Yeah, so... What to do about these guys? (image: realsaltlake.com)
OTF's Stephen Mangat takes you on a one-post mission to learn about Real Salt Lake...
For Fire fans looking for positives going into this weekend's game in Salt Lake City, know that Rio Tinto Stadium isn't an impenetrable fortress (just like SLC's many child-having Mormons hey oh!
Sandy, UT Real Salt Lake have been bolstered this week by the return of some key players who were missing due to injury.
Both forward Alvaro Saborio and defender Nat Borchers were full participants in training on Wednesday, opening speculation as to whether or not they will feature this Sunday against Chivas USA.
Sandy, UT Real Salt Lake was hurting for some goals.
Star forward Alvaro Saborio is out with a quadriceps strain. His replacements, Robbie Findley and Olmes Garcia, were both questionable heading into the match, forcing manager Jason Kreis to play two newcomers in Joao Plata and Devon Sandoval up top
Kreis' gamble paid off as Plata lead RSL to a 2-0 victory over the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Happy Thursday, ladies and gentlemen. Today's edition of Freedom Kicks leads with more of what you've come to expect from D.C. United employees and their club website.
Previous matches provide building blocks | D.C. United
"With the right mentality and the right intensity, we can build.
Real Salt Lake learned the hard way last Saturday what it is like to play without forward Alvaro Saborio. Now, it looks like they'll have to get used to him being on the sidelines.
According to a report out of Salt Lake City, Saborio is likely to miss "several weeks" as per quotes from RSL manager Jason Kreis.
Landon Donovan and Jack McInerney stole the headlines over the weekend and deservedly so as both put in man-of-the-match performances for their respective teams. But lost in the glitz of LA's marquee matchup and Jack Mac's two goals was the strong play of another young striker out in Utah.
The Colorado Rapids are in the midst of a youth movement, driven in part by a rash of injuries, but also by the quality of a strong crop of rookies who have impressed head coach Oscar Pareja enough to earn regular playing time.
Dillon Powers is one of those players and the former Notre Dame midfielder has stepped in and become an integral part of the Rapids midfield.
We're barely a month into the 2013 MLS campaign, but it's already time for Round 2 of one of the league's most heated rivalries.
After playing to a 1-1 draw three weeks ago at Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids will write the next chapter of the Rocky Mountain Cup story Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Real Salt Lake defeated Western Conference rivals Seattle Sounders with a 2-1 win at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday. The home team scored through Robbie Findley and Luis Gil in the first half, whereas as the visitors pulled one back through Brad Evans.
Both teams were going into the game with poor form by their standards.
FCD will be missing some key pieces for the Real Salt Lake game this weekend. Blas Perez (Panama), Je-Vaughn Watson (Jamaica) and Raul Fernandez (Peru) have left to join their national teams for World Cup Qualifying matches.
FCD reserve defender Kellyn Acosta is also away on national team duty with the U.
Real Salt Lake started their home campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium with a tightly contested 1-1 draw with their bitter rivals Colorado Rapids on Saturday. The visitors scored in the 37th minute through Deshorn Brown, which was equalized late in the 81th minute by Alvaro Saborio.
Both teams suffered losses to Eastern Conference teams heading into the Rocky Mountain Cup tie, a derby which generates strong emotion from both sets of supporters.
We knew it would happen sooner or later, John Thorrington was always going to miss some time this year due to injury. It just happened to be "sooner." Thorrington will miss the next 8-12 weeks with an injury very similar to the one that sidelined Dwayne De Rosario for the last 2+ months of last season, a severely sprained MCL, suffered during a sliding challenge with RSL forward Alvaro Saborio.
Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto has included 13 foreign-based players in his 23-man roster for the match against the United States on March 22 in Denver. MLS fans will be familiar with Real Salt Lake scoring threat Alvaro Saborio and Columbus Crew striker Jairo Arrieta. New York Red Bulls defender Roy Miller also makes the list.
D.C. United opens up the home portion of their 2013 MLS regular season with a matchup against Real Salt Lake this Saturday night at 7pm at RFK Stadium. United is coming off of a disappointing but ultimately predictable 2-0 loss in Houston last weekend to open up the 2013 campaign. Two late goals sunk United [.
It was an outstanding week for midfielders in the opening stanza of the MLS season, with midfield maestros leading the way in several week one victories.
Sporting Kansas City's Graham Zusi and Houston's Ricardo Clark were among the midfielders to shine, and both were honored for their performances by making the SBI MLS Best XI for Week One.
There were several good team performances in the opening week of the MLS season, but you will be hard-pressed to match the effort turned in by Real Salt Lake, which posted a 2-0 victory against defending Supporters Shield winners San Jose at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The task was clear for Real Salt Lake. Beat Herediano, either 1-0 or by more than one goal, and they would have their place in the CONCACAF Champions League.
That task seemed well within reach, particularly with Tuesday night's group stage showdown taking place at Rio Tinto Stadium, but much like they did in the 2010 CONCACAF Champions League Final, Real Salt Lake couldn't find the goal they needed to capture that special moment of glory.
Wednesday night's NBC Sports Net (also on KONG in Seattle and Root Sports in rest of Washington) game sees Real Salt Lake come to CenturyLink Field to take on Seattle Sounders FC. With a game in hand the Sounders can catch Salt Lake in the standings and gain control of their Western Conference Playoff standings.
Both sides will be weakened due to international duty as this match was originally scheduled outside of the break. Real Salt Lake will be without Alvaro Saborio, Will Johnson, Luis Gil and maybe Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman. Adam Johansson and Mario Martinez will not play. Eddie Johnson could be in Seattle, but with limited playing options.
Fabian Espíndola's first-half brace gave Real Salt Lake a 2-1 win over the LA Galaxy in Carson, Calif., on Saturday.
Salt Lake moved five points ahead of the Galaxy in second place in the Western Conference. LA remains third but only a point ahead of the Seattle Sounders, which have two games in hand.
Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy may have already clinched playoff berths, but the battle for Western Conference seeding is far from over.
With both sides fighting for a bye through the wild-card round, this weekend's rematch of last year's conference title game carries major playoff implications.
I hope everyone has worked, slept, drank, or tweeted away their frustration from Saturday night. Here's a look at other teams' disappointing and not so disappointing weekends.
Timbers' Paulson as Mark Cuban: Good for MLS? Hm. I think we've already seen this comparison.
Camilo's gift for soccer magic vanishes when Whitecaps need it most Boils the game down to the Brazilian's missed shot in stoppage time.
The 2012 season for both Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA could have been summed up with Saturday's game. Despite a strong showing from Chivas keeper Dan Kennedy, it was not enough to keep the opposing team out of the net, and often. Real Salt Lake's Álvaro Saborío knocked it past Kennedy three times on his own, tallying his second hat trick on the year to lead RSL past Chivas 4-0.
Álvaro Saborío scored early and often as Real Salt Lake crushed Chivas USA 4-0 Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.
A dreadful defensive performance by Chivas USA extended the last-place team's losing streak to six matches, while Real Salt Lake climbed back to second in the Western Conference.
With a return trip to the Home Depot Center for a showdown against the surging Los Angeles Galaxy looming next Saturday, Real Salt Lake looked to take care of business against the stadium's other tenant this past Saturday. Striker Alvaro Saborio had himself a monster night with three goals and his strike partner, Fabian Espindola had three assists as Real Salt Lake vaulted into second place, three points clear of the Galaxy while also eliminating Chivas USA from playoff contention with a convincing 4-0 win.
It's round three against Real Salt Lake, the last chance the Portland Timbers have to avoid a season sweep.
The Timbers' first two matches against Salt Lake were memorable ones, if not particularly happy memories. The first match featured a Darlington Nagbe brace -- two absolute crackers in the second half -- before the Timbers coughed up a 2-1 lead in the 89th minute and went on to lose 3-2.
As the UEFA Champions League gets underway in Europe, there's still plenty of games on this side of the pond. With four MLS sides in action, here's a look at what's ahead this week in the CONCACAF Champions League. *Home teams listed first [Editor's note: RealSaltLake defeated Tauro on a late penalty kick by Alvaro Saborio] Tauro vs.
Real Salt Lake edged Tauro FC, UANL were held by Real Esteli, and Xelaju beat W Connection in the CONCACAF Champions League on September 18, 2012.
Tauro FC 0-1 Real Salt Lake
An important win for RSL who still keep their hopes alive for advancing to the next round. Both teams have decent chances throughout the match but solid goalkeeping kept it scoreless.
Tauro 0 - Real Salt Lake 1 RSL got the result they needed in Panama, staying in contention in Group 2. Alvaro Saborio's stoppage time penalty was the difference, setting up another must win in their final group stage game at home against Herediano. Saborio will be suspended for that game due to yellow card accumulation.
Whether or not it's a result of the new format, there's been goals galore so far in the 2012-13
edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. Last week's action saw an average of 3.25 goals per game.
Most importantly, all three MLS teams in action recorded victories that put them in command of
their groups.
Don't look now, but it's not even September and these games have all the fire and excitement of the
playoffs. Montreal and Columbus didn't get the memo about being rollovers and Seattle hasn't taken
kindly to being labeled inconsistent at the beginning of the season. Real Salt Lake is losing hold
on the second place position in the West and Kei Kamara scores for two teams in the same game.
Episode 8 of the du Nord Futbol Show podcast is now ready for blasting! As in, blasting from your
speakers dude!
dN
The Sun reports on the rehab of Stuart Holden, and in the 2nd to the last sentence its revealed
that he had another minor surgery for "knee clean up" just 3 weeks ago.
Riding a three-game winning streak, Sporting Kansas City has climbed back to the top of the
Eastern Conference -- a spot the New York Red Bulls are keeping a close eye on from a short
distance.
That first place slot will be on the line Sunday when Kansas City hosts New York in a nationally
televised clash at Livestrong Sporting Park in the first of three matches between these two clubs
in the next two months.
Real Salt Lake got the performance they were looking for to end a four-game losing streak.
In need of a bounce-back performance after a CONCACAF Champions League-opening loss to Herediano
and after three straight losses in league play, RSL topped Panamanian side Tauro FC 2-0 behind
second-half goals from Alvaro Saborio and Kyle Beckerman.
It is unusual to think that the second game of the CONCACAF Champions League group stage would
be a must-win affair, but that is essentially the situation in which Real Salt Lake finds
themselves after a tournament-opening loss three weeks ago.
With the new tournament format shrinking the group stage from six games to four, the pressure
and importance rises with each match, and as a result, RSL's clash with Panamanian side Tauro FC
(10 p.
Freddy Adu with Bahia. Union prepare for Pumas. Okugo yellow rescinded after Rev's Toja fined for embellishment. Must-win qualifier against Costa Rica for USA. More news.
There were plenty of questions about who would help Robbie Keane with the goal-scoring load on the Los Angeles Galaxy with David Beckham gone and Landon Donovan on vacation in Cambodia.
Mike Magee delivered a emphatic answer as to just who it will be.
Colorado got its first win on Saturday night, holding on to an early goal to win 1-0. The game started almost as well as you could hope. Hendry Thomas played a great ball to Labrocca on the left wing, and he sent it in to Buddle in the box. Borchers did everything short of mugging Buddle to get to the ball but Edson held him off as long as he could and as he was being pushed to the ground he poked the ball across to Harris who was busy fixing a sandwich on the other side of the box.
Thierry Henry turned in what might have been his best game of the year in leading the New York Red Bulls to a 4-1 rout of Toronto FC, a performance that made him an easy pick for SBI MLS Best XI.
Henry's three assists and game-capping goal completed a virtuoso effort for the French striker, one of a plethora of MLS forwards to enjoy outstanding weekends.
