USA vs Guatamala

First off, Colorado soccer fans are terrible. I bet there were less than 4,000 people there at the game. What a joke.

Here are the player grades:
Brad Guzan, Thorrington Clarence Goodson, Michael Parkhurst Johnathan Bornstein - 7 - I think the entire defense played well. They showed up, did their job, didn't do anything stupid and didn't allow any goals.

Freddy Adu - 8 - Awesome goal off the free kick in the 69th minute. What a great play by Kjlestan to go over it and what a nice kick by Adu. I personally have never been an Adu fan, simply because he was terrible in his short stint with Real Salt Lake, but the more I watch him on the National team, the more I like him.

Pablo Mastroeni - 6 - Stupid yellow card, won't play in the next WC Qualifier.

Ricardo Clark - 6 - Great feet and good ball movement. Didn't do anything spectacular.

Sacha Kjlestan - 7 - Great work getting forward and back.

Jozy Altidore - 8 - Great work getting open throughout the game. He is so strong and fast and will be a huge threat come WC 2010.

Kenny Cooper - 8 - Great play, should have had a goal in the 31st minute. Glad he scored in the second half. It was a great goal. Cooper now has two goals in three games for the US. How can he not be on every roster? It sure felt like he was playing to earn a regular spot on the team.

Subs:
Brian Ching, Conner Casey, Davy Arnaud - 5 - Didn't do much in the short time they were on the field.

While watching the game I couldn't help but wonder if any Real Salt Lake players would have made the squad had they been knocked out by Chivas. I don't see Beckerman making the team because the midfield was pretty stacked. As much as I hate Ricardo Clark and Mastroeni, I can see why they consistently get chosen - they seem to always play well for the USA. I wonder if Seitz would have made the 18-man roster, and backed up Guzan. I could see Borchers or Russell getting considered, especially basing it on their recent play. Does Yura have US citizenship? Could he have made the camp?

With that said, is it possible for Beckerman, Borchers, Russell, Findley, Seitz to make the team when we have a friendly at Rio Tinto Stadium?

Real Salt Lake vs. New York Recap

What a match. Games like this are the reason I watch soccer. It was an intense game from start to finish. I was most please with the crowd. Finally RSL got the fans they deserved. I thought RSL played extremely well and it was just one of the nights where the ball wouldn't go into the net. I think every player left what they had on the field and it seemed from the post game quotes that the players were sad, but knew that sometimes luck favors the opposing team. I think RSL has a bright future. I went to autograph alley after the game and Findley, Fabian, Deuchar and Will were there. You could see the disappointment in their faces, but at the same time, you could see that they knew they accomplished something great this year. Perhaps the best momemnt of the game was when the RSL faithful started chanting "R-S-L" after the game. Truely the best match of 2008.
GO RSL!

RSL vs New York Preview

I have been so busy lately that I barely have time to blog, but I am here now and that's all that matters. The past few weeks have been crazy. School is starting to get stressful, work is getting busy and RSL is close to winning the MLS Cup. I am still recovering from the Utah vs. TCU game, but I will be ready for the RSL vs. New York game. I think we will win because we have home field advantage - We always play well at home. True, NY has been the only team not to lose at Rio Tinto, but, RSL was so nervous on the opening night and we played terrible. We will be able to settle down and attack all night long. I have really thought all our players have played really lately and that is why we are in the Western Conference Championship. Yura has been amazing, Clint has been good. Javi has played like the MVP he deserved. Dema has played amazing, despite people wanting Andy to start in front of him. Kyle has been a true leader. Will has only fueled the fire. Joy has been solid. Olave and Nat have been unbeatable. Wingert and Russell have gotten forward in the attack yet still playing amazing D. Rimando has been amazing too. It is a shame none of our team got any postseason awards. But, I think everyone will get their reward in the form of the MLS Cup. We can win it all if we continue to have heart.

See ya the Rio on Saturday

RSL vs. Colorado Rapids Recap

Wow, what a game. This is why I love soccer. You sit in your house for 60 minutes while your team gets closer and closer to missing the playoffs and then in the 90th minute, your on-fire striker nets the game tying goal which sends RSL to the playoffs and retains the Rocky Mountain Cup.

Rimando had an excellent game. Again, he had a nice regular season but won't get recognized for it. I was a little worried when we had a 2-5-3 for the last several minutes, but I think Kries knew what he was doing when he took off the defensive players and added Findley, Williams and Russell. I think this is the reason we brought in Russell, to play D, but be an offensive threat as well, which he was. I think Russell had an awesome game. I don't think I have seen a worst half than the first half. We couldn't do anything right. As far as the controversial PK - life goes on. We have been the beneficiary of many poor calls but we have to move on. I don't think Colorado played an exceptional game either, but they have come along way. At the beginning and middle of the season, they were terrible. They have a very dynamic team and I think we got a little bit lucky, but sometimes that is what it takes to make magic happen.

Up next is Chivas USA. They are a great team, but they are kind of in a slump. After losing their starting goalie because of a red card, they will have to use their backup goalie. Another key player, Sasha Victorine, is out with injury. Former RSL striker, Alecko Eskandarian is playing very well. Former RSL players Carrey Talley and Atiba Harris also contribute to the Chivas play. Surely all three players will want to bury RSL in the first leg. Remember Chivas is the only team to actually beat RSL in Salt Lake. However, also remember that the first road win for RSL was at Chivas. It will be a showdown in both legs. I can see RSL coming out on fire because the will have reached their goal of the playoffs. I don't think they will be nervous.

Prediction:
1st leg - RSL 3 Chivas 1
2nd leg - RSL 1 Chivas 1

RSL advance 4-2 aggregate

What are your predictions?

RSL vs. New York

After having a good nights sleep I feel prepared to tackle this game. First and foremost, I am disappointed with not just the team, but a couple other factors. Lets start with the team:

Findley - What has Jason thinking bringing him on in the second half. He did absolutely nothing except turn the ball over. I don't think Russell did anything, but at least he could hold the ball.

Williams - RSL could have really used him out there. I think RSL could have scored two or three more goals if he was in.

Other than that, it was good to see Dema back. I think RSL played probably one of the worst games of the season. I think if they would have played this way on the road, they would have been smoked. They played too many balls over the top and the one time they did get on over, Yura dribbled too many times and let all the D get back to clear his shot off the line. He also hit right to the feet of the only guy standing there.

I also admit I was disappointed in the south section. I know they were yelling and cheering and chanting, but I was in the NE corner and I couldn't hear them at all. Maybe the wind held there noise in the south section, but I couldn't hear them at all. I think the atmosphere was good though, considering 70% of the people around me had never even been to a soccer game, let alone an RSL game.

And now the stadium - AWESOME. It is such a nice facility. I love it. I am very disappointed with the service though. I stood inline for a hot dog for 20 minutes at 7:00. Not bad if there were 50 people in front of me, but there were only 5 people. WOW - terrible service. My wife stood inline for 30 minutes for the roasted almonds. I am also mad they don't give fountain drinks, just cheap 20 oz. bottles = LAME.

And finally, I am really disappointed the only souvenir for the game was the small flag and cheap towels. Can't the print they same info on a T-shirt, charge 10 bucks and everyone is happy. How about a new scarf? And don't you think it would have been a top priority to get the shop in the NE corner open to sell all the RSL goods, instead of just the jerseys at the kiosks. They would have made a killing if the shop was open.

Now that I am done ranting, let's be honest. It was a fabulous game. We didn't get the result we were looking for, but the we were all entertained.

Soccer Jerseys

So I got an idea from another blog I read. The blog writer was a drummer and so he had everyone post their drum kits in the comments. I want to do a similar thing - but with soccer jerseys. I don't have any pictures yet, but here is a list of my jerseys with background.

03-05 Sheffield Wednesday Away - I got this jersey because there was a player named Steven Haslam who played for them. I got his name and number on the back because my last name is Haslam too. I got the idea because I have a friend with the last name of Owen and he had a Micheal Owen England Jersey so I search online and found there was Steven Haslam playing for Sheffield Wednesday so I got his jersey.

05 Real Salt Lake Away - I got this jersey while I was living in LA. I was on an LDS mission and found out from a member that Salt Lake had a professional soccer team. I wrote my dad and told him to send me a jersey so he did.

05 Real Salt Lake Home - I got this one in LA too. I loved my RSL away jersey so much that I had to get a home one too.

08 Real Salt Lake Home - I got this one this year because I was tired of having the original jerseys and decided to upgrade.

06-07 Real Madrid Home - My parents went to Madrid in 06 and I had them pick up this jersey for me, which is cool because it came from a Real Madrid shop. My dad said it was like walking into Fanzz but instead of all different teams, it was all Real Madrid. He also said he asked the clerk if they had an XXL and the guys eyes got real big and said in broken English "Big Boy" then went and got it from the back. I guys there aren't too many 6'4" 275 lbs guys in Spain. This is probably my favorite jersey. I love how it has Real Madrid embroidered on the back below the neckline. It also has a cool patch - "FIFA Award, Best Club XX Century"

07 LA Galaxy Blue - I say blue because it seems the Galaxy don't heed to the home and away colors. It is a Beckham jersey and I think my wife wanted me to get it more than I did. It is nice to have to bum around the house in, but I try not to wear it in public.

So there you go - What jerseys do you have? Please don't hate on anyone elses jersey collection either. This is just to see what people have, not argue about which team is better.

Real Salt Lake vs. Chivas USA Recap

After a weekend of thinking about the game, I am finally ready to write about it. It was a hard fought game which gave the 26,000+ fans a great game. To be honest, I think Rimando was at fault for the goal, but I can't help but wonder if it is because of what Olave did against New York a week ago. Was Rimando worried that Eskandarian would burn Borchers like Angel did to Olave so Rimando came out to clear it up? Either way, I feel it was a total fluke. I am more upset we didn't score. How does Movsisyan hit two or three balls right into the keepers hands? Where was Findley all game? I don't even remember him touching the ball.
In the first half, it seemed we were going over the top of the defense which is fine, but Findley kept getting outrun. Isn't he lightning fast? How does he keep getting beat? If his speed is slowing down, we need to get rid of him.
I also feel our midfield is broken from injuries. It will be nice to get Kovalenko and Espindola back so Johnson can hustle as much as he does as a forward and start putting more pressure on the opposing team defense. We need Joy and Beltran back too to let Russell take the defensive midfield role so Beckerman can get forward.

Predictions for remaining games:
@ San Jose - We should definatley win this game. If we tie, this could start a downward spiral towards the bottom of the table. RSL 2 SJ 0
@ New England - This one is tougher to call because New England is so streaky. They can blow out a team and then get smoked the next week. RSL 1 NE 1
New York - RSL has to win this one in the new stadium for the whole country to see. If nothing else, RSL will finally have respect for playing on a field without "throwball" lines. RSL 4 NY 0
FC Dallas - Second game at new stadium. Will provide a good test for RSL to see if they can win at the new stadium without all the hype. RSL 2 FCD 0
@ Rapids - RSL needs to win in order to win the Rocky Mountain Cup for the second straight year. We know they can win in Denver, but Colorado will want to avenge losing the Cup last year and missing the playoffs. Could Colorado play the spoiler role to RSL? I think not. RSL 1 CR 0 (Espindola scores the GWG after coming on in the 72 minute)

What are your predictions?

Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids

What an awesome game. It was good to see RSL actually looking like they knew how to play soccer, something they haven't done in the last two road games. I thought everyone played well, but I am really impressed with Will Johnson. He was running all over the field and looked very comfortable. I thought Russell played well, but I am still not convinced. I wish he would do something to convince me he deserves the hype he got. I thought our whole team played defense very well. I loved the game because it felt like we had a chance to score just about every possession. I feel we can take it to the Galaxy next game, especially since they will most likely be missing Donovan and Lewis for World Cup qualifying. Beckham will most likely be out to play for England in World Cup qualifying also. I think this game will be a good change for RSL to find their toad form against a weak LA team.

My Day with Real Salt Lake

I finally broke down and bought season tickets in the north goal section for next season and are close to the west side of the stadium, 9 rows up. The best part is I got to take a tour with my new friend, Andrew. Andrew was the guy who helped me with my tickets. We started off and went right to my seats, and I love them. Then we went and looked through some of the luxury suites, and they are luxurious. Andrew showed my Dave Checketts suite and it is way nice. The cool part is, it has a stairway which leads to his personal office. I didn't go into the office, but Andrew said the office has a tunnel which leads onto a platform above the player tunnel. The platform is so Checketts can present trophies to the team when we win them. I guess it is a European thing. We also went to the VIP Resturant which is about 15 rows off the pitch in the southwest corner of the stadium. The resturant will seat 650 and has a huge patio which people can go onto and watch the game. It was cool, but you have to pay big bucks, which I don't have yet. We went into the locker rooms and they are way nice. The RSL one has a hot tub and a cold tub. It was way nice. There are 3 lockerrooms which means RSL will never have to have anyone in their lockerroom. I am way stoked. The ironic part of the day is when I was going home and the TRAX stopped at Rice-Eccles where my car was parked and I saw a bus at the top of the parking lot by the ticket office. I thought to myself, "that is probably the Rapids." So I drove up there and sure enough, it was the Rapids. I won't tell you what followed, but I am sure you can imagine it.
Here are some pictures.

USA vs. Guatemala

I am trying something new this post by writing the recap while I watch the game. I turned to ESPN at 8 and found my Angels were beating the Devil Rays which is awesome, but then I turned to Galavision and it looks like the lights are out. I watched on Galavision for awhile then just turned to ESPN and it is dark there too. It feels like I am watching film of a high school football game. They are in the 7th minute and no goals yet.
It looks like Tim Howard is in goal, then Bocanegra, Onyewu, Cherundolo, Pearce on the back line, Donovan playing the right side of midfield, Bradley, Masteroeni and Lewis as midfielders Dempsey and Ching as forwards. Thats a pretty typical lineup which is very experienced.
17' - Yellow Card on Cherundolo for throwing the ball down after it went out.
Heath Pearce is having trouble keeping up with Mario Rodriguez who has been working the left side of the US back line.
In the 23' it looks like the US isn't comfortable and Guatemala is playing well. Rodriguez has gotten in behind the US three times. It seems Guatemala just possesses the ball around the midfield line and then boots a ball over the top.
28' Rameriez and Dempsey get a yellow card for pushing and shoving each other. I can now see why Carlos Ruiz is such a dirty player - every Guatemala player plays like him.
34' Ruiz dives causing Masteroeni to get a yellow.
37' Huge strike from Contreras, Howard has to make a diving save, which he did.
Halftime - The US started to gain some momentum towards the end of the second half. The only changes I would make is to sub one or both of the outside defenders. On another note, Real Salt Lake Midfielder, Andy Williams scored the game tying goal against Canada for Jamaica. Pretty cool.
No changes to start the second half. I think Eddie Lewis needs to get pulled, he hasn't done anything productive.
50' Guatemala almost scores off a fast break from a turnover from Lewis.
The ref is calling a strange game, questionable calls on both sides.
54' Ruiz almost breaks through, but Howard came off his line quickly and got the ball.
56' Again Rodriguez is giving the US trouble, this time he missed it far post. When is the US going to get some quality shots.
58' Another shot from Freddy Thompson from distance, just missed wide. Tim Howard would have had it if it was on goal.
60' Cherundolo commits a stupid foul and gets his second yellow. He was getting abused by the opposing player and the ref wasn't calling it so it he reached out of frustration and the US is now down to 10 men. Frankie Hedjuk is warming up.
62' Eddie Lewis collides with a Guatemala player and both players are down having knocked heads. Lewis had a huge gash on his head with blood spilling out.
The player who hit Lewis got a red card so now Guatemala is down to 10 men.
Beasley is coming in with Hedjuk. Lewis is off the field, hurt. Dempsey and Lewis were brought off.
Howard shanks a clearance, that is his second shank of the match.
68' Donovan gives a nice ball into the box and Onyewu puts it on goal, but the keeper made a save.
69' GOOOOOAAAAALLLL. Bocanegra scores off a corner kick from Beasley. Bocanegra was completely unmarked, there wasn't a single player within 5 feet of him in any direction.
77' Guatemala is playing tough, they want it bad. Howard came up with a nice save to force a corner. Edu comes in for Masteroeni
The annoucer just said that the US has not won a World Cup Qualifer in Guatemala.
A save by Howard off the corner.
81' Tim Howard is down, Ruiz kicked him while he had the ball. Howard gets a yellow for not shaking Ruiz hand.
US with a key possession, held the ball very well and led to a foul by Guatemala which means more time wasting. So far there have been 7 yellow cards and 2 red cards.
88' Guatemala takes a desperation shot, misses wide left.
Howard shanks another backpass, that is his third.
I don't remember the last time Donovan had a touch on the ball.
4 minutes have been added.
The US looks very very very tired.
US WINS 1-0. Tim Howard is the man of the match for me. He made really good saves which saved us the game. That is the US first win in Guatemala in a World Cup Qualifying match. What a great game, my heart is beating a million miles an hour. I am glad the US beat Guatemala, they are such poor sports and poort soccer players. They all dive and are cheap and dirty. If you want an example of how their whole team plays, look at Carlos Ruiz, he sits on the bench for the Galaxy so maybe you won't be able to watch him. Look at his stuff from when he was with Dallas. The US now faces Cuba on Sept. 6.

RSL Intrasquad Scrimmage

My friend Jordan and I went to Quinn's Junction this morning to the RSL Intrasquad scrimmage, billed as the "Cobalt vs. Claret" game. It was awesome, there were probably around 100 people there and the setting was perfect. The weather was awesome because the sun hid behind the clouds for most of the game.
It was a fun game, Alex Nimo scored first for the white team (I guess that would be Cobalt). Deuchar, Espindola and Williams scored for the Yellow or Claret team, who won 3-1. It was fun to stand next to the field and hear what the players are saying and how much they talk to each other. I think RSL is so good because of their communication on the field. It was awesome.
Check out some pictures I took. Also, more pictures will be on my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timhaslam

Tools of the Trade Part 1

This post encompasses two big products which are broken up into little ones. The products are the Adobe Design Premium and Mac Products.

Adobe Design Premium
There are a couple of products I haven't even used, like Adobe Bridge CS3, Adobe Version Cue® CS3, Adobe Device Central CS3, and Adobe Acrobat® Connect™ To tell you the truth, I don't even know what they do!
I have used the following programs and I love them.
InDesign - I love this program. It is great. I took a class at the University of Utah that was heavily based on InDesign. It is a great program to edit documents. I used it to make newspaper articles!
Photoshop Extended - I have only touched the tip of the iceberg with Photoshop and I love it. It can do anything. Chances are, if you are reading this blog you already know Photoshop.
Illustrator - This is a great program too. I used it today to edit a PDF that was doing crazy things. I have seen some pretty cool stuff come out of Illustrator.
Flash Professional - I took a class at the University of Utah that was based on Flash. It was an intense class, but I survived. Flash is great for animating things, but it seems Flash is disappearing from the web because it is not search engine friendly. I think Flash is a good thing when used in moderation. People get too crazy with Flash and thats when things get ugly, but some pages uses Flash very well which really compliment the site.
Dreamweaver - This is where I learned how to design web pages. It is great for beginners but is limited which is why most professionals don't use it.
Fireworks - I think it is weird that Fireworks would be included in the same suite as Photoshop, but Fireworks is cool. I have used it and it is very capable of creating cool things.

Apple Products
I use a 13" MacBook at work and a 20" iMac at home with a 500GB Time Capsule to back up everything. I also have an iTouch which keeps my music in check and allows me to carry contacts and my iCal. I used to have an HP laptop and it was great until I started using Macs at school. I love Macs now and I love Leopard. I love the way Apple handles their programs and they way the conduct themselves. I don't run big things so I don't know how the performance compares, and quite frankly, as long as it does freeze I am fine. I would recommend any apple product to anyone. They are great.

Tools of the Trade (Web Design) Part 2

Since Real Salt Lake has a lengthy break ahead of the them, I figured it was time to start writing about Web Design. I am still an amateur, but here a few tools I have found that really help produce awesome pages.

TextMate - macromates.com
This is THE Text Editing tool for the Mac. If you don't have a Mac, this is one more reason to buy one. I love how easy it is to use. If there is a big folder, you can just grab it and drop it on the TextMate icon and it will open with a nice and neat directory on the left side of the pad. TextMate supports a variety of languages including the popular PHP, HTML, CSS, etc. I also love how you can get code snips and post code snips to Snipplr! (See next item)

Snipplr - snipplr.com
Snipplr is a site which you can store all your favorite coding snips. Then you can use TextMate (See above) to import them into your code. It will keep all your code on your free account and you can also search to see other peoples code which may help you complete your project.

CSS Edit - macrabbit.com/cssedit
I haven't used this much, but when I have used it, I love it. It is a very clean way to do CSS. There is a cool preview mode which will show you what you are changing while you are doing it, rather than switching to your browser and refreshing. This is great for people who have little experience with CSS because it has a menu on the right hand side. Once you choose something, the code will be automatically entered into your style sheet and it provides a great way for a beginner to learn.

CSS Mastery - www.cssmastery.com
This is an amazing book which helps me everyday. It provides real solutions to real problems and is written very well. It provides good guides to debug browser issues, hacks and filters. It is written by Andy Budd with help from Cameron Moll and Simon Collison. This is a must read for anyone who works with CSS.


Part 3: Wacom Tablet, Writemaps, xml-sitemaps

iPhone / iTouch Apps Part 2

Thanks to all of you who read Part 1, let's get started.

Facebook - A good little App for an App with lots of Apps. WOW. Once again, I am left wondering how useful it is because I don't have regular access to the internet.
Overall Grade: iPhone - A
iTouch - F without Internet, A with Internet

Twitterific - This is a great App for all those who twitter. It is very useful and keeps everyone updated!
Overall Grade: iPhone - A
iTouch - F without Internet, A with Internet

NYTimes - I do get wireless Internet at work and when I have tried to use this, it only displays the homepage and I still haven't been able to access the Sports page. (I try every day) This would be cool if it worked.
Overall Grade: A if you like just the front page of the news, F if you don't.

JirboBreak - This is a fun App which reminds me of old Nintendo games. This is the game where you have a bar at the bottom and the ball bounces around and you have to break all the bricks. I like this game because you can listen to your music while you play it (although it hiccups sometimes). I also like how you have to have your finger on the screen in order for the ball to move. Once your finger is off, the ball freezes until you get your hand back on the screen. Fun little game to waste time with.
Overall Grade: B

There you go. For now I haven't purchased an App because I don't want to! All of the above Apps are free. Thanks for reading.

iPhone / iTouch Apps Part 1

I will be the first to admit I don't have an iPhone because I can't afford it. But I do have a really cool iTouch (8GB) which I have used to download some of the new Apps in the App Store. This is my opinion about the Apps.

Google - This is a simple App, just like Google. It does exactly what I thought it would.
Overall Grade: A

Phonesaber - Very cool idea. I like how you can choose the color of the laser, but since I don't have an iPhone, it is annoying to wear headphones while waving my iTouch around. Could use more sound effects, gets boring after a while.
Overall Grade: iPhone B+
iTouch B

Remote - This is an awesome App which actually has some functionality as well as a "wow" factor from friends at a recent party. Again, I am limited because I don't have wireless internet at my house, so it's use on the iTouch is limited.
Over Grade: iPhone A+
iTouch F if you don't have wireless internet, A if you do.

Restaurants - This is a cool App which tells you the nutrition information about various food chains like A & W, Arby's, Little Ceasars. You can also find locations of the restaurants with the touch of a button. You can use this App without the internet if you don't need the maps. If you happen to eat out for every meal, it will show you your total intake of more than 10 factors on a per day basis. For example, if I ate a serving of Crazy Bread from Little Ceasars and Pad Thai Noodles with Beef from Pei Wei, I would have had 770 Calories, 33 grams of Fat, 25 Cal. from Fat, and various other stats.
Overall Grade: A-

Part 2: Facebook, Twitter, NYTimes, JirboBreak

Real Salt Lake vs. Toronto FC - Recap

Wow, what a game. This game is another reason people should be fans of soccer. The first half was exciting, but no goals were scored. Then the second half was amazing. In the 63rd minute, Chris Wingert played a free kick right into the box. Olave lost his marker and headed the ball right into the back of the net. It was awesome. There was a huge smile on his face after he scored. Then Olave fouled a TFC player right outside of the box for a free kick in the 84th minute. The TFC player kicked it right over the wall into the top corner. It was a nice shot. All the fans went quiet because a draw was looming. As soon as play resumed, RSL put everything they had into getting another goal, and they did. Beckerman received a nice through ball and shot a rocket at Sutton. Sutton knocked it out of the 18 yard box, right to Findley who juked a defender and nailed it right back into Suttons arms, but it was too hard and it went right past Sutton into the net. The crowd went wild. It was such a great game and a true turning point for RSL. For the first time in history they have a winning record (7-6-6). This win was crucial because we now have an 18 day rest which will allow the other teams in the West to creep up the table and get more points. One other note: My wife became a true fan of RSL last night. How you ask? She lost her voice from yelling so hard AND she listened to the post game show when she didn't have to. AWESOME!

Next up: Real Salt Lake @ Houston Aug. 16

Real Salt Lake vs. Toronto FC

Tonight will be a good game for Real Salt Lake. I see us getting up early and then maintaining our lead. I think we will shut out TFC, but we know that Cunningham can score at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Toronto will be without Marice Edu and Marvell Wynne due to the Olympics, which will hurt Toronto and help us. I think our new acquisition, Robbie Russell, will see no more than 15 minutes.
Predicted Lineup for RSL
GK - Rimando
DF - Joy, Borchers, Olave, Wingert
MF - Kovalenko, Beckerman, Morales, Williams
FW - Findley, Deuchar

Subs
Russell for Joy or Wingert in 75 minute
Nunez for Findley in second half
Cutler if a midfielder needs relief

Real Salt Lake Players in the SLC

On Saturday, my wife and I went to Red Robin in Salt Lake and we saw Nick Rimando getting some food. My wife wanted me to take a picture with him, but I didn't want to bug him. The funny thing is, about a month earlier, my wife and I saw Kyle Beckerman and Chris Wingert at Cafe Rio in Salt Lake. It is cool to see the players because they are so chill and nice and aren't stuck up like other professional athletes. I have a buddy who is a huge Real fan and he said, "I guess I need to eat at restaurants in Salt Lake more often."

Real Salt Lake vs. Deportivo Saprissa - Recap

I thought it was a good game. It was fun to be there and I think RSL played really well, despite the 2-1 loss.
I thought Reynish played okay and was glad Wingert scored. Once I saw him make a run from midfield, I knew he was going to score.
I thought Nimo played really well too. He looked comfortable on the ball.
Can we get Acosta a jersey with his name on it. It's not like this is his first time in a Real jersey, put his name on the back please.
Mantilla, it's time to move on. I think with the signing of Russell, your days are numbered.
I thought we could have won this game, but oh well. I know we will be ready for Toronto.
I love how we have players are every position who can play well and I love our depth. I am not worried whenever we bring a sub off the bench, because he probably started at least a couple of games. I think Kreis and Garth have really done a great job putting the team together. I don't see why we can't win the MLS Cup, or at least get to it. As long as we remain solid at home and are able to draw on the road, we will be in the MLS Cup for sure.

Real Salt Lake vs. Deportivo Saprissa

On Wednesday, Real Salt Lake will face Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rico at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Here is what I could dig up about Saprissa, most of my info is from Wikipedia so it could be right or wrong.

Keepers:
José Francisco Porras - Captain of the Costa Rican National Team
Fausto González - known as "El Golero Loco" for his attempts to confuse rivals during penalty shots.
Keylor Navas - Promising young player.

Defense:
Víctor Cordero - Plays for Costa Rican National Team
Gabriel Badilla - Rumored to be talking with the New England Revolution. Young player who is on the Costa Rican National Team.

Midfield:
Walter Centeno Corea - Played for AEK Athens FC who participated in the 2002 Champions League. Has 107 Caps for the Costa Rican National Team.

Forward:
Rónald Gómez - Has 83 caps and 24 goals for the Costa Rican National Team.

It seems about half of the team plays for the Costa Rica National Team. Saprissa has fans which call themselves "The Purple Ultra"
Saprissa has two major highlights, one being the fact they finished 3rd in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup behind Sao Paulo FC and Liverpool FC and the other highlight was when Saprissa became the first Latin American soccer team to travel around the world.
The team has been dubbed "The Purple Monster" by Costa Rican press.

It should be a good game for the RSL Reserves. I see Kries using a similar lineup as he did with the Santos game - a few starters start the game and most of the reserves get action.

I think if we go up 2-0 after half, Reynish will get some time in goal.

I wonder if the atmosphere in the stadium will be similar to the Santos game.

Real Salt Lake v. Chicago

I didn't get to watch the game because my dad bought a fishing boat, so we went fishing at Strawberry Reservoir. I was relieved when my phone finally got service and I got a text saying we drawed, 0-0. Judging by the recap on the RSL page, it sounded like we played an awesome game, both offensively and defensively. Since I was not there, it is hard to comment on the game, but I do have to say I love Beltran either starting at defense or being subbed in as a midfielder. I love how dynamic he can be. I also love starting the game with Yura and Nunez up top and then subbing Findley and Kenny in the second half. I think Findley plays harder when he is a sub and I don't think Yura has time to get into the game when he comes on as a sub.
When I came home from fishing, I watched the Galaxy versus Red Bulls highlights. It seemed it was a constant shot fest. I loved Donovans goal though, he is quality. I know a lot of people don't like him, but there will come a day when he does something HUGE for the U.S. and people will have to like him.
Up next for RSL: some Costa Rican team on Pioneer Day!

Real Salt Lake v. Columbus Crew - Recap

First Place....Finally.
It has been a long time coming for Real Salt Lake and I am glad it finally happened. They will need to continue to play tough, especially on the road, if they want to keep first place. I think they will make the playoffs for sure, regardless of what place they are in.
I think Rimando had a great game. I like how he thanked his defenders and gave them credit in his post-game interviews.
My new favorite player is Jamison Olave. He is unstoppable. He reminds me of Onyewu, big, fast, strong, unbeatable. I love Borchers too, him and Olave are unbeatable.
I think Joy played well, and I thought Beltran could have done a little better. I think he did an awesome job of shutting Robbie Rogers down. I really like how Joy ran to the North Goal after the game and applauded the crowd, what a class act.
The midfield played really well too. Morales free kick in the opening of the game really set the tone and didn't allow Columbus to come back. It was a welcome sight to see Stugis back. He was so solid in the first couple of games he played.
Yura and Nunez played okay. I think Nunez needs to shoot more. The decision to bring on Findley and Deuchar was amazing. I knew one of them was going to score when they came on and they both almost did. Findleys speed and Deuchars post up ability and height really make a difference, especially when they are playing against tired guys.
The decision to make Kries sit in a box and have communication almost seems like a reward, rather than a punishment. I think it would be a huge advantage to get a birds eye view of my teams formations and posistions and then tell the guys on the bench what to do.

Next Up:
RSL at Chicago Fire

Fly-Fishing

My dad called me at 5:45 on Friday and said, "we are going fishing in thirty minutes, are you coming?" I said sure so we went. My dad, my brother and my nephew went to the Weber River and I was the only one who caught a fish. It was my nephews first time fly-fishing and he said it was fun.

Chivas USA vs. L.A. Galaxy

Just a quick post.
I think the Galaxy will beat Chivas 3-2.
Also, I heard on World Soccer Daily that 4% of the Brazil GDP is from exporting soccer players. I don't know if that is true or not, but it's an interesting thought.

Real Salt Lake vs. Santos Laguna

So RSL lost 4-1 to Santos last night. I think that is an okay result. I wasn't mad or anything that we lost because it gave fans and coaches the chance to see how reserve players have progressed. With that said, here is a few brief notes and ratings for each posistion:

Goal - Chris Seitz - 7 - played pretty well. I thought he was hesitant to come off his line sometimes. Had some really good saves. The goals that went in were great shots that any keeper would have had trouble with.

Defense - 5 - Woeful. Possibly the worst defense all year. I think a combination of factors played into this one. I think they did to us what we want to do to other teams - that is play a long ball over the top to Findley and have him juke his defender to be one on one with the goalie. The own goal looked like it took a bad deflection off our player. In the second half, I couldn't tell if Wingert or Beltran was playing on the right side, it looked like they kept switching. I think we were slower than their guys so they made us pay for it. I didn't like how whenever one of our defenders got the ball, they would send it back to Seitz.

Midfield - 6 - Also Woeful. I think if we would have had better possession, we would have slowed them down. I don't remember any good or bad plays from the midfield, which is bad.

Forwards - 6 - Okay, we probably had 5 or 6 really good chances, but other than that, the forwards didn't play that well.

Overall - 5.5 - Poor performance compared to Santos. I didn't expect much though. We did get to see most of the reserves which is good and I think they played okay.

Next up - Columbus @ RSL

MLS All-Star Game 2009

So it was announced today that the new RSL Stadium in Sandy will host the 2009 MLS All-Star Game. AWESOME. It will be a great event for sure. My only question is, who will they bring in? Someone from the EPL? Most likely, but I think more fans would get involved if Inter Milan or Barcelona would come to play. I think it will sell out regardless of who comes. I think if the MLS brings in another middle of the high end EPL team (like Everton), it will get boring. They need Man U or Arsenal to come, then it would be crazy! I have faith the MLS will bring in a big name.
The 2008 All-Stars will be announced tomorrow. It will not surprise me if no RSL player gets to play because we don't have any big stars, like Beckham or Blanco, but yet we are still very close to the top of the Western Conference. It will take a few years for an RSL player to get recognized.

Web Design

So I recently have been checking out company web sites for work. I am amazed at how many sites are outdated. I laugh every time I see a site that says "copyright 2007" at the bottom. It is nice to know that site hasn't been updated since 2007. I ran across one today that was 2005. So much has happened in the past three years in the web design/development field. If you are the web master of a site, please make sure the copyright is up-to-date.
I am also wondering how much companies rely on their web sites. There is so much a company can do through their web site, but do they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to use software installed on their computers, rather than using the web to do the same thing?

Real Salt Lake

So many of you may already know that Real Salt Lake is my favorite MLS team. It is great to have an MLS team here in Salt Lake City. I think there is an interesting situation on our hands because everyone assumes RSL sucks this year, just like the past three. I will have you know they are tied for third in the West with 20 points. We have won 5, lost 6 and tied 5 times. The first place team in the West is the LA Galaxy, and they have 21 points and are tied with Chivas USA for first. Chivas and LA play on Thursday. Say they tie, and get one point each, that would leave them with 22 points total. If RSL wins on Saturday against Columbus, RSL would have 23 points and be in first place in the Western Conference. Columbus however, is the second best team in the entire MLS, (they have 27 points). We played Columbus earlier in the year in an U.S. Open Cup game. We lost 2-0, but I am not sure who exactly played for either team, it is possible many subs were placed into the starting lineup. RSL plays on Wednesday against Santos Laguna who are the Mexican Premera League Champion. It will be a good match. It is always interesting to see the demographics of the crowd when Mexican teams come to play here, or when Blanco comes to play here. Most of the time, people in the crowd are NOT cheering for RSL. Crazy. I will try to give a preview of the Columbus game if I get time.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. My other blog will provide a good update for things relating to the Tim Haslam family, and this blog will be mainly about sports, web design, etc.