When Jamison Olave received Real Salt Lake’s second red card in the 69th minute of last weekend’s match at San Jose, it was pretty obvious Javier Morales’ night was done.
Coach Jason Kreis needed to sacrifice a midfielder to insert Chris Schuler into the match, and with Morales playing for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury on April 4 against Montreal, it was counterproductive to have him exert himself even more playing 11v9 soccer.
Morales would’ve like to stay on, however, and Kreis was prepared to leave him on before Olave was sent off.
“I probably would have left him on if we would’ve only been one down. I’m always going to want someone like him out there to calm things down when we have the ball to make really good decisions, but at that point we’ve got to get another defender on,” said Kreis.
After the red, Morales stayed on the field for another eight minutes before being replaced by Schuler, and Kreis was very impressed by his efforts. Continue reading
Following Real Salt Lake’s loss Saturday night to Chivas USA, my buddy Matt — a season-ticket holder since 2005 — couldn’t help but wonder why RSL struggles in front of big home crowds.
In fact, Matt did a little research and discovered that since the opening of Rio Tinto Stadium in 2008, RSL’s record at home in front of 20,000-plus fans is just 3-4-2 over all competitions. For a team that once had a 37-match home unbeaten streak, it’s hard to believe RSL hasn’t fared better in front of large home crowds.
Here’s a specific breakdown of those nine home games in front of 20,000-plus fans.
2012 (0-1-0)
March 24 — Chivas USA 1, Real Salt Lake 0 — 20,415
2011 (1-2-1)
March 26 — Real Salt Lake 4, L.A. Galaxy 1 — 20,507
April 20 — Monterrey 1, Real Salt Lake 0 — 20,378
Sept. 28 — Chicago 3, Real Salt Lake 0 — 20,762
Oct. 22 — Real Salt Lake 1, Portland 1 — 20,378
2010 (2-0-0)
Oct. 16 — Real Salt Lake 2, FC Dallas 0 — 20,236
Oct. 19 — Real Salt Lake 3, Cruz Azul 1 — 20,463
2008 (0-1-1)
Oct. 18 — Real Salt Lake 1, New York 1 — 20,008
Nov. 15 — New York 1, Real Salt Lake 0 — 20,008
The University of Utah soccer team is hosting “soccer celebration” next month in which Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando and his wife Jaqui — a former pro herself — will be the featured guests.
“This has been a fantastic year for our team with a successful first season in the Pac-12,” head coach Rich Manning said. “We’re excited to have the ‘first couple of soccer’ in Utah to help us celebrate. The Rimandos are great ambassadors for our sport. Nick is a world-class goalkeeper that we get to see on a weekly basis with RSL. Jacqui was an all-American in college and a professional champion as well. They are both tremendous people that will have some great stories to share.”
The event takes place Thursday, April 5 at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel at 7 p.m.
For more information about purchasing a ticket to the event, check out the University of Utah press release.
Real Salt Lake just released a pretty cool infographic about the RSL-New York rivalry to get fans fired up for the home opener at Rio TInto Stadium this Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Utah Blitzz' goalie Mike Littman goes for a save as San Diego's forward Herculez Gomez heads the ball for a close call during the Western Conference Final hosted at Cottonwood High School, Saturday, August 10, 2002.
Herculez Gomez torched the Seattle Sounders defense on Wednesday night as Mexican club Santos Laguna cruised into the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with a 6-1 win over the Sounders.
Gomez got his start with the San Diego Gauchos back in 2002, and I’ll never forget watching him play the Utah Blitzz on several occasions in the old USL days. He’s certainly come a long way since playing on a football field at Cottonwood High School, pictured above.
Javier Morales’ 80th minute goal Saturday night amazingly was his first since scoring in Monterrey last April.
He celebrated by taking off his jersey to reveal a birthday wish to his 1-year-old niece on his undershirt. It cost him a yellow card, and even though it may contribute to a suspension later in the year, with everything he’s endured in the past 11 months, it may have been one of his most satisfying goal celebrations ever.
As pleased as RSL coach Jason Kreis was to see Morales score, he said he’s a bit nervous after his all-star midfielder picked up a bit of knock to his knee late in the match.
“Cross my fingers and hold my breath that nothing’s wrong with him,” said Kreis.
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Justifiably so, RSL fans were heaping lots of praise on Luis Gil and Sebastian Velasquez after the game for their efforts against the Galaxy.
Surprisingly, it was the more experienced Gil and not Velasquez who came off when Morales entered the match in the 67th minute. Kreis said it had to do with protecting Gil. The 18 year old has been dealing with a foot bruise that he picked up in Tucson, and Kreis didn’t want to push him too hard in the first game of the year.
RSL keeper Nick Rimando praised both for their contributions.
“It’s a different game Monday through Friday on the training field. When the lights come on, are you going to show up or not? These kids showed up tonight,” said Rimando.
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As for that bright orange jersey he was required to wear, Rimando said, “I hate it. It’s terrible.”
He joked that he’s excited to give them away after matches, that way when he runs out he won’t have to wear them anymore.
Real Salt Lake will set a franchise record for wins and points this year, but it still won’t be enough to catch the L.A. Galaxy for the Supporters’ Shield. That is, of course, according to an EA Sports simulation of FIFA Soccer 12.
RSL will finish second in the West behind the Galaxy with a 19-4-11 record (68 points). L.A. will rack up a league-record 75 points with a 22-3-9 record. After racking up 53 points last year, increasing that number by 15 would be a huge accomplishment this year for RSL.
New York is projected to win the East with 66 points.
EA Sports correctly simulated that Los Angeles would correctly win the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup in 2011.
The simulation was conducted using team rosters as of March 1.
If the simulation is correct, RSL will finish with the second-high best offense and defense in MLS in 2012. However, the simulation doesn’t have a single RSL player finishing in the 10 top in scoring.
For a complete look at the projected standings, check out the official Press Release from EA Sports.
ESPN700 sports radio debuts its new soccer-specific radio show “On Frame” tonight at 6 p.m. The weekly show will be from 6 to 8 each Monday night, and will be co-hosted by Spencer Warne, Brian Kamler and Brian Dunseth.
Tonight’s debut show features interviews with L.A. Galaxy vice president Chris Klein and Real Salt Lake midfielder Ned Grabavoy.
Major League Soccer released its 2012 Reserve League schedule today. All 19 teams will participate in 10 reserve games.
The Reserve League is divided into three conferences, Eastern, Central and Western. Real Salt Lake is lumped into the Central Conference along with Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City.
Here’s a look at RSL’s 10 Reserve League games. All games are played on training fields, and not in MLS stadiums.
March 13, Real Salt Lake at FC Dallas, 6:30 p.m.
March 20, Kansas City at Real Salt Lake, 11 a.m.
March 27, Real Salt Lake at Chicago, 9 a.m.
April 8, Colorado at Real Salt Lake, 11 a.m.
April 17, FC Dallas at Real Salt Lake, 11 a.m.
June 12, Chicago at Real Salt Lake, 11 a.m.
July 10, Houston at Real Salt Lake, 11 a.m.
Aug 5, Real Salt Lake at Colorado, 11 a.m.
Sept. 7, Real Salt Lake at Houston, 9 a.m.
Sept. 11, Real Salt Lake at Kansas City, 10 a.m.
Diogo de Almeida, Sebastian Velasquez and Leone Cruz are three Real Salt Lake players hoping to make final roster cuts on Feb. 29.
Caught up with Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerwey after practice on Saturday, and talked almost exclusively about the roster puzzle the team faces in the next couple weeks before it must make its final cuts on Feb. 29.
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Lagerwey confirmed that Alvaro Saborio and Javier Morales are both in the process of obtaining their green cards. He doesn’t want to speculate when they’ll be approved for fear of ticking off the immigration officials, but whether it happens before Feb. 29 or after, Lagerwey said freeing up those international roster slots will be very beneficial.
He said that in a perfect world you’d always have an empty international slot for a summer signing. As of now, RSL only has six international slots. Most teams have eight, but the previous technical staff at Real Salt Lake back in 2005 to 2007 traded a few away.