No injury has been more grevious to the Salt Lake cause then that of Kyle Beckerman. While he has been lauded for his ability to read plays and place himself in a position to break up scoring chances for opponents it is his other skill set that has been sorely missing over the past few games. In RSL’s diamond midfield Kyle’s vision has helped start a lot of attacks that lead to dangerous chances for Salt Lake. He is quick to get the ball from the defense and send it up field to start counter attacking opportunities. Jean Alexandre has filled in admirably on the defensive end but he lacks the decisiveness of Beckerman and has not been able to duplicate Kyle’s creative abilities from that same position. Jean may have lost the starting spot this weekend when he was replaced at halftime by Ned Grabavoy and his side preformed much better as a result and though Jean is a little better defender Ned can provide the better possession for which Salt Lake prides itself. The last time these two teams met Kyle had RSL’s lone goal and he will be sorely missed this week as either Ned or Jean will be asked to try to fill that void.

For the Galaxy Tristan Bowen and Jovan Kirovski have helped pick up some of the scoring load left behind by Buddle and Michael Stephens has helped fill the void left by Donovan, creating numerous chances and racking up 6 assists. At least one of the three of them were part of all four L.A. goals this last weekend against Houston and all three could cause RSL major problems this Wednesday. RSL fans will most likely have the pleasure of seeing two other familiar faces as Chris Klein and Clint Mathis could both see the pitch for the Galaxy. While I like to see ex-RSL players do well I will hope neither has too much of an impact on this game. It is too crucial to give up any points at home and L.A. needs to lose sometime right?

Slide Show HERE

RSL vs Union Slideshow HERE

What do you think of the change?

click here for the full press release – > KickoffAdvisory

RSL vs TFC Pics here.

All Times MT
5:00 p.m.       Carnival Real Opens (East Lawn of Rio Tinto Stadium)
 
6:00 p.m.       KALL 700 Sports “First Kick” pre-game show opens (NE Concourse)
 
6:00 p.m.       Rio Tinto Stadium Doors Open
 
6:45 p.m.       KALL 700 Sports “First Kick” pre-game show ends (NE Concourse)
 
6:51 p.m.       Game ball delivery via skydiver to U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Steven Holcomb, who accepts silver adidas Jabulani “Champions Ball”
(All Cup Holders’ home games played with commemorative ball)

6:53 p.m.       Youth “Parade of Kings” enters field; 150 kids from Wasatch Soccer Club to present a 20′x60′ RSL flag custom made by Colonial Flag and used by the fans who traveled to Seattle last year for MLS Cup.  They will be led out onto the field by the Brighton High School pep band, which sent the team off at the airport to Seattle
 
6:55 p.m.       RSL owners Dave Checketts and Dell Loy Hansen, President Bill Manning and GM Garth Lagerwey will bring each piece of 2009 hardware – the Rocky Mountain Cup, the Eastern Conference Championship trophy, the Philip F. Anschutz trophy (MLS Cup) – and the O.C. Tanner-produced MLS Cup Championship Rings to the field
 
6:56 p.m.       Real Salt Lake / Seattle Sounders FC enter field
 
6:57 p.m.       Color Guard (Utah Air National Guard)
 
6:58 p.m.       National Anthem by “Vocal Tonic”
 
7:00 p.m.       Presentation of the MLS Cup Rings begins at midfield
 
7:03 p.m.       Raising of the 2009 MLS Cup Champions Flag (north end, eastern-most flagpole) and unveiling of the permanent championship placard (west side fascia, above 4th floor midfield camera platform); fans will throw confetti and over 2,500 streamers to cap off the celebration
 
7:04 p.m.       RSL / SEA player introductions and coin toss
 
7:06 p.m.          Kickoff of RSL’s 2010 Home Opener v. Seattle
 
7:53 p.m.       HALFTIME: Various Utah-based Olympic athletes* who competed in Vancouver honored, plus a special on-field musical performance
 
8:09 p.m.       2nd Half Kickoff
 
*Athletes scheduled to appear include:
            Shannon Bahrke (Freestyle Skiing – Aerials); Vancouver 2010 Silver Medalist
            Steven Holcomb (Bobsled); 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist
            Travis Jayner (Speed skating – Short Track); 2010 Bronze Medal (Men’s Relay)
            Maria Lamb (Speed skating – Long Track)
            Jana Lindsey (Freestyle Skiiing – Aerials)
            Zach Lund (Skeleton)
            Megan McJames (Alpine Skiing)
            Shauna Rohbuck (Bobsled)
            Lacy Schnoor (Freestyle Skiing – Aerials)
            Bill Schuffenhauer (Bobsled); Three-time Olympian; 2010 Olympic Silver Medalist
            Jeremy Teela (Biathlon); Three-time Olympian
            Louie Vito (Snowboarding)

Now both teams are looking to re-assert themselves as Championship quality sides and Saturdays match should be an exciting one as a result. Key players for the Sounders can be found at every position as they will need big games from Kasey Keller, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Steve Zakuani, and the dual Freddie’s (Montero/Ljungberg). Alonso especially will be looked at to dictate the pace of the game for Seattle and to limit chances for RSL’s Javier Morales. Zakuani will also be a huge key as his pace on the wing could expose RSL wingbacks anytime they try to get forward.

Real is also coming into the game with several players that have looked strong in recent weeks. Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Fabian Espindola, and an extremely hot Javier Morales will need to bring their A games if they want the full three points. Beckerman especially will be called upon to keep Freddie Ljungberg off the ball and distribute to the rest of the team. Seattle has made RSL pay for giving the ball away carelessly in the past and the burden of preventing that will largely rest with Kyle.

Look for this to be a fast paced game with both teams generating quality chances from the onset. Seattle and Salt Lake both like to build their attacks out of the back and thru their midfields. Both teams also have very opportunistic strikers who if given space will surely make the other team pay. One mercy for the fans in Utah is that one such striker (Nate Jaqua) who has been placed on injured reserve for Seattle and wont be able to play until early May. Salt Lake meanwhile has no players that are carrying serious injuries. (Pablo Campos practiced today)

Looking for more pregame? Check out this video on the Sounders website about the upcoming match.

Olave isn’t the only one to blame either. Salt Lakes midfield failed to control the pace of the game and Houston’s defensive tactics kept Salt Lake’s attacks out of the box all night long. One feels he can count the quality chances for either team on one hand after a game like this. It almost makes me wonder if the players on both teams didn’t decide to play an April Fools day prank on all of us watching. If Houston wasn’t playing a long ball to Dominic Oduro then Salt Lake’s attackers were trying to dribble the ball past three defenders. Crosses were horrible for both sides and easily handled by the defense. Both teams struggled passing the ball in tight spaces and a few times passed the ball past a teammate and out of bounds  when there was no pressure on either the passer or his target.

The one beautiful moment all game came of a goal kick for Nick Rimando. After controlling the ball Kyle Beckerman feed it wide to Chris Wingert who sent it up the wing to Fabian Espindola. Espy played the ball in to Morales who touched it forward to Saborio. Alvaro held off one defender, turned and placed a perfect pass to Kyle Beckerman who one touched it past the defense to a wide open Javier Morales who took two touches to settle the ball and then placed it into the corner of the net. Unfortunately that happened in the 17th minute and after that neither team seemed  very composed in front of the net.

That not to say everyone played poorly. Geoff Cameron played a great game as an attacking midfielder and no one can doubt the contributions of Javier Morales. captain Kyle Beckerman had a good game as well along with the entire defensive line for Houston. Saborio also appears to be coming along nicely for his new team and played well with his back to the goal and the ball at his feet. Credit Olave with a good game minus two huge mistakes that led to the Houston PKs. Unfortunately for every good possession we as fans were treated to 3-4 that were less than impressive. If consistency is the name of the game then those of us who watched were the real fools this April day.

Once a player from either team gains possession of the ball for his team by either 1) Controlling the ball and having reasonable options; or 2) making a one touch pass (on purpose) to another teammate which gains that player’s team control of the ball, how many passes can that team connect in a row per possession? Here are the results from the San Jose game this past Saturday:

Average number of passes per possession:

RSL: 3.47     SJ: 2.49

Number of qualified possessions:

RSL: 103      SJ: 91

Total number of connected passes:

RSL: 357      SJ: 227

Number of possessions with greater than 5 connecting passes:

RSL: 21        SJ: 8

Highest number of connected passes in a single possession:

RSL: 17 (twice)   SJ: 9 (four times)

Here are a couple more stats that I tracked for the fun of it:

Total number of long-balls played (not clearances, but attempted passes):

RSL: 20       SJ: 24

Total number of long-balls played successfully:

RSL: 5         SJ: 6

Are any of these numbers surprising? I certainly find them interesting.

 RSL started the game out trying to play quick thru balls to Robbie Findley and Fabian Espindola but for the first 10 minutes all that came from that was alot of San Jose possessing the ball. The boys would settle down pretty quickly however and in the 14th minute Robbie Findley would chase a long ball down into the corner, playing it back to Fabian Espindola who managed to find a wide open Javier Morales 24 yds out. Morales would hit a great ball beating San Jose keeper Joe Cannon to the upper corner and putting RSL ahead 1-0.  

Morales would repay his fellow Argentine teammate 13 minutes later with a beautifully weighted ball that beat San Jose’s defense and found the chest of Espindola. Fabian knocked the ball down to his feet and then chipped the ball over a onrushing Joe Cannon to double Salt Lakes lead. The score wouldn’t change again through out the first half as San Jose started to regain some composure and pushed for a goal but the RSL back line along with some help from Nick Rimando were easily up to the task and never looked very threatened. 

San Jose started out the second half much the same way they finished the first. They controlled possession and worked the ball around the midfield very well but couldn’t find the creative attacking opprotunities that Morales continued to create for Salt Lake. Unfortunately for the majority of the 10,589 fans in attendance Salt Lake would only have to weather the San Jose attack for 7 minutes before disaster would strike  San Jose. Nick Rimando played a long ball to the head of Robbie Findley off a goal kick and Findley would flick it on for Espindola who found himself half a step in front of Chris Leach. Leach would pull Fabian down as they crossed into the penalty box earning a red card and awarding Morales a chance to put in his second goal of the night from the top of the 18 yard box. Morales deftly placed the ball into the upper corner for the second time tonight and gave Salt Lake a cushion it enjoyed for the remainder of the evening.

The Earthquakes did manage to create a few more chances before the game ended but after going down by three goals so early in the second half it appeared the life went out of them. Salt Lake also managed to create a few chances and, with the victory firmly in hand. coach Jason Kreis found time to debut two of his off season acquisitions. Rauwshan McKenzie and Alvaro Saborio both subbed in and managed to get some time playing in their first MLS games for their new team. McKenzie did an adequate job filling in for Nat Borchers but showed he will need time to get familiar with his new teammates. Saborio did better and provided some good combination play with Robbie Findley who narrowly missed a goal of his own off a great bit of teamwork from Alvaro. Now lets see if they can continue this trend toward constancy and do as well next week.