RSL Come up Short

Real Salt Lake is the best team in MLS. Their record is impeccable (such as knocking off the Revolution with a ‘B’ squad) and they play with a style that Real Madrid could take a few lessons from. There is no question they are the favorites to win MLS Cup this season along with New York and LA.

Unfortunately that wasn’t an MLS team on the field with them last night and when Jamison Olave fell asleep for just a minute and allowed Humberto Suazo to sneak past him the dream of every MLS fan died a painful 45-minute death. The goal started after another giveaway by star forward Alvaro Saborio who had an absolute shocker and made some touches that I would be mad about my Indoor Co-ed Rec League teammates making.

As much fun as it is to watch Will Johnson play there is a streak of Sunday morning Rec League about him too. He never stops working and he can pop up anywhere, but he has no sense of position. He and Robbie Russell made great plays throughout the first half but always looked as though they would follow the ball into the bathroom if that’s where a Monterrey player took it. How many times did Andy Williams and Will Johnson streak across your screen as they tried desperately to get back into position?

This is where RSL missed Kyle Beckerman. They missed his positional sense, his calmness, and his ability to move the ball forward without losing the initial midfield shape. He finds the forwards, Javier Morales, and whoever starts on the right wing without leaving big gaps anywhere on the field. Last night the opposite was true and despite heroic effort RSL never really got themselves in spots to put the ball into the box to someone’s foot. Everything looked congested and mostly lost.

Taylor Twellman made essentially the same point last night when he argued that RSL missed the chance to play the ball out wide and to attack a massed defense, especially in the 2^nd half, at their weakest point. I wonder if this was something Jason Kreis planned or if it was just the style that Williams and Johnson chose. Either way, until late in the game when Monterrey parked the bus, it pinned the 2 outside backs in their own half because there was no cover if they charged forward.

RSL showed unbelievable stores of energy, strength, and talent but they picked the wrong day for some of their stars to have horrible performances (Saborio, Williams, and Alvarez most notably). Monterrey defended well and played as everyone expected with the diving, the time wasting, and the theatrics, but in the end they took their one chance and, as seems to always be the case with American soccer teams, RSL missed.

After last night my disappointment level with American soccer is at an all-time high (Clint Dempsey’s great but 2 goals in a meaningless game don’t take the bitter taste out of my mouth). Judging by an SI article from Grant Wahl and the general response on Twitter to last night’s game I’m not alone.

Real Salt Lake was so close. On the verge of sending an MLS team to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup, on the verge of beating a Mexican team over two legs to win an important regional title, and on the verge of giving MLS fans the opportunity to watch them take on Manchester United or Barcelona but they came up short.

It feels as though we’ve read this script before at the World Cup, Copa America, and Confederations Cup (except for the big win over Spain which will always make that tournament a mostly happy memory). There are always opportunities for American soccer to push themselves to the next level, the international level, the “You have to pay attention to me now!” level, and unlike Americans in just about every other sport, our soccer teams always disappoint (see Freddy Adu and 2011 U-20’s).

I am furious that I have to watch the most important MLS game in history on an international feed that chooses important goal-mouth chances to go to replay. I am furious that I don’t see even a mention of the game on SportsCenter other than as a passing comment to close the show followed by a lame-ass joke about “needing Kevin Durant”.  I am furious that before El Clasico we get a brand new Fox set and the same old tired clichés and lack of knowledge from the commentary.

Yet until one of our teams exceeds expectations there won’t be the effort on the part of the “Worldwide Leader” to air the games, show the highlights, or treat it with any more respect than they treat curling. But... rather than just being mad at the lack of coverage it’s time for our teams to DEMAND it. The only way to demand it?

Winning.

Willing the Team to Victory

When I’m watching a Man U game on TV I like to be alone in my room where I can yell and gesticulate and generally be as obnoxious as possible without worrying about aggravating anyone (or embarrassing myself). Otherwise I want to be with other Man U fans who feel the same way I do when everything is going to hell.

So…suffice it to say that watching a game on mute while lying next to a sleeping girlfriend in a Boston hotel room isn’t the ideal atmosphere. Especially when Sir Alex insists on sending out a team that would struggle in a Carling Cup game (I’m looking at you Gibson) let alone an important early April game against a team that has had our number the past few seasons and while all of our title challengers are nipping at our heels.

(Please excuse the use of “our” or “we” as though wearing my replica Rooney jersey somehow puts me on the Man U payroll, but I am one of those kind of fans. I am also on the Red Sox and the Celtics and University of Michigan football team if you’re wondering.)

After the 2^nd Noble penalty found its way to the back of the net my frustration was at an all-time high and all I could do was silently curse the world, curse the fact that I really like Green Street Hooligans, that I bought my dad that West Ham jersey and that I was stuck in that room. So I gave up. I shut the game off and rolled over and put my arm around my girlfriend and tried to go back to sleep and forget about those damn Hammers fans singing that stupid song. 

This might seem like maturity. I could’ve (and have in the past) started throwing things and ranting and raving and let my whole day be ruined by the bad bounces and pre-Champions League stumbles of the “most hated team in Britain”.

But it wasn’t maturity. It was petulance. I was being a spoiled brat who gives up as soon as my team comes under pressure. Instead of hanging around to watch another fantastic Man U comeback (3^rd time this season they have comeback from 2-0 down at half) and a hat trick from my favorite, vocabulary-challenged, player I quit Instead of having faith in a team that is renowned for its ability to overcome adversity and the likelihood for relegation-threatened West Ham to collapse, I stopped believing.

Part of me is superstitious enough that I actually thought if I just shut off the TV then it would increase the chances of something amazing happening, simply because I wasn’t watching. But I would be lying if I claimed it was anything other than I just didn’t believe.

I don’t know where the skepticism comes from although maybe rooting for the Red Sox my whole life hasn’t helped. Maybe New Englanders with our Calvinist love of struggle, hardship, and Blue Laws makes us all overly negative? The inferiority complex of Bostonians trickling down into my fandom? Or maybe I’m just a miserable bastard, who knows? My girlfriend will watch her team right to the end believing they will make the miracle comeback, my team gives up a goal 1 minute in to the season and I’ve just given up all title hopes.

When the game was over and I was walking across the street to get some breakfast I couldn’t help but look at the results and fist-pump my way through an intersection (getting a few strange looks in the process) and believed that my decision to shut off the TV had been the impetus for my team to push on and get the win. Such is being a fickle fan, we all have our ways to influence the games, even if mine is simply to lack faith and give up. We all have to do our part! 

Glory, Glory Man United!