Deseret News | Real Salt Lake: Borchers saves road deadlock for RSL

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Real Salt Lake: Borchers saves road deadlock for RSL

A tie is good ? | 7:54 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

That comment from the coach perfectly sums up the problem I have with soccer. The head coach states that if they had offered a tie to him at the beginning of the game (1 point) he would have taken it and gone home. Doesn't that pretty well sum up why soccer will never be totally accepted in the American sport culture. American's in general and especially American sports are about winning - not ties. Can you image that type of attitude and approach from a head coach in the NFL or college football before the days of overtime. Remember they also have ties in the NFL but they rarely happen. Why? Because the NFL is an American sport where the goal has been outlined from the day one - win the game. I wonder if I can open the Denver paper today and find coach Shannahan making a comment that he would take at tie if offered.

It's 7:54 a.m. | 8:39 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

on a Sunday, and somewhere, someone is feeling insecure about their favorite sports. So they go to a comment board for a sport they 'detest' to vent their insecurities.

oussan | 9:10 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

I agree that a tie should never be a desired result. I've wondered if this is the mentality that has lead to RSL's dreadful road record over the last four seasons.

Unfortunately, unlike football, you can't simply add on an extra 15 or 30 minutes to a game and expect the game to cleanly sort itself out.

Going into yesterday's game I think many of us shared Coach Kreis' sentiment and would have been happy to go home having picked up that rare road point. Instead, we surrendered a two goal lead, and forfeited two crucial points in a red hot race to the MLS Cup.

If this had happened the other way around, with RSL rallying to a tie from a two goal deficit, the tone of this story would be much different.

Nobody expects soccer will ever overtake the NFL in terms of popularity, but American sports fans should not so quickly dismiss the sport just because it doesn't play by the same rules as everything else. There are merits to ties, you just have to understand the nuances.

Comments continue below

oussan | 9:36 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

One more thing: all four goals in this game were fantastic. No gimmes, no cheap penalty kicks. Morales made the Revs pay for a bad clearance, Williams absolutely drilled the ball into the back of the net, Ralston capitalized on a fast break and defensive confusion, and Twellman showed exactly what makes him the prolific striker that he is.

RSL clearly wanted to win this one, but at a cost: they were whistled for too many fouls, including yellow cards for Morales and Joy, and a red card for Williams that will keep him out of the starting lineup for the opener at Rio Tinto. This is a shame for him - he's one of only a few players that have been with the team since day one and he was a difference-maker on the field yesterday. RSL can ill afford to lose any of its starters to suspension the rest of this season.

This was a heartbreaking result, but an incredibly exciting match!

ya | 9:40 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

And your comments show your ignorance of soccer. Its a different game. Get it through your head.

real fan | 10:01 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

In the sport of Football(AKA Soccer)victories and ties are very important to stay alive in a league and with real having stroggle on the road,has show improve in the last road games a tie is very important. But in soccer is nothing writting until the referee blows the whistle to signal the end of the game. The MLS league has emerge as a very competive in the americas,after the South American and Mexican league in the continent,there are very long and to remember the in most of the worlds league the botton team descent of category so if a team wants to stay in the top league sometimes a tie and a point save there stay in the division. I know what Coach means with the tie and even a victory could seal the deal, the tie was great too.
Good Job Real and keep up we are getting close to make history in the team qualifying for our first postseason series.

re: tie is good? | 10:05 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

not liking ties is understandable, but trying to compare it to american football is not. Two totally different sports, period.

There is way less scoring in soccer, that is why there are ties. only 5% of basketball games end in ties (~100 points per team per game), maybe 15% of football games end in ties (~35 points), but >35% of soccer and hockey games end in ties (~3 points). Higher probability of the game ending in a tie, its math.

I understand your frustration, and you probably wont really like my answer, but here it is: unless you already like the sport, or have participated in it, or are willing to learn the nuances of the game, then you wont be able to appreciate that there are still 'moral victories' in ties, and that any tiebreaking scheme out there (most have been tried to little success) does injustice to those moral victories.

Go back and read Kries' comments again, maybe you'll get it the second time around.

The Corinthian | 10:09 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

RE: A tie is good? Perhaps if the NFL or college football relied on points rather than just standings, then perhaps it would be different. I'm not saying I'm a fan of the tie, but those are the rules as currently constituted. Would I rather have one point for a tie or zero points for a loss? I'll go with the one point, thanks.
I was listening to some other yahoo complaining about the low scoring in soccer - Maybe if soccer goals counted as 6 or 7 points as in football, all of the whining about low scoring games would recede as well. Two different sports, each with its own set of pros and cons.

A tie is good! | 10:52 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

A tie is great against the second best team in the league for a team that has always struggled to win on the road. It was really sad how quickly they gave up the win, though. MLS coaches wouldn't be happy with ties if they only played 12 or 16 games in a season like football does. When you play every team several times with the ultimate goal of earning enough points to make the playoffs, a tie gives you a point in the standings. Having ties in the mix makes it a lot more entertaining during a tight playoff race. A large part of soccer's entertainment value is in seeing whether or not a team can pull off a win. True soccer fans don't need to have a win to be entertained.

Morales is money | 11:03 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

That kid has got it.

Yura is continuing to improve.

I hate Twellman.

Good work RSL, can't wait till Thursday.

Juice Box Guy | 11:18 a.m. Oct. 5, 2008

Hate to admit it, but Yura looks like he has been on a tear for the last month. I have ragged on him all year (watch out Deuchar!) in these blogs. Looks like he will probably be on the roster next year. Ways things are looking, Deuchar might not be.

Cowboy | 4:29 p.m. Oct. 5, 2008

Let me get this straight, a tie on the road against the team with the second highest pedigree in the country is anything but a point won?

Non-soccer fans need to learn how gambling works (even if you never place a bet) to understand that there are no 50/50s in this sport.

rob | 5:36 p.m. Oct. 5, 2008

didn't see the game.. But i have to say i am pretty happy with a tie on the road against a very good team.

SEE YOU ALL ON THURSDAY!!

re: rob | 11:21 a.m. Oct. 6, 2008

You would have been disappointed if you saw how we dominated all aspects of the game and then watched us give up the lead in the last 12 minutes and then watch Duechar miss 2 chances that go in 90% of the time. I'll take the point but it should have been 3.

Also to everyone else thats happy with it. I am so sick of praising mediocrity. That tie was not good. If that game doesnt feel like a loss to the players and coaches, then we will in no way be playoff bound or do anything if we happen to make it. NO killer instinct.

Someone said all the goals were good, ok maybe. Ralston's was excellent, but how many people can Twellman get by and how lucky can he get. We gave 2 goals and 2 points back, plain and simple. Home or away that game needed to end 2-1 in the worse case scenario. And if not for Borchers it ends 3-2 the other way. Should have been 3.

That tie... | 4:26 p.m. Oct. 6, 2008

felt like a loss. I hope the RSL players and staff step it up for the rest of the season.

Chicago - stoppage time goal (we lose 2 points)
Dallas - they tie it up (we lose 2 points)
LA - they tie it up (we lose 2 points)
Now NE - 2 goals in 2 minutes in the last 15 (we lose 2 points

8 points should have been ours. And I probably missed a game...I didn't put the Chivas game in there at RES, unfortunately that happens.

we should easily be at 42 points.

bobcat | 1:38 p.m. Oct. 7, 2008

I agree we should have won that game, but I still like where we're at. We have three games left, two at home, one away. We will have the excitement of the new stadium and a packed house full of energetic fans for the home games, plus our fantastic home record going for us, and the road game is against Colorado. Seeing as how the team has handled themselves in these last two road games, Colorado should be no problem. We should be able to pull out wins in our two home games. And the two teams immediately behind us in the standings are teams we still have to play (Colorado & Dallas). If we draw both those teams (a possible scenario) we still keep ahead of them. I say we win the next two, and at worst, draw in Colorado for a total of seven points, which should be enough (hopefully) to get us into the playoffs.

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