From Deseret News archives:
Real Salt Lake would settle for an ugly win
Such is the case in MLS, you take the points whenever you can get them and take nothing for granted.
With that said, everyone associated with the club knows it must get better this Saturday in the first leg of its playoff series against Chivas USA at Rio Tinto Stadium.
"We need to play good soccer," said midfielder Kyle Beckerman. "We need to be patient and worry about playing good. That last game we didn't play that great, but we got it done. And that also happens. If you want to move in the right direction, then you always want to be playing your best soccer."
Most of RSL's problems last weekend were in the midfield.
Coach Jason Kreis said his midfielders dropped back much farther than the game plan called for, a move that allowed Colorado's midfielders to run all over RSL. Kreis reiterated that his players are at their best when they're the aggressor, not when they're trying to slow things down.
Beckerman believes the play of Colorado holding midfielder Pablo Mastroeni had as much as anything to do with Salt Lake's woes.
"Pablo was probably the best player on the field. A lot of our success comes from the midfield, and if you've got someone like that on the other team playing as well as he did, we're not going to play our best," said Beckerman. "We just need to try and be patient and not force it into the midfield."
Javier Morales in particular needs to be more patient this Saturday against a collection of Chivas midfielders who are just as good if not better than Colorado's. Morales rushed things every time he touched the ball, and he was almost always dispossessed by Mastroeni when trying to beat him with the dribble. Simple passes to help Real Salt Lake maintain possession would've been much more effective.
RSL defender Nat Borchers had a unique view opinion of the sloppy soccer that played out in front of him.
"It really felt like Colorado was organized, were aggressive and made a lot of adjustments that were difficult for us to play through. I felt like we had to bunker in a lot of times during the game," said Borchers.
It's only going to get more difficult against Chivas, which figures to be even more organized and more aggressive.
At the end of the day, Dema Kovalenko said RSL simply needs to get the job done. The soccer wasn't pretty in Colorado but the team played the full 90 minutes and in the process secured the most important goal in franchise history.
"I don't think we should change anything. With this game it takes a little bit more concentration, more commitment, more fight," said Kovalenko. "It's not about pretty soccer anymore. It's all about results now."
Conference semifinals
Game 1: Chivas USA at RSL, Saturday, 4 p.m.
Game 2: RSL at Chivas USA, Nov. 8, 8:30 p.m.
(Winner determined by aggregate score)
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com
