Player Ratings: Real Salt Lake 2-0 Vancouver Whitecaps

Nick Rimando - 6.5 I feel like this rating is an injustice to Rimando, but he simply didn't have to do much against the Whitecaps. This rating is not a knock on him at all because no fantastic saves means that the defense did its job.

Chris Wingert - 6.5 Solid return for the RSL veteran. I thought he looked pretty sharp for the most part considering the fact that he hasn't seen first-team minutes since last season.His positioning is undervalued to be sure.

Nat Borchers - 7 Nat took his turn at save of the game with that last second clearance that was headed to the back of the net. But besides that highlight he defended well. Between him and Schuler Vancouver was pretty harmless.

Chris Schuler - 7.5 I can't say too much more than what I said with the Borchers rating, but he did make a few more timely step-ins and thwarted the Vancouver attack when they were starting to approach the goal. Consistency is the key for Schuler. No more of this one good game, one bad game stuff. Hopefully he's learning.

Tony Beltran - 7.5 Beltran had quite possibly the best performance of his 2013 campaign and a beautiful slide tackle save/change of possession in the area that brought the crowd to cheering.

Kyle Beckerman - 6.5 Beckerman looked more offensive minded this game than I think he has looked all season. Maybe that is due to the return of Wingert which allows him to push forward more? I liked what I saw.

Ned Grabavoy - 5.5 I don'[t think that Grabavoy played poorly, but he got exposed just a bit with the speed and athleticism of the Vancouver offense. Most days he is keeping up with the opposition though.

Luis Gil - 6.5 Luis Gil scored, I know. And the dificulty of that goal was pretty high. But besides that goal, I thought Gill gave the ball away way too much in really bad positions of the field. Until he strings together a couple good games I will have to stay with my opinion that Velasquez is playing better than he is.

Javier Morales - 7.5 Looking better every game. His placement with that goal was pefect. Nearly anywhere else and the ball would have been saved. How much longer will people still doubt that Javi still has it?

Devon Sandoval - 6 The best thing that Sandoval did was hold up the ball. He did it and did it well. It is clear that he is not a great finisher, but he has his strengths and those are work rate and holding the ball up.

Joao Plata - 8 You can't argue much with two assists. That said, he should have and probably could have done better with his scoring chances. Either way, I will take his creativity and tie for first place in MLS for assists thus far in 2013. That puts him in company with Zusi.

Substitutes

Sebastian Velasquez - 6.5 Normally I would go on about how Velasquez puts defenders to shame with his footwork, but against Vancouver I can think of three or four times when his defense impressed me. He seems to becoming more and more of a complete player.

Khari Stephenson- 5 Short amount of time on the field, but looked calm as per usual.

Carlos Salcedo - 5 I don't know if too many realize how big of a deal it is that Salcedo played last night. He is now the first RSL academy player to see minutes with the first team. Had Watson-Siriboe been available, perhaps Salcedo wouldn't have seen the field, but it is still an important milestone in RSL history.