The Knee Jerk: RSL vs Vancouver

This is how a team in turmoil that’s just lost their coach comes together. Vancouver, I mean. Not RSL. It’s all the turf’s fault.

All of these matches I stream on ESPN+ with non-RSL commentary seem to have a point where the commentators sound something like this: RSL needs to get Rusnak on the ball more if they’re going to be competitive. I’m betting it’s the turf’s fault.

When’s Ochoa coming back? Is it the turf that has kept him out so long?

Does anyone else notice that Pablo Ruiz seems to have tantrums the worse he is playing? I would really like to see some consistency with him, but he has great games and terrible games with nothing in between. Playing on turf will do that to you.

Joni Menendez often takes a touch too many and fails to see a great outlet pass to a teammate making a nice run. Don’t just dribble through everyone. Dribble, then make the good pass. Draw defenders with your dribbling, then find an open man. I’m betting it’s hard to dribble on turf.

Our defense looked really bad out there on that turf. Our midfield could barely keep up as they ran across that turf. Where was our attack? Turfed.

So now what, RSL? No owner. No coach. No team synergy. No identity. No strong starters. No reliable substitutes. This week is negativity on negativity. We even have at least one more match coming up on *gulp* turf.

Overreactions

I was kind of hoping Silva would get a red card so we could see a future match with Glad and Datkovic.

Freddy Juarez made a smart move. Coaching under Brian Schmetzer is going to be a huge opportunity for him. Another chance for Schmetzer to pass along that incredible Sigi Schmid coaching legacy. His chance to help coach a winning side. A consistent side.

RSL’s probably not going to scrape into the playoffs at this point, and who’s around to care? The coach? Don’t have one. The owner? Don’t have one. Fans? We’ll shout and scream. We should. A lot. But it’s all up in the air. Nobody knows what’s going on. MLS is more focused on their Las Vegas expansion than RSL at this point. We’re just the smallest market. Who cares about RSL?