Real Salt Lake is now about two-thirds of the way through the season and, slowly but surely, has climbed back within three points of a spot in the MLS Cup playoffs with 11 matches left on the regular season schedule.
Head Coach Jeff Cassar was beaming with optimism as RSL enters that final stretch.
“There’s a lot of soccer to be played,” Cassar said in his weekly appearance on The Bill & OC Show on ESPN 700. “Even if we win on Saturday, the next game is just as important. Then the next game is just as important. We just have to go about our business and pick up as many points as we possibly can.”
Over the last two months, RSL has seen a steady improvement on the field. In the 13 matches since a 0-0 draw against the Colorado Rapids at Rio Tinto Stadium on June 7, RSL has gone 7-3-3 in all competitions. That includes three wins to put RSL in the Open Cup semifinal and another road win in CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday.
While that equates to just a 3-3-3 record in MLS play, Cassar has been happy with the play on the field, particularly while the club dealt with absences of Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Elias Vasquez and Demar Phillips to international duty and Jordan Allen, Chris Schuler and Jamison Olave to injury. With all of the players now back from the Gold Cup and the three injured players nearing returns, things are coming together the way the club hoped they would at this stage in the season.
“If you look at the last two months of soccer that we’ve played and we’ve played some very good soccer and gotten some good results. Even the couple games we have lost in the last couple of months, we’ve played good, attractive soccer,” Cassar said. “I really like where we’re at. The team spirit is good. Everyone’s contributing. We’re in the semifinals of the Open Cup on Wednesday. A win on Saturday, we’re in the playoffs. And we won our first round of Champions League on the road in Municipal.”
One of the triggers to the recent success has been the offense becoming a cohesive unit and scoring goals at the rate the club hoped to see from the beginning of the season.
Sebastian Jaime opened his scoring account and has four goals and two assists in his last seven MLS matches. Javier Morales has contributed two goals and six assists in his last seven MLS matches. The duo has also combined for three goals in the Open Cup.
However, the biggest boost has come from Joao Plata. He had a goal and an assist in the first Open Cup match against Seattle Sounders FC 2 of the USL and finally broke onto the scoreboard in MLS on July 18 against Houston. In his last six starts, he has three goals and four assists in MLS play and added the game-winning goal against Municipal on Saturday.
While the results are more evident, Cassar noticed more success for Plata earlier on the schedule.
“I think he was doing it before. Sometimes the goal closes up, goalkeepers make good saves. I had been saying all along that it’s going to happen,” Cassar said. “He’s getting fitter. He’s playing 90 minutes now in every game, which is fantastic. He’s doing a great job as well as all of our players. I knew this time was coming. All of our forwards are really doing a good job. I think we’re going to be very, very strong.”
RSL takes on Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday at BC Place, with TV coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. MT on KMYU.
To hear the full interview, click here.
