On Friday against club legend and former Head Coach Jason Kreis' Orlando City SC, Real Salt Lake didn’t give up many opportunities. RSL held the former World Player of the Year Kaká without a shot on goal, and Cyle Larin was devoid of major chances. Despite the 1-0 loss, RSL executed a game plan that limited the Lions offensively. Head Coach Mike Petke reiterated that while this team may not have gotten the result, his takeover of the Claret-and-Cobalt is a process.
“It is going to take a while. Even Jason Kreis was telling me as we were walking in from the tunnel, the first year and a half he had this team, it is going to take time to make this my team,” Petke said postgame. “I am sure some people will not see the positives in the loss at the beginning. The only two games I did not see a positive in was Dallas and Houston. Everything else I have seen very big positives and it is going to take a while. I am okay with that. I am not shaking and panicking.”
Before Friday’s defeat, RSL had won three straight at home, beating New York City FC and posting back-to-back 1-0 shutouts of Philadelphia and Minnesota. Quick fixes didn’t pop out of nowhere. Instead, Petke and his coaching staff has incrementally established tenets for how he wants the team to play. Against Orlando, RSL was finding success on the outside.
“Well it is one of the couple things I can take a positive out of is that we worked on a couple of specific things this week and one of them was changing the point of attack quickly and directly because mainly the staple with a Jason Kreis team is to trap on the sideline. Almost get completely over and I think we did that and had some very good plays with Brooks [Lennon] and Chris Wingert overlapping, and [Joao] Plata coming in and Danny Acosta getting forward,” the RSL Boss explained.
Plata had multiple chances developed from the team’s wide activity. Nick Rimando nearly caught the Lions asleep defensively, when his outlet to the Ecuadorian sent him in on goal. Lennon found spaces to serve in crosses, but they couldn’t apply the finishing touch. And RSL’s most notable opportunity came from Jefferson Savarino coming from a wide position centrally to test Joe Bendik from 30 yards.
Though Salt Lake couldn’t break through, chances are being created, and fortunately enough, reinforcements are coming. Albert Rusnák is back after starring for the Slovakian national team at UEFA’s Under-21 Tournament. The dynamic playmaker logged 13 minutes in relief of Luis Silva. As he jells with Savarino, Plata and Lennon on the wings, the attack could be poised to break through as the season continues.
Captain Kyle Beckerman summed up the situation well concerning how this team has to approach its upcoming match against the LA Galaxy.
“[We put in] A lot of good work. I don’t think they had much besides their goal, and we had a lot of action in their area. To not get one, it’s just frustrating,” Beckerman said. “We’ll just keep at it.”
