In a season already filled with more lows than highs, Real Salt Lake’s last match against the Western Conference bottom of the table Colorado Rapids pretty much epitomized their lackluster 4-5-6 season thus far.
The game ended in a scoreless draw, but the claret and cobalt nearly shot themselves in the foot again when early substitute Aaron Maund was whistled for a foul on Rapids attacker Luis Solignac in the box in the 88th minute. Thankfully for the home squad, the thought of Nick Rimando’s insatiable lust for shooing away penalty kicks was too much for Rapids striker Dillon Powers to handle as he pushed his shot wide of the right post even though Rimando had jumped the opposite way.
U.S. Open Cup Crucial for RSL
Although they escaped the clash with Colorado relatively unscathed, RSL has continued this season’s nasty trend of finding ways to lose games, instead of finding ways to win them. Before Sunday’s debacle, RSL was on a two game losing streak that was first created by a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles thanks to a Jamison Olave handball in the box that led to the game’s only goal via a Junhino penalty kick. The following week’s loss in Vancouver was even more gut-wrenching for RSL fans as they saw what should have been a valuable road point slip away when a miscommunication between Rimando and defender Elias Vasquez led to an empty net winner by Cristian Techera.
Pair silly mistakes and costly fouls in the box with the team’s inability to score consistently throughout the season and you have yourself a dangerous cocktail that could end RSL’s streak of seven straight MLS Cup playoff appearances.
With the Gold Cup quickly approaching, RSL is going to have to find a way to gain some consistency and gather some points as national team stalwarts like Kyle Beckerman (USA), Nick Rimando (USA), Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) and Elias Vasquez (Guatemala) will surely be lost to international duty.
Enter in Tuesday’s U.S. Open cup match against inaugural USL side Seattle Sounders 2.
This match could just be exactly what the claret and cobalt need to get back to their winning ways of yesteryear.
S2 has proven to be an exceptional expansion USL side as they are currently holding the number two spot in the USL Western Conference standings with an 8-4-2 record, have scored 24 goals in 14 matches and are the only MLS fielded USL club remaining in the U.S. Open Cup. That being said, they still shouldn’t present a major challenge against an experienced RSL squad that made it all the way to the tournament’s final in 2013.
Some of RSL’s biggest challenges this season have stemmed from injuries and inexperience.
Players like Joao Plata and Sebastian Jaime are just getting back into the fold after sustaining major injuries either in the offseason or early in the season and others such as Javier Morales, Chris Schuler and Demar Phillips have had their own struggles staying on the pitch consistently week in and week out.
Then there are the youngsters such as Jordan Allen, Wellington Paeckart, Sebastian Saucedo and Elias Vasquez who have all been inserted into the lineup at one time or another with expectations to play at a high level in MLS.
Injuries and inexperience have led to some growing pains that RSL has had to endure during the early portion of the 2015 MLS season, but a tune-up game against an inferior USL opponent should be just what the Salt Lake club needs before heading into the dog days of Summer without some high profile players.
Hopefully the backline will receive a much needed confidence boost if they are able to keep the young S2 side scoreless, and the midfield/forward pack most likely containing Luis Gil, Luke Mulholland, Jordan Allen, Olmes Garcia and Devon Sandoval should be licking their chops at the chances they should be able to create against the young backline of S2.
RSL fans should be happy with no less than a two-to-three goal victory against the younger version of their rave green rivals and that kind of victory should aid in the development of the younger RSL players. They will be leaned upon heavily in the coming months and RSL cannot afford to only win four of their next 15 games like they have started their 2015 campaign.
Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders 2 will kickoff at 8:00 p.m. MST from Rio Tinto Stadium.
