A Championship Opportunity

I was out of town this past weekend on vacation and thus was not able to watch the US and RSL games live. Thank god. Both, from the highlights and clips I've watched, looked terrible. The US lost its first ever Gold Cup game in a fashion that has me questioning my support (which is minimal) for Bob Bradley. RSL looked really really flat for the first half in Philly and was lucky not to get blown out in that time. They found an equalizer in the second and held on for dear life. Neither game has much to talk about besides the obvious: pathetic.

Moving on.

RSL has an opportunity in the next 10 regular season games to go on what could be the turning point of this young season. When you look at the next 10 regular season games, only 1 or 2 are questionable as to who will be the favorite. In all the others, even with their recent poor form, RSL should be able to get the full 3 points. Here is the schedule:

6/18 vs DC United
6/22 @ Chicago Fire
6/25 vs Toronto FC
- *6/28 vs US Open Cup Game. Location TBD via coin toss*
7/4 vs New England Revolution
7/9 vs FC Dallas
7/16 @ Vancouver Whitecaps
7/23 vs San Jose Earthquakes
7/30 vs Columbus Crew
8/3 @ Sporting Kansas City
8/6 vs New York Red Bulls

Those 10 regular season games could be the defining stretch of this season. Its a championship worthy stretch if RSL can amass something between 25 and 30 points. Anything short and I'd be curious as to how RSL could win the supporters shield. While other teams, such as LA, haven't been opening as big of leads as they possibly could be, they are still picking up points. If RSL wants to close that gap and open it in their favor, then this is the point in the season where it should be done, I think.

The 3/4 games that could be challenging for RSL are the 3 road games, obviously, and the NYRB game. This is the best opportunity this club has at making its claim as the best team in the league. The stretch is against a mix of mediocre to decent teams and is played mostly at home.

There is the opportunity, its up to RSL if they will take hold of it.

FORZA REAL

Cheers,

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