It was a great night to be a Real Salt Lake supporter last Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium. Again, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a Real Salt Lake supporter, so I'm not going to say that this entry is unbiased, because it probably is very biased.
Anyway, with that out of the way.....
We arrived at the pitch about a half hour before kick off, which was good, because it gave me a chance to go into the RSL team store and pick up the new VICTORY GOLD SCARF. Like most footy fans, I'm a scarf fanatic. The traveling LA supporters were awesome. Kudos to them. Not all MLS clubs have good traveling contingents, but the Galaxy sure do, and that's great. They were passionate and supportive of their club through the whole match, and that proved to be a tall order right from the kick off.
In just the 2nd minute of play, Andy Williams (Bomma to us RSL fans) went all Charlie Sheen on a Paulo Jr. ball and put it into the back of the net, giving RSL a 1-0 lead and sending the RioT into an early frenzy. It didn't get any better for the Galaxy either. In the 9th minute, LA Keeper Josh Saunders took Paulo Jr. down in the box resulting in a yellow card for himself and PK for RSL. Javier Morales promptly converted from the spot in the next minute.
So, now down 2-0, LA settled down a little bit, but never really looked to be in the match. The altitude is always a factor for visitors in SLC, and the weather Saturday night was about 40 degrees with a slushy rain. Not exactly California. In our section, we were speculating about whether David Beckham felt like he was back in England or not. In fact, Beckham really looked like about the only Galaxy player to show up. Every time he got on the ball, he did something dangerous with it. However, Nick Rimando gobbled up everything that came in toward the goal, and it really didn't look like LA was even interested in trying to get on the end of the Beckham services. Their lack of interest cost them further when Morales scored his second goal of the match in the 41st minute, taking RSL into the half with a 3-0 lead.
The second half really didn't work out a lot better for LA. David Beckham finally talked himself into a yellow card, and the match got a little chippy on both sides as the Galaxy started to show their frustration. Clearly they hadn't played anybody that can really score goals yet this season, because the LA defense got schooled and Paulo Jr., Morales, and Fabian Espindola were driving the bus. In the 68th minute, Paulo Jr. earned his first league goal as he got onto the end of a cross from Espindola and eased it into the back of the net, 4-0 to Real Salt Lake.
The only bright point for LA came much too late, when Juan Pablo Angel finally did something to earn his paycheck and got onto the end of a gorgeous ball from Beckham and made it 4-1, which was the score at full time.
So what do we take from this? Well LA fans will surely say "We didn't have Landon, so it's not that bad." I have news for you, I was there, in the fourth row, and unless Landycakes was going to show up, play defense, score goals, and keep goal, LA was in serious trouble. RSL was better on defense, offense, and in midfield. Not to mention, RSL was without Saborio and Will Johnson. With those guys in, it might have been 6-1. On a side note though, what idiot at MLS decided to put this, a marquis matchup, on the same weekend as a FIFA International Date? I loved seeing Beckham play, and I wish I could have seen Landycakes as well.
I don't know that anybody is doubting the quality of LA yet. They need to get Ricketts back. I don't see Saunders getting it done in goal against a quality attack.
For RSL, more of the same boys, but save some for CONCACAF Champions League!
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