Weekend Review: Results fall RSL’s way

In another exciting weekend in MLS play the stars aligned and prayers were answered for RSL fans and players alike. A win that ended an amazing undefeated streak and results around the league being favorable for Real Salt Lake makes the next couple of weeks all-the-more intriguing. RSL currently sit in 5th place with most teams around us still having a game in hand although, many of those teams will be even on games played after midweek action this week. This weekend vs LA Galaxy will be incredibly important for our playoff aspirations but we’ll still have to watch scoreboards to see how things shake out in the west.

NYCFC 1 - 1 HOU

Would have been better for RSL if NYCFC could have pulled off the win, but we’ll take the draw. With the draw RSL was able to jump Houston in the standings. The interesting thing with this one is that Houston decided to bench their typical starting attackers - Cubo Torres, Elis, and Romell Quioto - which ended up working out for them to an extent. Could this signal a change going forward?

Houston play the Galaxy on Wednesday and we hope they slaughter them and leave them hopeless for Saturday.

DCU 4 - 0 SJE

I’ll be honest and say that I did not expect this one to go this way AT ALL. San Jose haven’t been great of late but neither have DC. What’s more is that DC don’t really have anything to play for besides pride at this point where San Jose are still in contention for that last playoff spot in the west. I don’t know what happened in the 57th min of this one but Patrick Mullins found another gear and put in 4 and it was amazing. San Jose went flat during this time. Their defending, especially on wide play, was hectic and disorganized. Not a good look going down the stretch.

MNUFC 4 - 1 FCD

When Dallas scored in this one I thought that something had finally clicked for them and that they were going to lift themselves out of the hole that they’ve fallen into since June. I was very nervous, but I was also very wrong. Dallas have become, arguably, the worst team in the West in, what felt like earlier this year, a season that should have been theirs for the taking. Minnesota getting points is inconsequential at this point, except that every point they take from a Western Conference team helps RSL out immensely. So, I wish for them nothing but the best. As for FCD, 4 points in 2 calendar months is...well...sad. We talked about it a bit on the @RSLSHOW this week — interesting to look at how the tables have turned for RSL and FCD post the drubbing they gave us in Frisco earlier this year.

PTFC 3 - 0 OCFC

Well, Jason, I don’t really know what to say here. Watching this one just made me sad. Orlando, I don’t think, wasn’t going to go into Portland and get points. But it would have been cool if they could have. Portland Winning puts them 6 points ahead of us in the standings with a game in hand and a similar remaining schedule to what we have a ahead of us. The only difficult match they have coming up is Vancouver to finish the season. Hope that they drop some points against San Jose and DC but that’s not all that likely.

VWFC 2 - 1 COL

I don’t root for Colorado - not ever. But they can’t even do us a favor once in a while? Vancouver are good and they are on a roll but Colorado handed them this game. Suddenly the White Caps are the team to beat in the West but they have Seattle mid-week and that is a game to definitely keep an eye on. A draw there would be ideal, but a Seattle win would definitely keep thins interesting.

In other news Sporting beat LA, because Sporting is good and LA is terrible. Zardes starting at right back should be all that you need to know about this one.

Matches to watch this week

Wednesday

Rapids at FC Dallas

LA at Houston

Chicago at San Jose

Vancouver at Seattle

Saturday

Dallas at Orlando

Minnesota at Houston

Vancouver at Kansas City

Portland at San Jose