REAL SALT LAKE WASHED OUT BY WHITECAPS FC IN 0-3 LOSS
RSL’s Red Card Woes Continue with MF Collen Warner’s 43rd Minute Ejection;
Whitecaps FC FW Camilo Notches Twice from Penalty Spot to Down Visitors
VANCOUVER (Thursday, October 6, 2011)– The recent red card woes for Real Salt Lake struck once again tonight in Vancouver, as a 43rd minute ejection to MF Collen Warner turned the tide in an eventual 0-3 defeat to Whitecaps FC in front of 20,113 fans at the newly-renovated BC Place. The loss was the fourth consecutive for Real Salt Lake and brought to an end a grueling stretch of six games in 20 days for the Utah side.
Real Salt Lake (15-11-6, 51 pts.) and Whitecaps FC (5-16-10, 25 pts.) played the first half nearly evenly in terms of quality chances up until the pivotal call from referee Chris Penso just before the half, as the arbiter deemed Warner’s attempt to block a shot while on the ground next to the goalline a deliberate handball. The controversial call not only left RSL a man down, but also set up Vancouver striker Camilo with a spot kick, which he buried after sending RSL netminder Nick Rimando the wrong way to put the home side up 1-0 heading into the halftime break.
Another debatable handball call against RSL, this time against DF Chris Schuler as he stood on the edge of the penalty area, set up Camilo once again in the 53rd minute, and although Rimando got a hand as he dove to his left the effort still was not enough to keep the ball out of the back of the net. Real Salt Lake seemed to find its attacking legs in the final 20 minutes and began to apply more pressure on the Whitecaps FC penalty area, but a break against the run of play in the 88th minute set up MF Nizar Khalfan to finish off the match, which he did with a blast from 25 yards out that beat Rimando inside his left post.
Tonight’s loss leaves Real Salt Lake no margin for error if it hopes to catch Seattle Sounders FC (57 pts.) for second place in the Western Conference, as any point gained by Seattle from its last three contests means the best RSL can hope for is to maintain its third-place status on the conference table. In order to keep the West’s third and final automatic qualifying spot, RSL needs to maintain its lead on FC Dallas (46 pts.) which does have a game in hand on the Utah side heading down the stretch drive. Click here for the up-to-the-minute MLS Cup Playoffs standings.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes
- Real Salt Lake was forced to replay tonight’s match in Vancouver during the FIFA International window, meaning the squad had to do without the services of national team performers M/F Jean Alexandre (Haiti), MF Kyle Beckerman (USA), MF Will Johnson (Canada) and FW Álvaro Saborío (Costa Rica). RSL also was resigned to missing regular contributors DF Tony Beltran (injury), FW Fabian Espíndola (caution accumulation suspension) and MF Yordany Alvarez (immigration issues) leading up to the match, and had another roster setback during the trip to Vancouver, as MF Arturo Alvarez was dismissed from the squad on Monday in order to tend to a death in his family.
- Alexandre and Haiti will pick up CONCACAF region qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Friday at the U.S. Virgin Islands and Johnson and his Canadian side will do the same at St. Lucia, while Saborío and Costa Rica will host a high-profile friendly against Brazil in San Jose. On Saturday it will be Beckerman’s turn to represent when the United States welcome Honduras to Miami for an inter-region friendly (4:00 p.m. MT, live on FOX Soccer). GK Nick Rimando will join up with the rest of the USA squad over the weekend and will be considered for selection when the U.S. moves up the east coast in preparation for next Tuesday’s exhibition against Ecuador at Red Bull Arena.
- The roster turnover allowed RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis to give playing time to a pair of young strikers, Chris Agorsor and Cody Arnoux. The 21-year-old Agorsor made his MLS debut with an energetic 11-minute stint off the bench, while the former Whitecaps product Arnoux logged 45 minutes in place of Paulo Jr. for his second league appearance with the Claret-and-Cobalt (made debut on 9/03 v. PHI).
- The roster hardship wasn’t just limited to the field, as a bout of food poisoning on gameday forced Kreis to take in the match from a booth on the BC Place media level, leaving Assistant Coach Jeff Cassar to take the coaching cues from Kreis via radio on the sideline.
- Tonight’s defeat sent Real Salt Lake to its first four-game losing streak in more than four years, the last occasion coming all the way back during the beginning of the “Jason Kreis Era” in July of 2007.
- The loss also evened Real Salt Lake’s record in league play on artificial surfaces to 2-2-0 on the year, which also included a 0-1 defeat at Portland on April 30 and wins on April 9 at New England (2-0 W) and Sept. 10 at Seattle (2-1 W). RSL’s overall road record dropped to 5-8-3 on the campaign with tonight’s setback.
- The red card issued to MF Collen Warner was the seventh shown to a Real Salt Lake player this season, and the fourth in its last nine contests, dating back to DF Nat Borchers’ dismissal at Chivas USA on Aug. 27. The 43rd minute ejection was the fifth consecutive issued to an RSL player during the first half. Eight of the 35 goals allowed by the Claret-and-Cobalt this season have come in the 292 minutes the Utah side has played while a man down.
- The penalty kicks awarded to Vancouver tonight marked the fifth and sixth kicks from the spot against Real Salt Lake this season, now tied for the third most allowed in MLS (NE with 8, VAN with 7).
- Records and form are always thrown out the window when Real Salt Lake meets up with its next opponent, the Colorado Rapids (11-9-12, 45 pts.; 5th in West). The second installment of 2011’s Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry – and RSL’s final away contest of the 2011 regular season – will take place next Friday, Oct. 14, and the 8:30 p.m. MT kickoff from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park can be seen live nationwide on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
RSL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 3 : 0 REAL SALT LAKE
RSL ASSISTANT COACH JEFF CASSAR
(Thoughts on Match)
“Well, we put ourselves behind the eight ball early with two PK calls and we didn’t react extremely well from that. The effort just quite wasn’t up to par. You could tell Vancouver came out with a little bit of edge and once that PK happened with the ejection, we were really forced into a situation that we didn’t want to be in.”
(On the first Penalty)
“We saw the review of it and it definitely hits Collen Warner’s hand and I think the call is fine, a little bit debatable, but I think the red card ejection was a bit harsh. I talked to the fourth official and he said the referee though that Collen had intentionally did it, we feel differently, but that’s how it goes.”
(Undisciplined Lately)
“We have been a little undisciplined whether it has been on set plays or not focusing on the details and again with the red card, with not defending the set play well, silly foul that leads to the set play, what we need is a good week of training to prepare for Colorado.”
(Being short-handed)
“The penalty ejection definitely hurt, but it gives us more options off the bench for when these things do happen. We were a bit thin in the midfield as with Alverez’s grandmother passing away, so we didn’t have as many options as we wanted to, especially down a goal”.
(Play of late)
“It’s fair, it is concerning, but we feel we have the leadership in the locker room to overcome that and once we get everybody back and healthy, we feel good about ourselves, but we will have to put it in on training starting Monday.”
RSL DEFENDER NAT BORCHERS
(Thoughts on the match)
“I don’t think Vancouver outplayed us, I think we outplayed ourselves and we made a few silly mistakes.”
“I thought in the first half, for the most part, we dominated possession but we gave away a few silly balls and we didn’t respond well. That was the difference in the game.”
(On why his team was unable to get a result)
“I don’t know if that was a hand ball, but we put ourselves in that situation and for the rest of the game we were chasing it and its frustrating.”
RSL MIDFIELDER JAVIER MORALES
(Thoughts on the match)
“It was a tough game. We were down a man and losing 1-0 and it was difficult to play with only 10 players.”
(On the rest of the season)
“It’s better to lose now than later. The playoffs are coming so we have to improve right now and figure this out as soon as possible so we’re ready for the playoffs.”
“It’s difficult when you lose and we’ve lost the last three games so it’s hard to get into good form.”
RSL MIDFIELDER ANDY WILLIAMS
(Thoughts on the match)
“I thought we possessed the ball well in the first half and then the whole game changed after the red card. I thought it was a questionable call, but we dug ourselves into a hole and that’s the way the game went.”
WHITECAPS FC HEAD COACH TOM SOEHN
(Thoughts on match)
“It was an encouraging performance. When we look back at the last one, it was easy to leave angry and disappointed but today, we came through and did all the little things to win you ball games. We were compact, we were aggressive, they had some possession in the final third but whenever they penetrated, we did a good job of closing it down and creating turnovers leading to our opportunities. So on the whole it was a real positive day, especially for some of the new guys who got in”.
(Thoughts on players stepping up)
“I thought Long Tan had a really good day up top, he worked hard and created a lot. Mitchell coming in at the back gave us some bite and athleticism and he did a good job communicating. But all in all, the group effort was a really good performance”.
(Thoughts on Jordan Harvey playing left midfield)
“Yeah, he’s had some experience with that. What we wanted to do with that was make sure our shape was good. RSL is a really good possession team. They do a really good job of isolating the triangle in the middle and causing problems, so Jordan did a pretty job of filtering that out and he had a really good performance today”.
(On giving players additional playing time)
“The message is clear. The team’s that work hard and fight win games and if you do that, nine out of 10 times you put yourself in a good spot to win games and that group did a good job and you want to reward guys for hard work”.
(Thoughts on Gershon Koffie)
“He did a great job in the middle. I almost always overshadow him because I get used to his good performances, but he does such a good job of following guys and holding the ball up and he even started getting into the attack, and they had to try and slow him up a bit. He’s continuing to grow not only as a player, but also as a person and he continues to put strong performances in.”
WHITECAPS FC DEFENDER ALAIN ROCHAT
(Thoughts on tonight’s match)
“It was very important for us. We are very happy… Finally, the performance came, but we were also lucky on scoring two penalty kicks. I hope we can start building something now for next season”.
(Thoughts on Jordan Harvey)
“Jordan was great to play with, he knows how to defend, so we had some switches in the game and it worked well”.
WHITECAPS FC DEFENDER JAY DEMERIT
(Thoughts on the match)
“Tonight we had a chance not only to get the lead, but to also keep it. It was a complete performance, one of the few this season, so you take these games and you make sure that you find out why that happened so you can experience that again”.
(Thoughts on the team’s defending)
“I think a lot of it, most times, is just getting guys behind the ball, defending as a team. When you win the ball you break and try to create chances on your own. The team that usually scores the most goals usually has the best 11 defenders”.
(On the penalty)
“Huge. I was a little bit disappointed because I was the one about to score, but other than that I will take 10 men and a penalty over that any day of the week. It was a good performance by all the guys, especially when they haven’t been called upon too often this season. I thought they did a fantastic job and congratulations to them”.
(On Camilo)
“It was good, he is out there for a reason. He’d a natural goalscorer. Natural scorers put it in the net and that is what he did for us”.
WHITECAPS FC FORWARD CAMILO
(Thoughts on the match)
“I think it was good. We came back after losing our last two games at home. I think our team controlled more of the ball. We took more shots and scored”.
(On taking over the team scoring lead)
“For me, it’s good, but [Eric] is the big player on the team. Since we are younger players and he is older, he shows us everything, so he has been very good for me”.
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