Saturday night, Dwayne DeRosario beat Real Salt Lake 4–1. No, the whole DC United team was linking up well, but with a hat trick and an assist inside of 31 minutes, DeRo was HeRoic. RSL started 6 players off the bench and DC punished them for resting starters during a glut of games in the season’s last month.
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RSL faces Chicago Fire tonight at Rio Tinto Stadium, and the plot seems to be revolving around the probable return of MF Javier Morales after 5 months recovering from a broken left ankle. RSL coach Jason Kreis included him in the 18-man roster against DC but chose not to call on him when the game got out of reach so quickly. Kreis also admitted to “having a little bit of an emotional pull to get him his first minutes in front our home crowd.”
“I feel like a rookie,” Javi said after Tuesday’s practice at Rio Tinto. “I remember when I played my first [professional] game, almost 10 years. Now I have the same feeling.” While he probably won’t start the game, Coach Kreis wants to get him minutes off the bench now so he can get up to speed for the home stretch.
Regardless of the emotions of getting their star playmaker back, RSL will have to focus on shoring up the leaks that DCU exposed last week as they face a streaking Chicago side. The Fire have won 4 of their last 5 and sit six points behind New York for the final wild card berth with a game in hand, though DC, Portland and Chivas all have their eyes on the Red Bulls as well. The Oduro/Olave matchup should be fun to watch.
Salt Lake clinched their spot in the playoffs this weekend despite the loss at DC, so the focus in their final 5 matches (Chicago, @LA, @Vancouver, @Colorado, Portland) will be integrating Morales and fine-tuning the team chemistry heading into the post-season. Kreis now has the full arsenal he used to put together RSL’s run to the CONCACAF finals earlier this year, so the only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not they do what we’ve seen they can do.
(image courtesy of Getty Images)
