Tale of Two Halfs

For roughly thirty minutes this past Saturday, RSL looked the dominant team of old. Passing, movement, creativity, flair, and finishing were all on display. Even with a large group of key players missing, RSL looked to not be missing a beat. After Philly got a goal to make it 2-1, though, things changed. This continued into the second half and RSL was lucky to hold onto the win. In the end, though, a win is a win. RSL was very much in need of the full 3 points in this one.

1st Half
With a somewhat makeshift lineup, RSL came out of the gates firing. Espindola was reeking havoc, Paulo was getting in behind even without that burst of speed he use to have, and Beckerman was simply dominating the middle of the pitch. It was no surprise, then, that RSL held a 2-0 lead by the 29th minute and was looking just as dangerous. Beckerman found the back of the net first off of a short corner exchange. He played the ball in to PJ who played it back to KB. Kyle cut across the top of the 18 and let off a rocket with his right foot. The ball hit the top far post corner, nothing Mondragon could do about it. Not too long thereafter, off of a corner once again, Kyle whipped in a beautiful cross. Chris Schuler, filing in for the suspended Borchers, rose above every defender by a good foot and finished it off. RSL was flying high and it looked as though we could be in for a blowout.
As this cruel game goes, though, Philly got one back. On a very textbook counter attack, Philly found the space left open by our attacking outside back (Russell) and then whipped in a wonderful cross to the opposite side as our defense had to make a shift. Sebastian LeToux hammered his shot right at Rimando, but Nicky wasn't able to keep it out. A lot of blame can go around for this goal on the RSL side of things. First, Russell didn't recover fast enough and was made to pay for it by the first pass of the counter. Then on the shift, Beltran lost his mark (LeToux) and got a bit too central. Had he applied more pressure, Sebastian probably doesn't get the shot off, or at least not as cleanly. Lastly, Rimando needed to do better. It was well hit and probably took him a bit by surprise, but Rimando has shown that he is a top notch keeper. In my opinion, that is one he probably should have saved.
The half was finished off by some rather cautious play by both sides. RSL knew they couldn't  let themselves get exposed in the back again like that, so were hesitant to throw too  many numbers forward. Similarly, Philly didn't want to undo their efforts by giving up a goal to go back down by 2 before half.

2nd Half
The second 45 was all Philly with sprinkles of RSL here and there. It wasn't pretty to watch as an RSL supporter at all. Philly applied a higher line of pressure and was rewarded with more possession and more opportunities. They ultimately didn't finish any of these, but they were there for the taking on multiple occasions. Justin Mapp, in fact, had probably the best opportunity of the game for Philly on a break away in which he elected to take a shot with an acute angle rather than lay the ball off to a wide open teammate who would have simply tapped it in.
On the other end, RSL was simply hoping Espy could beat 3 or 4 defenders. Ironically enough, he did so on a few occasions. He picked up a bad back pass from Philly, split the two central defenders, and got off a rather weak right footed shot that hit the backup keeper. The ball popped lose and Espy, being the hard worker that he is, continued his run. He cut to the goal only to find 2 defenders standing on the goal line. Had someone made an effort to support Espy, he could have laid the ball off to them for an easy finish. Instead he was left on his own and ultimately couldn't finish.
The last 30 minutes were marked by 2 RSL debuts and a return to play from a player who had been out for over a month. Cody Arnoux made his RSL debut at the 60th minute for Paulo Junior (and obviously timed sub as PJ looked gassed). Cody looked alright in the attack. He contains, based on this short amount of observation, a rather high soccer IQ and is willing to do the dirty work. I don't think he will be pushing for starting minutes any time soon, but he will push players for a spot in the 18. Ned Grabavoy came on around the 75th minute for Collen Warner (it should have been Williams, but oh well). After sitting out for over a month with a groin injury, it was nice to see Grabs back out there. It was obvious his fitness and strength weren't back at full power, but nevertheless they were coming along. Lastly, Blake Wagner came on late for the injured Robbie Russell. Wagner really didn't get to play too long, but his few minutes showed he had a good understanding of the game and system RSL was playing.

In the end, RSL was a bit lucky to keep the 2-1 win. Philly had ample opportunities to level it out, but they simply couldn't make that final pass. It was good news for RSL, though, as they really needed these 3 points to keep chase in the West.

Man of the Match: Kyle Beckerman

Who else could it be? The guy hit a golazo for the first goal and then whipped in a beautiful corner for the second. His play in the first half was dominating. He faltered off a little bit in the second, but that was more due to the players around him giving up the ball so easily. Great game from KB. Best of luck in Belgium later today.

Wanker of the Match: Veljko Paunovic

I'm not sure what was said between Veljko and KB, but the two were going at it all night. Whenever Philly lost the ball, you could count on Veljko coming in on a poorly timed tackle to break the play up or some RSL player. The guy is a hack.

Looking Ahead: @ Seattle
 RSL goes to Seattle this Saturday for arguably their biggest road test of the season. In my book, Seattle is the best team in the league right now. They have proven to have some tremendous depth and are simply killing anyone who gets in their way. They stopped the streak of MLS games at the RioT for RSL, so it will be interesting to see if the revenge factor plays into this one at all. If RSL can somehow pull out a win in this one (very unlikely) then they will be right back in the SS race, surprisingly enough, as LA looks to be struggling a bit.

FORZA REAL

Cheers,

15 to 32