Real Salt Lake earned its second straight victory on Saturday, this one coming in come-from-behind fashion against the rival Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. On a week when RSL had a slew of injuries to contend with, the Claret-and-Cobalt got the job done with a workmanlike effort and never-say-die attitude.
For that, RSL Head Coach Mike Petke was named to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week, the first time this season that RSL has been represented with the weekly honor in the coaching department after previously placing three players on the team.
“It shows they have the desire and energy, and compete until the last whistle. With a league like this, it comes down to not giving up and pushing until last minute,” Petke said after the match. “Compared to last week, today was kind of a bit of a step backwards but we found the way to win. Time to get back on track and play the style we like to play.”
Among the players selected were goalkeeper Tim Melia (Sporting Kansas City); defenders Ronald Matarrita (New York City FC), Johnathan Spector (Orlando City), Ike Opara (Sporting Kansas City) and Nicolai Naess (Columbus Crew SC); midfielders Ilie Sanchez (Sporting Kansas City), Will Johnson (Orlando City) and Justin Meram (Columbus Crew SC); and forwards Fredy Montero (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Nemanja Nikolic (Chicago Fire) and Luis Solignac (Chicago Fire).
For more on this week’s selections, click here.
Team of the Week
Week 4: Matt VanOekel
Week 6: Albert Rusnák and Yura Movsisyan
Week 7: Mike Petke
