Monday, September 22, 2008

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?