Real Salt Lake’s meeting with the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night at the StubHub Center in the Knockout Round of the MLS Cup Playoffs is a game 12 months in the making for an RSL side that fell well short of what have become lofty expectations for the Claret-and-Cobalt. In missing the postseason for the first time since 2007 last year, RSL needed to get back to the drawing board, to have everyone in the locker room reassess their focus on what it takes to get back to the club’s place as one of the MLS elite.
Tuesday on the Bill Riley Show on ESPN 700, RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar put that 12-month journey to words when Riley asked about the
“I love it. It was one of our major goals at the end of last season, to be honest with you. We got together as a coaching staff with ownership and made an obvious goal, which was returning to the playoffs,” Cassar said. “We’ve achieved that and we feel very good about that. We have a wonderful opportunity in front of us and we’re going to seize that moment.”
RSL got into the postseason without a win in the final seven games of the season, a testament to just how much the team accomplished in the first 27 matches of the season. However, that final stretch doesn’t present a situation that gives oddsmakers much faith in Salt Lake.
In RSL’s locker room, though, the confidence is still high that the players that propelled the club to the second-best record in the league through 27 games can make a run in the postseason.
“What I am a firm believer in is the players we have on this team and the talent we have on this team to get the job done not just in this game, but throughout the playoffs on the way to the MLS Cup,” Cassar said. “It would have been nice to win and it would have been nice to be hosting a game rather than being here in LA. But the fact of the matter is that we’re in the playoffs.”
A big issue for Salt Lake in the final seven matches has been finishing. With just two goals in the final six games, the offense sputtered through the final two months. Now with a renewed energy, the Claret-and-Cobalt stares down the Knockout Round matchup with the focus on getting things sorted out offensively, particularly when goals are so hard to come by in the playoffs anyway.
“It’s just quality. When you get into the final third, things tighten up defensively for us. The final ball has to be perfection. The final product has to be perfection,” Cassar said. “We have to strive for that and we have to think that every opportunity that we get, we have to put away. Because they’re not going to come as much as you want, especially in the playoffs.”
Kickoff on Wednesday night is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. MT with live local coverage on KMYU and nationally on Unimas. To hear the full interview, click here.
