Real
Salt Lake Match Notes - RSL 4 : 1 TFC
·With tonight’s victory, Real Salt Lake shares the Group A lead alongside Mexico’s Cruz Azul, both squads gaining six points from their 2-1-0 records. Cruz Azul made a statement this evening in Panama City, thumping Arabe Unido 6-0 at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez, which is where RSL will pick up Group A play next Wednesday, Sept. 22 (6:00 p.m. kickoff, LIVE on Fox Soccer Channel). Toronto FC and Arabe Unido remain within a win of the co-leaders on three points, both collecting 1-2-0 records halfway through the Group Stage.
·Before next week’s trip to Central America, Real Salt Lake (12-4-8, 44 pts. in MLS play) first has League business to attend to this weekend, as a desperate Chicago Fire (6-8-8, 26 pts.) side will come to Sandy for a 2:00 p.m. MT matinee this Saturday, Sept. 18. That match, in which RSL will look to claim sole possession of the longest home undefeated run in MLS history (currently tied with Columbus at 22 games) and extend its current 442-minute shutout streak in MLS action, will be broadcast live on KUSG 2.2 (Comcast 111) and TeleFutura.
·Andy Williams notched both of his assists on the evening in the first half, providing quality service first on a corner kick for Kyle Beckerman’s opener in the 21st minute and then on a free kick that Jamison Olave finished for the eventual game-winner five minutes from the break. The two helpers marked his second multi-assist effort of 2010, following up on his two-assist performance back on July 31 in a 3-0 win against D.C. United, both provided during 19 minutes of inspired soccer off the bench.
·Real Salt Lake’s overall home undefeated streak continues to grow, as the Claret-and-Cobalt extended their run at Rio Tinto Stadium in League and Cup competition (CONCACAF Champions League and MLS Cup Playoffs) to 25 games (22 in MLS play, one in MLS Cup Playoff action and two in CONCACAF play) dating back to June 2009.
·Saborio’s 69th minute penalty kick tally marked his fifth goal in the 2010 CONCACAF Champions League, placing him in second place on the tournament’s goal-scoring chart (Cruz Azul’s Javier Orozco leads with 10 after a hat trick this evening against Arabe Unido). The goals for Beckerman, Olave, and Paulo Jr. all marked their first tallies in CONCACAF Champions League play.
·The 80th minute goal for Paulo Jr., who officially signed with Real Salt Lake just last week, gave the 21-year-old Brazilian attacker a tally in his debut with the squad. While none have scored quicker in their RSL debut than Paulo Jr.'s feat six minutes after entering the match, two others have opened their RSL scoring account in their openers with the club - Robbie Findley bagged a brace (41', 50') on June 23, 2007 v. D.C. United (2-1 W), and Marvin Tarley did the deed in the 51st minute back on August 31, 2005, at D.C. United (1-5 L).
·RSL’s injury concerns continued when DF Robbie Russell left the match in the 28th minute due to concussion-like symptoms suffered after contact with Toronto FC’s MF Matin Saric on a 50-50 challenge minutes earlier.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUOTE SHEET
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 2010
RIO TINTO STADIUM –
SANDY, UT
REAL SALT LAKE
4 : 1 TORONTO FC
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD
COACH JASON KREIS
On coming back
from a shaky start:
“To have a response the
way we did was really, really impressive from our group. I honestly felt a
lot it came from Kyle Beckerman. He was one of the few players, I
thought, that was completely engaged from the opening minute.”
On the CONCACAF
standings:
“Cruz Azul winning
tonight puts us both at six points, the other teams have three points. We
feel positive about it, but I think we have a really big hurdle next
week. If we can get a positive result [at Arabe Unido], I’ll feel a lot
better about where we stand.”
On Robbie
Findley’s performance:
“His assist was
excellent; he contributed on stat line in that department. He served
another great service for Will Johnson that was nearly a goal. It’s all
the little things that he does for us and he did a lot of those little things
again tonight. I know it’s going to be a light switch. At one point one
of them is going to go in and everything is going to work out for him.”
On Paulo Jr.’s
contribution:
“I was pleased with
[Paulo Jr.] because the first thing he does is score a ball off of [Toronto’s]
midfielder. I appreciate that he worked real hard to win that ball.
I appreciate that he put himself in a couple of good spots and scored a good
goal.”
Kreis on the RSL
injury front:
Robbie Russell – “Robbie Russell has a concussion and it
seems like a pretty serious one. It would probably put him in great jeopardy to
be available for us on Saturday.”
Javier Morales – “I think if he had been available for
Saturday, he probably would not have played anyways because of his
injury. We will continue to do a lot of treatments on him and hope for
the best.”
Ned Grabavoy – “It was literally an hour and a half
decision before the game as to whether or not [Ned Grabavoy] would be available
at all for us. I thought he looked pretty good while he was out
there. He’s obviously getting over his sickness and the knee seemed a
little better so we will hope he will be fully over it for Saturday.”
Fabian Espindola –
“I’ve got my
fingers crossed with Fabian [Espindola]. I just don’t know. He
hasn’t had a full training session; he will have to have one on Friday if he
wants to be available for the game.”
TORONTO FC HEAD COACH
NICK DASOVIC
Overall thoughts
on the match:
“We left Toronto with
all the turmoil of the coaching changes and we didn’t have a lot of time to
prepare for stuff, but that is not an excuse because we have been together for
a while. We had an early goal and [O’Brian White] has a few chances to put one
in and within the first ten minutes I think we could have been two or three
[goals] up. Our goal in the first half was to keep it tight and frustrate them
a bit. Then we gave up two goals on set pieces and you just don’t do that.”
Thoughts on MF
Nicholas Lindsay debut:
“We thought to put him
on because he has such a good pace. He is just a young kid; he just turned 18
recently and he just signed this morning and he is a great addition to the
club. We don’t have wide players right now. We have a lot central players and
strikers, so we thought to give the kid a run and I don’t think he let himself
down. He wasn’t overwhelmed by the situation, and we will keep looking to use
him.”
On playing through
the little mistakes that seem to cost them the game:
“I don’t know if it is
the altitude. I have played in altitude and I know that it affects you, but you
could just see that the guys were lost sometimes. When there is a set piece it
looked like the organization was so slow. Is it because they are fatigued? Is
it because of all that has happened? I don’t know, but it is something that we
have got to get our finger on. You can say it’s this or it’s that but it all
leads to goals for [Real Salt Lake].”
