With rain falling lightly and a very cold wind blowing across the field, there were several times one got the feeling that it wasn’t just the fans that decided to stay home for this one. Both Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids looked liked they only showed up because they had to, with neither side seeming to play with much passion. Unfortunately, the nine thousand fans that made the trip out paid the price, watching a poor performance both ways on such a chilly night.
In the week leading up to the match, RSL players and coaches professed that they would change their game plan on the road and play better defense. Sadly, it took only 11 minutes for that supposed improved team defense to be exposed. The Rapids’ attack caught RSL on a counter after a corner kick and, working the ball down one wing then back to the other, Colorado player Colin Clark was able to place a beautiful cross to an unmarked Nick LaBrocca. LaBrocca expertly finished it with his head for a 1-0 Rapids lead.
The RSL midfielders looked off their game, losing the ball time and again in dangerous positions to the Rapids. Luckily for them, the Rapids also looked somewhat confused about what they wanted to do with the ball and coughed it back up to RSL just as regularly. Then the poor decisions started.
Real Salt Lake starting keeper Nick Rimando was injured in a scrum in front of the right corner of the net. He dove into some players’ legs trying to prevent a shot and when everyone else got up, he stayed down. The injury was found to be a severe cut on his finger, and Kyle Reynish, RSL’s third string keeper, got the call to play the rest of the game. The decision to send regular number two Chris Seitz on loan to the Portland Timbers looked to cost RSL, and Reynish got his first MLS career minutes.
The next bad idea came in the form of a Jamison Olave tackle to Conner Casey. The tackle was made from the side and got ball but Olave’s cleats were up a bit and the tackle went thru Casey sending him to the turf. The ref immediately pulled out a red card and Jamison was sent off with about five minutes remaining in the first half. When the halftime whistle blew it was Rapids 1 RSL 0, and one got the feeling things were going to get worse before they got better for the RSL side.
The second half saw a surprising line-up from coach Kreis. He moved Robbie Russell into Olave’s spot, switched Mathis to left wing back and dropped Robbie Findley to a midfield role on the right wing where he alternated on plays with Yura Movsisyan. The plan seemed to be to prevent any further Colorado goals and pray for a miracle from either Yura or Findley up top. Unfortunately the execution was not what Kreis expected and only 15 minutes into the half Colorado took advantage of Clint Mathis.
The ball came down the right side of RSL’s defense and was crossed over to Terry Cooke, to whom Mathis gave too much of a cushion, and Cooke was able to play a ball back to an on-rushing Kosuke Kimura at the top of the box. Kimura drove a hard low shot toward the far post and though Reynish reacted to it as best he could, it just slipped past his fingertips and into the goal.
The coaches decided enough was enough at that point and pulled Yura in favor of a more creative and better defender on the right side of midfield. They brought in Ned Grabavoy, hoping he could provide a creative spark that RSL was missing on this cold night. About 8 minutes later RSL made their final sub and I’m still scratching my head about it. In the 74th minute Tony Beltran came on for Clint Mathis who, despite one poor play, actually had a decent night for RSL. He was working well with Will Johnson, who was playing above him in midfield, and helped set up a couple of RSL chances in the early going of the second half.
Instead of his attacking prowess, the coaches’ decision to bring in Beltran seemed to be the equivalent of throwing in the towel. While Tony is a better defender, he is not going to give RSL better possession than Mathis, and Beltran won’t provide many scoring chances. For a coaching staff that quotes “fortune favors the bold,” it was a very un-bold decision to make and effectively killed off the game.
With not much happening for either side after that move, the game ended 2-0, and Real Salt Lake stayed consistent on the road with its third loss of the season. With all these decisions seeming to go Colorado’s way, I can’t help but mention one other and probably the worst of all--My decision to drive 8 hours to stay at my in-laws just so I could watch RSL get thrashed. That has to be the worst one made of all.
-Truhlk
Boz Match Fotoz: RSL @ cRapids 5.2.09
Half: cRapids 1-0 RSL
Match: cRapids 2-0 RSL
Denver "Brewerewry"....Tour Fotoz...
Boz's RSL Art Gallery II
(***Also "On Demand" on the Mogulus video player at the bottom of the page***)
