The Saturday night game at Rio Tinto Stadium wasn't the prettiest soccer that RSL has played in front the home crowd. But to say the least, it worked out to grind a 3 point result against the Dynamo. For the first time in 3 games in MLS league play, we saw a close to replica of the Starting XI back line. With Tony Beltran, Kyle Beckerman, and Nick Rimando coming back from Gold Cup play, the three U.S national team players are showing how valuable they are to RSL.
Even, Chris Wingert who served a two game suspension proved to be valuable in the game. Nat Borchers was stable in the back line like always. Then there is the 19 year-old youngster Carlos Salcedo, which has been nothing less than extraordinary for his MLS rookie year. He is forcing Jason Kreis to make a hard decision on the center back position. RSL has been put to the test with their depth assessment, but as the two losses to New York and Sporting Kansas City, show that the veteran leadership is a core factor of the working diamond midfield.
Against Houston, Jason Kreis took a different formation to break down the Dynamo backline. Olmes Garica was critical for the positive result, he made Corey Ashe's life miserable for 90 minutes. Garica was important for the 4-2-1-3 formation by being an outlet for clearances, and also keeping the outside backs with pressure. Olmes and Joao Plata stabilized the fullbacks so they couldn't get into the attack as much as they would have liked.
RSL's first half was clearly better than the second as Houston tried to find out how to break this formation. But after another 45 minutes Houston couldn't get find the goal, giving RSL their first 3 points (in MLS) since the 3-0 result in Dallas.
Heading into LA with veteran leadership back and recovery of injured players, Jason Kreis has a lot of options for the bench and the Starting XI. According to Aaron Falk, Chris Schuler may be back in the mix for Kreis. Falk reports Schuler has been fully training for a week and a half. Cole Grossman was on the bench for the Houston game, which is a positive indicator of his development to get some minutes. RSL will look to increase their lead in the Western Conference this week against LA.
Another RSL player was in action, as Enzo Martinez (who is on loan to Carolina RailHawks) also saw nearly 60 minutes of play. The RailHawks finished with a draw against the Atlanta Silverbacks. It great to see Enzo get some minutes as he looks to come back to RSL just before the playoffs.
Real Salt Lake is looking like they're getting into gears as in July. RSL didn't always see the result they wanted, but now coming into August they are unbeaten which hopefully can go on for the full month. The boys head into this week against LA where they have played well as of late. We can expect them to fight hard to get the job done.
(image courtesy of Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)
