What a night!
This past Tuesday was a special evening at the
RioT. Hosting its most important home match to date,
RSL came out victorious in the first leg of its semi final vs
Saprissa. The game was loaded with emotion and showed some tremendous skill from both teams.
RSL got its win and, more importantly, kept a clean sheet. 2-0 lead going to
Saprissa isn't by any means a confident margin, but it is a whole lot better than the alternative. Here is a brief look back at the game, player ratings for
RSL, my man of the match award, and the wanker of the match award.
1st Half
RSL came flying out of the gate. Kreis said in post-game interviews that he told the guys to give Saprissa no room to breathe in those first 15-20 minutes, that is exactly what they did. Saprissa couldn't string together more than a couple passes and RSL was looking more and more dangerous by the second. In the 5th minute, about, it seemed as though all the hard work payed off when Nat Borchers, of all players, got on the end of a Fabian Espindola inch perfect cross. For whatever reason, the goal was called back. Upon review, the Saprissa player that Nat supposedly fouled attempted a bike, missed, and landed awkwardly. The ref thought Nat pushed, he obviously was not watching the game closely. It was such a bad call the AR on the west side initially signaled for a goal (he would have seen the foul) and then stopped and looked confused to say the least. This ended up not mattering all that much as Sabo put one in literally minutes later on a great counter from the middle of the pitch for RSL. Andy laid it out wide to Espy who crossed it back (intended for Andy, but ended up at Sabo) to Sabo who buried the shot. It wasn't pretty, but it went in. That's all that matters.
After the first 15 or so, Saprissa changed their formation and strategy a bit and seemed to get more time on the ball. RSL was a bit more comfortable after the Saborio goal and didn't want to get too stretched, you could tell. Saprissa had its moments, but nothing ever really materialized. The game got chippy at times with a couple Saprissa players going into the book and some more deserving to but, for whatever reason, the ref decided against it. Saprissa was the better side for a little bit, but didn't really have much to show for it. They had a near goal later in the half, but it was called back for a legitimate offsides. That meant going into half RSL was up 1-0.
2nd Half
The second 45 were interesting to say the least. RSL didn't come out, thankfully, flat like they did against Columbus. Instead, they came out at about the same pace they ended the half with. The game looked really like it was just put on pause for 15 minutes and then play resumed. Espy changed this, though, after about 15 minutes with some tremendous hustle and calm nerves. He went into an initial tackle with one of the Saprissa center backs and made the player rush his clearance and, I believe, got a piece of the ball to deflect it off its intended path. The Saprissa player went down grabbing his ankle, begging for a foul that wasn't there. The ball landed at Andy's feet and he, with his tremendous vision and passing abilities, put the ball right into the complaining center back's space. Espy ran onto the ball, side stepped the other center back with a wonderful cut back, and slotted the shot home with his right foot. Truly a hard working goal as Espy essentially got both an assist and a goal in it.
For moments after that it seemed as though RSL was just content with the 2 goal margin. The last thing they wanted was to give up a goal so they were really hesitant to push forward to hard. At the same time, Saprissa didn't want to leak anymore goals and thus made some rotations to play a full on counter attacking style. They resorted to long clearing balls, RSL wasn't its usual overly offensive passing self. Thus, the last 20 minutes can really be summed up as a bit awkward. Both teams didn't want to get scored on and thus weren't showing their true abilities offensively. It's the downside of a 2 leg series, but it is all part of the game. In the end, RSL probably could have added another but didn't want to expose themselves to that countering style Saprissa had settled into. The 2-0 result was a fair and just one.
RSL Player Ratings:
Nick Rimando: A-
- Nicky had a tremendous game between the pipes. He was only called on a couple times to make saves but did so extremely well. Great game from our midget
Tony Beltran: B+
- When I saw Tony was taking Wingert's spot I got a little nervous. Wingert is a key aspect of our back line and Tony is still a bit young. It didn't matter though as Tony answered the call. His offensive abilities need to be worked on, but he is a great defender.
Nat Borchers: B+
- Nat got robbed of a goal but still did his job very well in the back. The leader of this squad's defense did well to adjust to the changing styles of both teams and kept the back line organized.
Jamison Olave: B+
- Sadly Olave only got to put in 45 minutes, but they were solid. The big man made his presence felt and did his "Olave says no!" tackles. Love this guy, hope his injury isn't too serious.
Chris Schuler: B
- Chris isn't the prettiest player to watch. He seems a bit awkward and uncoordinated, but he gets the job done. Cant complain with results.
Robbie Russell: B-
- In my opinion Robbie had one of the worst nights out there, but still was ok. His tracking abilities weren't exposed too much and he didn't get burned too much. Needs improvement though, for sure, in the second leg.
Will Johnson: B+
- The kid works his tail off every night. Because of it, we don't realize how special it truly is at times. Will was everywhere in this game. Almost had another ridiculous shot find the back of the net, as well, in the second half.
Kyle Beckerman: B+
- Like Will, Kyle works his tail off the entire night every game. He had his hands full with some very talented players in the middle and handled himself pretty well. He is still on yellow card peril so he has to be careful with his play down in Costa Rica.
Javier Morales: A-
- Javi, especially in the first half, was the connecting guy. He was inspired out there, you could tell. Great night from the Argentine.
Andy Williams: A
- What can I say, this guy just keeps getting better with age. Another great night from the silky Andy Williams.
Alvaro Saborio: A-
- Sabo was, especially early on, a man possessed out there. He was getting to anything and everything and making sure his former team-mates remembered his name. Wonderful night from Sabo, tremendous shot on his goal.
Ned Grabavoy: B+
- Ned came on and did his thing. He is a great role player in this midfield who is really capable of being special on the occasion. He didn't have the moment of brilliance he has every once in awhile, but still was great on the night.
Arturo Alvarez: B
- Arturo got an incredible welcome from the fans, something I was even a bit surprised with (well done guys). He was a bit nervous, you could tell, but he also showed his abilities to change things up a bit if needed. Nothing too special, but his first night in the RioT finally came.
Man of the Match:
Fabian Espindola (A)
Espy proved why he is so special to this team in this game. His tremendous work-rate earned the second goal and he was constantly a threat for the rest of the game. Well done by the crazy haired Argentine.
Wanker of the Match:
Douglas Sequeira
Sequeria was lucky not to see red a couple times in this match. His late and often disgustingly dirty tackles had me thinking Kyle was a saint in the middle of the pitch. He is suspended for next match, so no more fearing that he might bust
Javi's ankle.
Overall, just a wonderful night at the
RioT. The fans were great, the play was, for the most part, very exciting and pretty, and the good guys won. You can't complain with that. Looking forward to the next leg, a lot of questions are in the air. For
Saprissa, who fills in for their 3 suspended players and how offensive do they approach the game. For
RSL, if
Olave is out (even if not hurt, because of on the turf) who fills in for him and what kind of formation change, if any, does
Kreis make. These will be looked at in the
pre game post to that game on April 5
th.
Cheers,
15 to 32
FORZA REAL
Our midget, as I call him, came through big time in this game. He acknowledged that he did get a bit lucky with some of the saves, but at the end of the day he kept a clean sheet in some of the worst possible conditions. 2 points in Nicky's favor on the season. He, along with pretty much all of the players on this squad, has a habit of making some key mistakes later on. So it is good to know that he got us 2 points in this game (we deserved a draw, I think) that maybe we didnt deserve.
This game looked as though it was going to be a very entertaining one as both teams were interested in playing attractive soccer. Because of the weather, however, this didnt happen. I can't blame a player or the ref (which is amazing given it was Toledo) for the poor play, it was 100% the weather.
Tomorrow night, Tuesday March 15th at 8pm, Real Salt Lake will host Saprissa from Costa Rica in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semi-final. Its a big deal. If RSL is to advance to the final against either Monterrey or, in what would be a juicy rematch, Cruz Azul they have to get through the purple dragon/monsters first. Here are my keys to the match, projected starting lineup for RSL (I did Saprissa's yesterday), key players to watch for both teams, and my projected final score for this first leg.
All my research points to this guy being the heart and soul of Saprissa. He essentially plays the Morale's type role of creator for the squad. He is a member of the Costa Rica national team and, though getting older, still has some incredible vision and passing abilities. Kyle will have his hands full with this guy for sure. If we can keep Centeno in check, we should be able to eliminate their offensive abilities.
Sabo is the only player on the squad to go this deep in a champions league format. Robbie Russell played in the European version, sure, but he wasn't ever in the knockout phases, or at least not a semi-final. Sabo also, as we all know, is from Costa Rica and played for quite awhile with Saprissa. He needs to be the go to guy and a leader out there. His typically cool composure must show and he must be willing to put in loads of dirty work. For some reason, I think Sabo is going to have a monster night against his former squad.