Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando left Seattle bruised, bleeding and in possession of his 10th career post season shutout. RSL and the Seattle Sounders ended Friday night’s first leg of their Western Conference semi-final series tied 0–0 in a game loaded with action that the goalkeepers kept off the scoreline.
Real Salt Lake won a tight match last Friday, edging Vancouver 2–1 at Rio Tinto Stadium. Now RSL will look to take their modest 2-game win streak abroad as they face 2012 Costa Rican champions C.S. Herediano in their opening contest of this year’s CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
Real Salt Lake defeated Rocky Mountain neighbors the Colorado Rapids 2–0 at a sold-out Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday. The rivals’ supporter groups created the Rocky Mountain Cup when RSL joined the league in 2005, to be lifted by the team that wins the head-to-head season series, or, in the event of a tie, stays with the previous year’s winner. RSL has won the first two of the teams’ three meetings this year, meaning they’ll hold onto the Cup for the sixth consecutive season.
It’s been awhile since I wrote here, and there are a lot of things to shout about regarding Real Salt Lake; some happy shouts, some frustrated growls. But I’m going to take Coach Kreis’s advice to his players: “We don’t get to up or too low. We’re trying to stay on an even keel,” said Kyle Beckerman, Chris Wingert and just about everyone else in the RSL locker room.
Real Salt Lake’s Lone Star Curse persists, as they remain winless in 21 matches in Texas (against FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo), but if the current trend continues, that dubious achievement may fall in the near future. In last night’s 1–1 draw and last season’s 0–0 draw, RSL claimed their first two points in Dallas after ten straight losses.
The match with Portland was pretty, and not just because of the fortuitous ending. Last night, not so much. Real Salt Lake (4–1–0, 12 pts.) clung to Paulo, Jr.’s 13th minute penalty kick and shooed Montreal (0–1–4, 1 pt.) out of a sold-out Rio Tinto Stadium with a 1–0 win Wednesday night.
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.
Soon after Real Salt Lake’s season wrapped with a loss to L.A. in the Western Conference Final, the locker room doors opened and the roster numbers dropped. So many players left without any new arrivals to replace them, RSL would have been understaffed to host a winter clinic. After almost no changes last year, leading up to the early 2011 CONCACAF matches, the following list of departures jarred fans like me who had gotten familiar with a consistent lineup.
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Real Salt Lake drubbed Seattle Sounders FC 3–0 Saturday night, and the easy line is that Jason Kreis’ team dominated a talented foe simply because he was finally able to field his first-choice lineup. For the first time since Javi Morales fell under Mondaini’s tackle in May, Kreis was able to stick Kyle Beckerman and Morales between Will Johnson and Andy Williams, and it was easy to recall the brilliance that garnered so much attention when RSL backed up the hype of their 2009 MLS Cup with a stellar 2010 regular season and a trip to the CONCACAF Champions League final in early 2011.
Saturday night, Dwayne DeRosario beat Real Salt Lake 4–1. No, the whole DC United team was linking up well, but with a hat trick and an assist inside of 31 minutes, DeRo was HeRoic. RSL started 6 players off the bench and DC punished them for resting starters during a glut of games in the season’s last month.
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