go but up for his team.
(image courtesy of George Frey/Getty Images)
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