Player Ratings: RSL vs. Dynamo 2/19/2020

Wow…not good. Certainly not the starting 11. We had lag on the video streaming, with multiple freezes, and once again the numberless and nameless jerseys for Real Salt Lake made deciding on ratings a bit challenging today. Let’s break it down:

First half: Can I just point out that neither team managed a shot on goal in the first 30 minutes of the first half? Wish that were true for the first 30 minutes of the second half…

Zac MacMath: 4

In the first half he wasn’t really tested. But in the second half he struggled. Some of those shots probably should have been saved, and when you have untested middle back pairing, the leadership needs to be there too. Did not look like the heir apparent to Nick Rimando, but honestly who will? Ochoa might have done better, but he did not get any time.

Nick Besler: 5

It’s nice to see him back (after he was playing center back, for some unknown reason back in the day, I doubted I would ever say that) and I really like his paring with Everton. The midfield felt a little more controlled than the match versus Sporting KC and Besler with Everton was the reason. (first half that is) Second half he struggled to really work with back line on shutting down the goal onslaught.

Maikel Chang: 5

Pretty quiet. After his goal on Saturday in the scrimmage against Houston he didn’t look like he quite connect with the other players.

Erik Holt: 3

Not a starter. Struggled with Peay in the middle, and too many times he was caught watching. Might have been better with a veteran in the middle, but not with Peay.

Alvin Jones: 4

Lost at times, and some of the goals came through the wings.

Everton Luiz: 5

Solid first half. Looked like he is ready to go for the upcoming season. And then the second half happened. He had some good disruptions, but did not pair well with the back line and goals ensued.

Justin Meram: 6

I like what he brings. Some good connections with others, including his almost assist to Rossi. I like what he brings, and I could see him starting. Seems to be a leader with a high soccer IQ.

Ashtone Morgan: 4

Similar to Jones, did not fully lock down his side, and did not really impact the match up the field.

Taylor Peay: 3

Not looking like a starter right now, of course we couldn’t expect him to be, and his play would most likely be better paired with a veteran in the middle. Rough game overall.

Giuseppe Rossi: 7

Signing? Anyone? If we do, and he stays healthy this man will score goals for RSL. Had some nice looks, and honestly he looked like he still had some decent energy after playing more than a half. Right now he could be a big impact player for 45 minutes or so, and his free kick skills are great, so should be interesting to see if he gets a contract. The hold up has been said to be ‘conditioning’ but he seems to already fit in with Meram and be in fairly good shape, so we shall see.

Pablo Ruiz: 5

So far a lot of people are not sold on Ruiz, but there is no doubt he has skills. He disappeared a lot in this match, but had some corner kicks. The one thing that is interesting is that Juarez has talked about getting the ball to the highest player up the field when clearing the ball. This could be keeping some of the play from going through the midfield and may impact the effectiveness of players like Ruiz and Rusnak.

Freddy Juarez: 6

This is a hard one, because we don’t know what he was looking for and what he was asking the players for. Obviously in a regular season match we would not expect this lineup and we would also hope that he would make some good substitutions in a regular season match before the game got out of control.

Substitutions:

Douglas Martinez: 5

Came in when the game was already getting out of hand.

Julian Vazquez: 5

Didn’t really seem to impact the match when he came in. Looks like he needs some seasoning.

Milan Iloski: N/A

Didn’t really impact the match

Luis Arriaga: N/A

The match was already out of hand when

Overall impressions: I really expected to see some of the youngster making a case for minutes. It could have been the really amazing streaming feed, or maybe not, but I did not see many really stand out. Chris Garcia instantly made an impact when he came on during the match on Saturday, and I was hoping to see something similar from Iloski, Arriaga, Martinez, and Vazquez. It seemed that Juarez was looking to give the youth a look up top in this match but what he was asking of them and what he was looking for may or may not have played out the way he was expecting. On to the next match on Saturday where a different lineup will be expected.