Win, lose or draw, Real Salt Lake General Manager Craig Waibel turns a critical eye on the previous match. How can things get better for the next match? What can be done differently in practice?
So playing the “What if?” game is nothing new to the GM, particularly when his eyes turn to RSL’s 1-0 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday when Salt Lake played without midfield playmaker Javier Morales.
“I play it every week. I’ve been playing it for seven months. It’s a pretty exhausting exercise. We naturally question every decision we make,” Waibel said on his weekly interview with The Bill & OC Show on ESPN 700. “I work with the coaching staff every week and I question some of the decisions they’ve made during the week and they question some of the decisions I’ve made during the week as well. We’re pretty good at the ‘What if?’ game. We just need to get a bit more consistent in our results so we don’t have to play it.”
Waibel is hopeful that Morales will be available when RSL meets the Colorado Rapids in a nationally-televised match on Sunday with the Rocky Mountain Cup on the line at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Like RSL, Colorado is on the outside looking in on the MLS Cup Playoffs, but striving to get above the red line. That, Waibel said, makes for an intriguing match.
“It is a playoff game. I think this one will be one of those really feisty games between the two. Both teams have to win. It’s not a game where either team can sit back and rely on a point,” Waibel said. “We have to get three points. They have to get three points. There has to be attacking soccer played and quite frankly we’ve been good lately when we’ve attacked. We’ve got to continue that and we’ve got to emphasize that we’ve got to continue playing to our strengths.”
Sunday’s match kicks off at 5 p.m. MT with national TV coverage on Fox Sports 1. For the full interview click here.
