Real Salt Lake may be opening the 2016 MLS season on Sunday against Orlando City SC at the Florida Citrus Bowl, but for Head Coach Jeff Cassar the new season really got under way on October 26, the morning after the 2015 season ended with a 3-1 defeat in Seattle.
Now, he is ready to kick off his third season at the helm.
“I think this year started at the end of last year. It started with player end of the year meetings. I had some really productive meetings with the owner and the General Manager and they challenged me on a lot of fronts,” Cassar said. “I did a lot of self-reflecting. I asked the staff to do a lot of work in the off-season to get better. I asked a lot of myself to get better. I think we’ve addressed a lot of those issues.”
Last year was a difficult one for Cassar. After starting his head coaching career in 2014 with a 12-game unbeaten run and leading RSL to its fifth consecutive season of at least 15 wins and 50 points, injuries, suspensions and international duty left him with a thinned out roster for much of the season. The end result was an inconsistent season and an 11-15-8 record that saw RSL out of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Now with a retooled roster that features additions of Yura Movsisyan, Sunday Stephen Obayan and Chris Wingert there is plenty of optimism at Rio Tinto Stadium. But beyond the roster, Cassar also added Richie Williams to round out the coaching staff. His addition, Cassar hopes, will to stop the revolving door of assistants that have come through the RSL staff in Cassar’s previous two years that has already seen seven faces occupy the four assistant positions.
The current mix of experiences on the field and on the bench boasts a lot of potential heading into the 2016 season.
“I still don’t think we’ve seen the best from the coaching staff just yet, but we’re working really hard to come together and meet as much as we possibly can to get on the same page,” Cassar said. “I really like what the potential is there.”
The schedule to open the year will be a big challenge for Cassar and his staff. After already playing a two-legged series against Tigres UANL in CONCACAF Champions League, RSL will play a road-heavy schedule to open the year, with nine of the first 13 regular season matches coming away from home. Rio Tinto Stadium will have new grass installed after RSL hosts the Houston Dynamo on April 30 and the club won’t return to its home stadium until June 18, with five road contests in between.
In every challenge, though, Cassar sees opportunity.
“I really like where we’re headed and hopefully we can get off to a good start because it’s not going to be easy this year with nine of the first 13 away,” Cassar said. “But it’s an opportunity to put yourself in a really good position that when we do come home we can really take care of business and it could turn out really well for us.”
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