Real Salt Lake 4 - Toronto FC 1 post match press conference and comments
by denz on Sep 16, 2010 7:27 AM MDT
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PrintReal Salt Lake beat Toronto FC 4-1 in CONCACAF Champions League play, here is the video of the post match press conference:
Here are the key notes from the match:
- With tonight's victory, Real Salt Lake shares the Group A lead alongside Mexico's Cruz Azul, both squads gaining six points from their 2-1-0 records. Cruz Azul made a statement this evening in Panama City, thumping Arabe Unido 6-0 at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez, which is where RSL will pick up Group A play next Wednesday, Sept. 22 (6:00 p.m. kickoff, LIVE on Fox Soccer Channel). Toronto FC and Arabe Unido remain within a win of the co-leaders on three points, both collecting 1-2-0 records halfway through the Group Stage.
- Before next week's trip to Central America, Real Salt Lake (12-4-8, 44 pts. in MLS play) first has League business to attend to this weekend, as a desperate Chicago Fire (6-8-8, 26 pts.) side will come to Sandy for a 2:00 p.m. MT matinee this Saturday, Sept. 18. That match, in which RSL will look to claim sole possession of the longest home undefeated run in MLS history (currently tied with Columbus at 22 games) and extend its current 442-minute shutout streak in MLS action, will be broadcast live on KUSG 2.2 (Comcast 111) and TeleFutura.
- Andy Williams notched both of his assists on the evening in the first half, providing quality service first on a corner kick for Kyle Beckerman's opener in the 21stminute and then on a free kick that Jamison Olave finished for the eventual game-winner five minutes from the break. The two helpers marked his second multi-assist effort of 2010, following up on his two-assist performance back on July 31 in a 3-0 win against D.C. United, both provided during 19 minutes of inspired soccer off the bench.
- Saborio's 69thminute penalty kick tally marked his fifth goal in the 2010 CONCACAF Champions League, placing him in second place on the tournament's goal-scoring chart (Cruz Azul's Javier Orozco leads with 10 after a hat trick this evening against Arabe Unido). The goals for Beckerman, Olave, and Paulo Jr. all marked their first tallies in CONCACAF Champions League play.
- The 80thminute goal for Paulo Jr., who officially signed with Real Salt Lake just last week, gave the 21-year-old Brazilian attacker a tally in his debut with the squad. The only other RSL player to tally in his opener with the Utah side was Marvin Tarley, who did the deed in the 51stminute back on August 31, 2005, at D.C. United (1-5 L).
after the jump more comments from each teams head coach:
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On coming back from a shaky start:
"To have a response the way we did was really, really impressive from our group. I honestly felt a lot it came from Kyle Beckerman. He was one of the few players, I thought, that was completely engaged from the opening minute."
On the CONCACAF standings:
"Cruz Azul winning tonight puts us both at six points, the other teams have three points. We feel positive about it, but I think we have a really big hurdle next week. If we can get a positive result [at Arabe Unido], I'll feel a lot better about where we stand."
On Robbie Findley's performance:
"His assist was excellent; he contributed on stat line in that department. He served another great service for Will Johnson that was nearly a goal. It's all the little things that he does for us and he did a lot of those little things again tonight. I know it's going to be a light switch. At one point one of them is going to go in and everything is going to work out for him."
On Paulo Jr.'s contribution:
"I was pleased with [Paulo Jr.] because the first thing he does is score a ball off of [Toronto's] midfielder. I appreciate that he worked real hard to win that ball. I appreciate that he put himself in a couple of good spots and scored a good goal."
Kreis on the RSL injury front:
Robbie Russell - "Robbie Russell has a concussion and it seems like a pretty serious one. It would probably put him in great jeopardy to be available for us on Saturday."
Javier Morales - "I think if he had been available for Saturday, he probably would not have played anyways because of his injury. We will continue to do a lot of treatments on him and hope for the best."
Ned Grabavoy - "It was literally an hour and a half decision before the game as to whether or not [Ned Grabavoy] would be available at all for us. I thought he looked pretty good while he was out there. He's obviously getting over his sickness and the knee seemed a little better so we will hope he will be fully over it for Saturday."
Fabian Espindola - "I've got my fingers crossed with Fabian [Espindola]. I just don't know. He hasn't had a full training session; he will have to have one on Friday if he wants to be available for the game."
TORONTO FC HEAD COACH NICK DASOVIC
Overall thoughts on the match:
"We left Toronto with all the turmoil of the coaching changes and we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for stuff, but that is not an excuse because we have been together for a while. We had an early goal and [O'Brian White] has a few chances to put one in and within the first ten minutes I think we could have been two or three [goals] up. Our goal in the first half was to keep it tight and frustrate them a bit. Then we gave up two goals on set pieces and you just don't do that."
Thoughts on MF Nicholas Lindsay debut:
"We thought to put him on because he has such a good pace. He is just a young kid; he just turned 18 recently and he just signed this morning and he is a great addition to the club. We don't have wide players right now. We have a lot central players and strikers, so we thought to give the kid a run and I don't think he let himself down. He wasn't overwhelmed by the situation, and we will keep looking to use him."
On playing through the little mistakes that seem to cost them the game:
"I don't know if it is the altitude. I have played in altitude and I know that it affects you, but you could just see that the guys were lost sometimes. When there is a set piece it looked like the organization was so slow. Is it because they are fatigued? Is it because of all that has happened? I don't know, but it is something that we have got to get our finger on. You can say it's this or it's that but it all leads to goals for [Real Salt Lake]."
OFF MY SOAPBOX
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just curious
What is your excuse for Robbie Findley after the game last night. Will you finally admit that something is seriously wrong with his head?
Nothing is wrong with his head
It is just as Jason said, and I have said all along he has temporarily lost his scoring touch, my question is will fans finally admit that his runs are much better timed than ever before and create havoc for defenses which creates chances for others, or that his passing is better than ever and contributes the overall success of the team?
I have never doubted that his touch for goal has been lacking, his production per minute is still as good as most of the team and I continue to believe that RSL is a much better team with him, and him on the pitch than they are without him. For the fans who want to boo a guy who has done so much for the team, who despite their “viewpoints” is still out there doing his very best, they can do that but they simply put themselves into those who are classified as “fair weather” or “band wagon” jumpers because they only want to judge him on the lately.
As Jason said with strikers it is off or on, and when he gets “on” then everyone will again become Robbie fans. I am going to stick with the player who has missed (one, uno) PK attempt since joining the team, I will stick with the player who got the only run of play goal for RSL in MLS Cup. If Robbie is here next year or not is still to be decided but I just believe that positive reinforcement gets you a lot better results than negative. I see it everyday, and so each fan can make up their own mind but if you ask me I think looking beyond just shots that miss goal (cause everyone has those) or shots saved by the keeper (cause everyone has those) and look at his overall contribution to the team effort there is more positive than negative.
I point out every away match that Saborio has yet to score a MLS goal away from “Castle Real”, it doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player or that he needs to spend time on the couch, it is simply a fact and I believe each match that he will get that first away goal.
So...
Seriously? I think it is the fact he is making all of the poor choices that shows his head is somewhere else. 3-4 extremely poor choices in the box. 1-2 great passes into the box doesn’t solve his “goal fever.”
You can’t really call me a “fair weather” or “band wagoner” because I have missed 3 total home RSL games ever. 2 of those I saw on TV live. The other I was in a place where there were no TVs. I don’t think I have missed any away games that were broadcast. I also own 6 front row season tickets. My family might (might) have the largest collection of RSL gear. So, no, I don’t fair weather or band wagon. I have neer booed RF while he is on the pitch, I just question what he does.
I am just pointing out to you that while you keep defending RF, I say something is wrong with his head. Ives agrees.
Great pass on the assist to Paulo, but RF needs to score on those 1 v 1 situations.
not calling anyone anything
Just saying those who celebrated the goals Findley made in the past and now yell if he doesn’t score each time he touches the ball, are much like those who bandwagon jumpers. It is easy to jump all over Robbie, just like RSL fans did last year with Yura when he both was struggling with his finishing touch and dealing with contract issues. That one bit us in the rear end and now Yura is in Europe and continuing to develop as a top notch goal scorer, I am hoping we can see beyond a striker in a dry spell and look at the larger picture.
It was the same last year when Javi struggled after his great first year, players at almost every level have good and bad spells, I would point to the current form of Torres at Liverpool. I have little doubt that his choices are being driven by his desire to score a goal and break out of his current drought, and I simply wonder if you and others are as critical of the “poor choices” made by everyone else on the team during the course of a match? Or has Robbie simply become the focal point of those who don’t want to see the larger picture.
I laughed last night as people were screaming at him for Frei making a save on his shot (he should have done better) that when I asked them if they were only mad at his not scoring or if they had missed the good passes and great runs that were opening the match up for RSL. They all made excuses for not paying attention to the good, then when he got the assist, they all looked and acknowledged that his passing and runs were making a difference and causing Toronto to play further back and doing exactly what RSL needed to take control of the match.
I actually wished he had taken the PK shot last night, making one could have been a huge thing for him the rest of the year, but he didn’t and in the end I still say that RSL is a much better team with him on the pitch than they are without him.
PS
With all that I have said, I still think JK should start him this SAT with either Sabo or Compost. Or maybe he should go back to the 60-70th minute supersub.
While I do think something is wrong with he head, he needs minutes to score himself out of this funk. Maybe if you called him and offered some moral support, which you are probably good at, he could have some more confidence.
Guys...
Everyone in anything that we do for a living or just plain enjoy doing a lot has a drought. Sometimes we are on a roll, and everything is falling into place. Other times, we don’t know what’s going on, and are out of it. We can’t be complaining about Robbie Findley. He is our all-time leading scorer. He brought us wins that we wouldn’t have ever had with his speed. And, most importantly, he almost single-handedly won us our first MLS Cup Championship. When you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll. When you’re not, you’re not.
We can’t have all players peaking at the same time. Just look at what has happened to LA. But if Robbie catches on fire again right before the playoffs, then you know what can – and will – happen. A championship.
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