And now the records are about to fall.

Home Unbeaten Streak

It won’t come easy, against a New York team that is starting to put their assembled collection of DP’s together on the field.  But if they manage to get the win against Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls it would make the accomplishment of tying the Columbus Crew’s 22 game home unbeaten streak all the more sweeter. 

If they are succesful in doing so, they will host the Chicago Fire on Sept 18th in an effort to gain sole possession of the record at 23 games.

Season Points

The next point that RSL picks up will be a team record.  Twice in the past they have recorded 40 points for the season.  That’s where they currently stand with 8 games in which to add to that tally.

Right now they are on pace for 55 points, but that is likely to slow a bit as RSL has started to feel the sting of Champions League competition which will continue through the end of the season.

Road Performance

In 2006, Real Salt Lake had a great late-season push to try to find its way into the playoffs.  Despite falling short, the team put up its best road record to-date.  That team had 4 road wins, and gathered 15 points away from home.  Should this version of RSL win one more game on the road, they would match both of those totals.  They have 4 chances left to do this: at Seattle, at New England, at New York, and at Colorado.

Defensive Performance

Last nights shutout against Toronto tied for RSL’s most in a season: 10.  One more will best this mark.

In addition, barring a major defensive meltdown, Real Salt Lake should set its best mark for goals allowed this season.  Last season’s 35 goals allowed is the current best, but with only 16 goals suffered at this point, it should be easy to eclipse that mark.

Check them out, and give your vote:

Rimando’s save - http://www.mlssoccer.com/content/napa-save-week-vote-now

Morales’ goal - http://www.mlssoccer.com/content/att-goal-week-vote-now

      -vs-     

RSL has three Champions League/Champions Cup vets: Saborio who won the tourney in 2005 with Saprissa, Rimando who played in it with DC United, and Andy Williams who got the experience with the Chicago Fire.  

It was interesting to hear on Saturday that RSL had not yet seen tape of their opponent.  It sounds like they have had a chance to scout their opponent in the few days since then, but it also sounds like the approach at home will be a very aggressive one and the team plans to play the style that they normally play at home regardless of how their opponent plays. 

I’m a little worried about the turnout for this one.  I know there are over 6,000 seats out there for season ticket holders.  Hopefully most of those fans come out for this first ever international battle for RSL.  I also know that the team is expecting somewhere around 10,000 tickets sold.  A little light for a weekday game, but a decent showing for an early match against one of the “minnows” in the group.  Hopefully the $15 ticket promotion will help get additional fans in the seats.  

Below are the rosters for tomorrow’s competition:  

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 

CONCACAF Champions League 

Real Salt Lake (MLS Cup 2009 Champions) 

vs.  

Arabe Unido (2009/10 Panamanian Champions) 

(projected starters in BOLD/ITALIC) 

Real Salt Lake Roster                                                           Arabe Unido Roster                        

Head Coach: Jason Kreis (USA)                                        Head Coach: Richard Parra (Colombia) 

Asst. Coach:  Jeff Cassar                                                      

Asst. Coach:  Robin Fraser 

Asst. Coach:  Miles Joseph 

TONIGHT’S REFEREE: PAUL WARD                 RSL 1-1-2 (0-0-1 at Home) 

Date        Opp                        Result                     FC           FS           Yellows                  Reds                       PKs (For/Against) 

8/16/08    @ HOU                   L, 3-4                       9              8              2 (1)                        0                              0/0 

9/27/08    @ SJ                       W, 3-2                     18            11            3 (1)                        0                              0/0 

8/15/09    v. HOU                    T, 0-0                      19            10            4 (2)                        1 (1)                        0/0 

8/7/10      @ KC                      T, 1-1                      13            10            4 (2)                        0                              0/0 

NEXT RSL GAME (CONCACAF): Wed., 8/25 – RSL @ Cruz Azul (Mexico) – 6:00 p.m. MT – Fox Soccer Channel 

NEXT RSL GAME (MLS): Sat., 8/28 – RSL @ Toronto FC (Canada) – 5:00 p.m. MT – KUSG 2.2 / Comcast 111  

NEXT RSL HOME GAME: Saturday, September 4, 2010 –vs. New York Red Bulls – 7:00 p.m. MT

Courtesy of Real Salt Lake Communications

We learned earlier that Robbie Findley will join the US National Team for a friendly against Brazil next Tuesday.  Although he is not scheduled to miss Real Salt Lake’s match against the Philadelphia Union on the following day, his ability to contribute may be impacted depending on how much action he sees against Brazil. 

Now we learn that teammate Alvaro Saborio will be out for the match against Philly as he will join the Costa Rican National Team for a friendly against Paraguay next Wednesday.  This will leave RSL shorthanded, and could press into action Pablo Campos who has only logged 221 minutes so far this season.  Saborio is not expected to miss any action beyond the one match.

Tomorrow night another game important to RSL will take place in Champions League action as the LA Galaxy visit the Puerto Rico Islanders.  Whether or not the Galaxy advance will likely have an impact on their focus on winning the Supporters Shield.  They currently trail Puerto Rico 1-4, and will need to have a remarkable turnaround in order to win in aggregate.

What about you?

VOTE NOW

The first problem is what constitutes an effective forward?  Is it simply one who scores at a high frequency?  Many would say yes.  Is it one who makes those around him better?  If so, how do you measure that?  Do intangibles come into play?  If so, what are they?

Some believe that you need to look at how many shots a player requires to score.  Others thing that you have to look at how a forward helps the team in possession.

Right or wrong, I decided to look primarily at two factors: 

• minutes per goal (or in other words the frequency with which a player scores),
• and minutes per goal AND assist (or in other words the frequency with which a player is directly involved in a goal – either scoring or assisting)

Here are the results:

You’ll note that these are the players career numbers with RSL.  In each case there is not a significant difference with the current year numbers, except perhaps Espindola’s assist numbers which are starting to lag behind his career numbers with RSL. 

You’ll also notice that I included Movsisyan’s numbers as an additional frame of reference.

What does it mean?

While you could argue that assists should not carry the same weight, you could also argue that setting up a teammate is just as valuable as scoring a goal yourself.  If you take just goals into account, Saborio is the most effective player at 174 minutes (roughly two games) between each goal.  Findley is a close second at just 186 minutes per goal (although he is at 220 minutes per goal for just this year).   Campos and Espindola are much less effective according to this standard with 311 and 265 minutes between goals, respectively.  This equates to 3 goals or more between goals.

However, if you believe in the value of the assist, this analysis gets more interesting.  Believe it or not, Campos becomes the most effective player under these criteria as he has twice as many assists as goals since joining RSL.  His 104 minutes between goal or assist means that he is involved in a goal in nearly every full game that he participates in.  Saborio is slightly behind this mark at 111, while Findley is just beyond that at 122 minutes.

To me the surprising player in this analysis is Espindola who assists only once every 7 matches, the worst on the list except for Movsisyan who had only 3 assists in nearly 3,000 minutes for RSL.  This surprises me because when I watch Espindola, I see a player working hard, putting pressure on the opponents.  I also see a player who tends to cross the ball into the box on occasion, which I assume would lead to more assists.  Not the case apparantly.

I have noticed that whenever I bring up the three forward rotation with Coach Kreis, he always reminds me that there are really four players in the mix.  In addition, Garth Lagerwey insists that Campos was crucial to RSL even making it into the playoffs last season.  But is he really RSL’s most efficient forward?  What are your thoughts?