Three games into the young MLS season, RSL has looked like a team that will be tough to beat at home. This upcoming week we will find out a little more about their road potential. New York has never been a welcoming city to Real Salt Lake teams of the past, and this game could prove to be no different. If RSL wants to win this one it will come down to their defense not making the same mental mistakes that they did so many times last season.
Thus far I’ve been so impressed with their overall defensive effort; I thought I would compare their stats against some of the more surprising teams so far. The stat I chose to compare--defense--only shows up on a keepers’ stat page. Looking at total goals allowed and total saves made by a keeper, I can then divide it against games played to come up with an idea about how focused and active the defensive line has been as a unit. It’s not a perfect system, but it is one that I found interesting enough to research a little. For example: Nick Rimando, through three games, has allowed four goals and saved four other shots for a total of eight shots on goal. While that isn’t a great line for him, it’s a wonderful one for showing defensive effort. It means on average opposing teams are only getting about 2.666 shots on goal per game, or in other words 2.666 quality chances per game.
To give a comparison I pulled the same stats from five other teams.
The first is Chivas, who are currently sitting at the top of the Western Conference after four games and has been one of the most surprising teams of the season. They have allowed 19 shots on goal with only two of them beating keeper Zack Thorton. That is a rate of 4.75 shots on goal per game, almost double the amount that RSL has allowed.
The next team I pulled is a surprise team for me but for the opposite reason. Columbus has played five games thus far and has yet to win a game. Last season they won the supporters shield by having a great attack backed up by one of the best defenses in the league. Will Hesmer has made 14 saves and allowed nine goals for a total of 23 shots on goal. That works out to an average of 4.6. Again, almost double what RSL has faced.
Houston has been no different through four games either, having yet to win in their 2009 campaign. Their defense has been a strong point though, holding opposing teams to only 15 shots on goal, five of which beat keeper Pat Onstad. That works out to a total of 3.75 per game.
Chicago is another team sitting on the top of their conference. With only two wins, they probably aren’t as much of a surprise to most people. But with two draws already, count me shocked. They have allowed a total of five goals through four games and keeper Jon Busch has had to make another 10 saves for a total of 15 shots on goal for an average of, just like Houston, 3.75 per game. That also explains why they have been so good thus far and raises a lot of questions about Houston’s offense (or should I say their lack of an offense).
The last team I examined was the one most people would consider the biggest surprise team of this young season; the expansion Seattle Sounders FC. Kasey Keller has gotten a lot of pub for posting three shut-outs in a row, 11 saves, and thanks to a red card this last weekend, he has yet to allow a goal. Ben Dragavon, who came on for him, allowed just one shot to beat him and saved two more. They have pulled it off mostly with a solid defense that contains an attacker and allows defensive-mid Osvaldo Alonso to dig the ball out and play it forward on a surprisingly efficient counter attacking team. That works out to a total of 3.5 shots on goal per game which is a very good figure for a team that only started playing together a few short months ago.
Real Salt Lake, however, is sitting at a rate of almost one less shot on goal per game than Seattle and closer to two less than some of these other teams listed. These numbers lead me to a couple conclusions. First, Rimando needs to work on getting a better average than the 50% he is currently sporting in shots on goal vs. shots he has saved. Second, and more to the point, they show me that the defensive focus has been better for RSL than these five other teams and I'm willing to bet I would see a similar pattern if I kept examining other teams throughout the league. They are doing a wonderful job stopping attacks before a shot can be taken or applying enough pressure to force attackers to miss-fire and keep Rimando from being much of a factor in any game to date. This is definitely a good sign if RSL’s well chronicled woes against New York are going to end this week.
-Truhlk
Wet-n-Wild Win for RSL by Truhlk
The moment the teams walked onto the field, the rain started coming down and didn’t really let up the whole way through the match. With less than 12,000 fans in attendance for a Saturday game, the atmosphere was about as tense as the early play by both sides. For the first 15-20 minutes RSL looked like they would have an uphill climb to get even a tie in this game as DCU was more composed and seemed to break up any RSL attack as fast as they started. I found it odd that they would then, more often than not, play a long ball to their forwards even though they had a numerical advantage in the middle. This allowed RSL to get possession back and start their attack over again.
DCU settled down before too long and notched the first goal at the 38th minute mark on a beautiful cross from Chris Pontius that looked to be heading straight to Nat Borchers for an easy clearance. Luciano Emilio somehow managed to step in front of Borchers and headed the ball down, beating Nick Rimando who was up in the air expecting a higher/harder shot. That shot would prove to be one of the few chances that DC would get in the first half, and the only one on frame.
Meanwhile, Real dominated the attack, getting several chances in the early going and managing to strike back two minutes later. Jamison Olave muscled his way into the box, and with a header on a great cross by Will Johnson, beat DCU’s keeper Louis Crayton. It was a shot that left DCU stunned and got the crowd fired up and into the game for the first time, rain or not. It was also the first of two assists for Robbie Findley, who was credited with a secondary assist for feeding the ball to Johnson.
The fans had plenty to jeer about up to that point, as referee Kevin Stott seemed to be behind the play too often and RSL players were punished for it. He awarded three yellow cards to different Real players in the first half that seemed fairly harsh, and at the same time let DCU get away with some rough treatment going the other direction. The second half saw him rectify a lot of those calls by swallowing his whistle for the most part for both sides. He did manage to equalize the card discrepancy though, awarding DCU three yellow cards of their own.
With the rainy conditions and the ref not making much of an effort to keep up with the run of play, the second half turned into a very ugly game of soccer. Players from both sides got into it a bit, including Mathis who was busy jawing back and forth with Clyde Simms when he was replaced by Ned Grabavoy. It was the second sub Jason would make after deciding to go for a win in the 59th minute and subbing in Raphael Cox for the more defensive-minded Tony Beltran. Cox played well in his first home game, getting down the side regularly to put pressure on the DCU back line. He did force some things and make a few bad passes, but overall he had a good showing for a rookie. The third and final RSL sub was Andy Williams, who came on in the 89th minute to help kill off the game.
Before that could happen though, Real needed another goal, and after several near misses they finally got it on a strike that probably never would have happened on a dry day. The wet conditions played to Javier Morales’ advantage as he managed to literally slide one in and put RSL on top for good. After that, all Real needed to do was kill the clock and they did it well with Rimando waiting to pick up the ball until directly pressured and plenty of time-wasting throw-ins created by kicking the ball off DCU players. With that going on, the final whistle finally blew and all that was left was for the players to hit the locker rooms wet and cold, but very happy.
-Truhlk
Boz Match Fotoz...
Fresh: Boz's RSL Art Gallery II
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