(by James Edward desnews.com 9-18-10)
Saturday was supposed to be a special day at Rio Tinto Stadium.
A tie was all Real Salt Lake needed to extend its home unbeaten streak to 23 straight and set a new standard in Major League Soccer.
The club ultimately took care of business with a 1-0 win over Chicago, but there was nothing magical about the performance. At times it looked like Real Salt Lake was simply going through the motions.
"It was a weird game; it felt like our energy level was bad from the start," said Ned Grabavoy.
When it was all said and done, the lack of energy didn't matter. Alvaro Saborio's penalty kick shortly before halftime was plenty of cushion against a Chicago team that played the final 45 minutes with only 10 men.
Why his team didn't pounce on the shorthanded Fire and create a party atmosphere in front of 14,449 fans was frustrating for coach Jason Kreis.
"First and foremost the energy level was extremely low today, and I think there's a lot of reasons why that I understand and can agree with and accept," said Kreis. "But being the type of person of I am and being a coach, I want better out of my group every day."
He usually does get better, and that's why Rio Tinto Stadium has become such a fortress. With the victory, RSL surpasses Columbus' previous record of 22 straight home games without a defeat. During the streak it has outscored the opposition a staggering 48-11.
After the match, Real Salt Lake's players filed onto the stage at the south end of the stadium and thanked the fans as an enormous "Reign of Real" banner was raised.
RSL captain Kyle Beckerman proudly declared to the fans, "We don't plan on it ending anytime soon."
Just like it has most of the season, defense was the catalyst behind another home victory.
The shutout was RSL's fifth straight and 13th of the season. It hasn't surrendered a goal since the eighth minute of a 1-1 draw at Philadelphia on Aug. 11, a streak of 532 minute. It's the second longest shutout streak in MLS this year behind its own 567-minute streak from May 29 to July 17 of this season.
"You don't get shutouts and have a good defense by talking about getting shutouts, you get it by talking about the details of what you have to do, which is a lot of things," said Chris Wingert.
Real Salt Lake outshot Chicago 17-5, but not one of the visitor's shots were on frame as keeper Nick Rimando wasn't called upon to make a save.
Despite RSL's lethargy much of the match, Chicago keeper Sean Johnson had plenty to do. He was helpless, however, to do anything about Saborio's powerful penalty kick in the 45th minute.
The freebie was set up when Ned Grabavoy outran Chicago defender Wilman Conde to a Saborio through ball in the box. Perhaps needlessly, Conde tugged Grabavoy to the ground and the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Conde received a yellow card for the foul, his second of the match resulting in an automatic ejection, reducing the Fire to 10 men.
Chicago seemed resigned to its fate in the second half, but RSL failed to exploit it with a multi-goal effort.
"It was one of those things where after the game all the fans are happy, but I don't think there are guys in here who are necessarily pleased with how we played," said Grabavoy.
RSL's last home loss was a 2-0 setback to Kansas City on May 16, 2009. It improved to 13-4-8 (47 points) with the win, temporarily vaulting into a first-place tie with the L.A. Galaxy for the best record in MLS.
It was likely only temporary as several hours later the L.A. Galaxy hosted MLS bottom feeder D.C. United.
No comments:
Post a Comment