RSL vs FC Dallas: What we learned

I’m on the east coast on a cycling adventure, so I had to stream this game a day late. I’m glad I stayed off social media! What a match.

Our House

Teams don’t come to the RioT for an easy win. Teams don’t come to the RioT and win. This is RSL’s house.

The creative, attacking, possession-based soccer that we’re playing on our home turf is a message to teams: you’re not going to have a ton of fun here. RSL is a team to reckon with and if you don’t bring your best game, it’s going to be a bloodbath. Just the way it should be.

We took it to Dallas the first half and showed that this is our turf.

Weathering the Storm

I’m a huge Óscar Pareja fan and I’ve rated him as one of the best coaches in MLS for years now. I still do. He made some strong, attack-minded substitutions in the second half and brought the fire.

Dallas put us back on our heels for much of the second half, but RSL didn’t break. It was a bit sketchy there for a bit, but we made it through.

Rotation and Substitution

Petke responded to the Dallas onslaught with two smart substitutions of his own. The insertion of Luis Silva and Sunny allowed RSL to turn back the surge, regain control, and notch another goal.

What’s looking great is the rotation of players that’s allowing Petke to put out strong rosters and adjust to opponents to get results. Sunny was fresh and it showed when he came onto the pitch. Luis Silva plays such a different game than Baird that it throws off the defenders when they swap places.

It’s smart rotation and substitution.

Overreactions (a rant)

Why do people leave their houses, travel to Sandy, sit through a match only to leave before it ends? The stream of spectators leaving before the last whistle blows is pathetic. You already planned to spend your evening at the match, why leave early? You’re not saving that much time, if any at all. Are you that bent on trying to get home when the whole point was to not be home and to be at a soccer match? It doesn’t make sense. Shame on you. Sit down and enjoy. You really, really have nowhere better to be. You don’t. Don’t act like you do.