RSL and Galaxy Meet Again, Fight to a Draw

RSL's Luke Mulholland in the second half of Saturday's action. (realsaltlake.com)

This afternoon I finally got over being bummed that I couldn't make the match last Saturday and fired up the DVR to take it in.  It was honestly about what I expected from an RSL vs Galaxy match.  A tight, methodical. sometimes physical affair with both teams seemingly afraid to risk to make a big mistake.  Ironically, both of the day's goals came off of mistakes on the part of both sides.

Of course the Galaxy actually made the first mistake of the match not even two minutes after the opening whistle.  Joao Plata caught Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez deep in his own end and swiped the ball, darting toward what looked like might be an easy finish.  Unfortunately, Plata snatched his ball wide of the post.  That goal would have come in handy at the end.

However, you have to like RSL scoring off of a set piece, which they did in the 19th minute.  Plata hit Sabo in the box with a cross, and well, the Galaxy seemed to think that RSL's big man was off lounging in the Costa Rican sun, because he was as unmarked as you can be. It what must have been like training move, Sabo took the ball down, set it, and smacked it into the back of the net making it 1-0 to RSL.

Unfortunately, the home side were not functioning to perfection on the back line either, and it cost RSL the lead and eventually a point..  Chris Wingert lost the ball around the midfield stripe on 35 minutes and Juninho recovered for the Galaxy.  He dropped the ball off to Robbie Keane, who sprinted toward the RSL goal.  Chris Schuler did a pretty decent job trying to stay in front of Keane and force him wide a bit, but in the end he just became the latest defender to get juked out of his shoes by the Ireland captain as Keane discarded him and put the ball past Nick Rimando with a clinical finish to tie the match at 1-1.

So both goals were well taken, and both sides made a mistake that cost them.  It's not really a surprise.  These clubs are just too good to let big mistakes go unpunished.  There were no further goals in the second half but there was some controversy and talking points.

First off, RSL had a pretty decent penalty case for a penalty, when Dan Gargan clearly held Sabo in the box with two hands on a cross.  Supposedly MLS is looking to crack down on some of that, but not this time.  Second, Sabo was shown the yellow card in the 63rd minute for a rather nasty hit on AJ DeLaGarza that featured a raised leg as he sent the LA defender to the floor in frustration.  Now, Bruce Arena is calling it dirty play and said Sabo was deliberately tying to injure DeLaGarza.  I watched it, slow motioned it, and checked out Simon Borg's thoughts on the "Instant Replay" segment.  I don't think Sabo was trying to hurt him, but as much as I just wanted to be able to see it as something clumsy that a forward might do, there was obviously a frustration involved and bringing the leg into it does make it worse.  Arena wants a ban, and he and the Galaxy openly called for it after the match, which I'm not a fan of.  This whole retroactive punishment thing has turned into a situation where players and coaches now OPENLY lobby for bans and fines after the match has ended, and that needs to stop.  It undermines the referee on the pitch and comes across as very whiny, I don't care who is doing it.  In this case, the referee gave Sabo a yellow, which I personally think was the correct call.  However, I wouldn't be surprised to see the league hit Sabo with a one or two game ban.  I don't agree with that kind of thing where the play was already given a card on the pitch because it takes away the referee's discretion.  It should be as hard to get a ban after a play has already been punished as it is to get a red card or ban rescinded, in my opinion, but we'll see what the league does, likely Thursday or Friday.

All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the performance, though I think it was a tremendous lost opportunity to get the Galaxy right after a CCL loss and without their main 'keeper in net.  Last year we ended up regretting dropped points at home to Chicago and Sporting KC.  I wonder if we might regret this one similarly later on down the road.  However, the Galaxy deserve a massive amount of credit for coming in and locking horns with RSL, and taking their first point back home to LA.

So finally, here are my three stars for the match:

FIRST STAR--Alvaro Saborio, RSL.  I really hope Sabo can stay healthy this year.  He was a beast on Saturday and the Galaxy had lots of trouble with him.  He seems to be in a good frame of mind and looks to be really up for it this year.

SECOND STAR--Robbie Keane, LAG.  I hate it when he does what he does to us, but man, his skills are pretty amazing.  The way he just discarded Schuler and scored the goal past Rimando was the work of a master.

THIRD STAR--Chris Schuler, RSL.  Schuler bares no fault for the goal, that's on Wingert.  However, it is so great to see him back on the pitch.  If he can rekindle what we saw from him in the playoffs last year, he's going to be a beast for RSL at the back and who knows, future captain maybe?  I'm always much more comfortable when I see him next to Nat, the bearded one.

Don't forget to join us, yes even me, at the RioT on Saturday against Michael Bradley, Jermaine Defoe, and TFC.  Pop 'round to section 30 and give me a holler.  I'm next to the guy who brings all the cool tifos.