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SBI MLS Team of the Week: Real Salt Lake

MLS: Portland Timbers at Real Salt Lake

By CAITLIN MURRAY

Real Salt Lake gave the much-hyped Toronto FC a reality check this week, solidifying RSL’s position as a league powerhouse and possible MLS Cup contender.

Although Alvaro Saborio lifted his team with an outstanding brace, RSL dominated across the field. They were buoyed by an early penalty, which Saborio converted well for the lead in the 11th minute — but RSL never let up, playing like they had something to prove.

In the 28th minute, Luis Gil finished a series of nice, quick passes that ended with a Chris Wingert cross up the flank, allowing Gil to split a shot between two Toronto defenders for the goal. It was just one of many beautiful passing sequences by RSL on the night that threatened TFC. In the end, Saborio added insult to injury in the 55th minute when he chipped in a goal off a ball floated over TFC’s back line for the final 3-0 scoreline.

RSL and their convincing team performance beat out the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas and the New England Revolution for this week’s honors.

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What did you think of Real Salt Lake’s performance? It’s early, but are they looking like an MLS Cup contender? Who stood out to you in MLS Week 4?

Share your thoughts below.

 

Comments

  1. They are playing great. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that national team duty will cost us the Supporter’s Shield again this year. I hate to be selfish, as I know it was an honor for Rimando, Saborio, Beltran and Beckerman, but if we had had our best players all summer last year, we easily beat out Portland for first in the West. I dread the feeling of “close, but no cigar” for another off season.

    Reply
    • RSL will be hit hard…but all teams are losing stars. LA will lose Donovan and Gonzalez. Seattle will lose Dempsey and ? (Evans? Yedlin?). Kansas City will lose Zusi and Besler. And that’s just the Americans.
      One team that, off the top of my head at least, I don’t see losing any players and should be challenging for the Shield (at least in theory) is Portland. Do they have any World Cup players on their team?

      Reply
      • Rodney Wallace would be with Costa Rica this summer but he’s injured so won’t be away. That’s it.

      • PTFC’s Will Johnson plays for Canada though I don’t know if Canada will be in the cup or not. I’m a club-before-country kind of guy so I’d rather see the MLS teams do well – couldn’t care less who wins the world cup.

  2. Gilberto did not look like DP quality. Terrible decisions and even worse shooting. DeRo the Dino would be more of an on-field asset, despite his age.

    Reply
  3. Definitely well deserved this week. That is one of the better performances I have seen in the last 5 years in MLS. Just tremendous passing and the midfield of RSL completely dominated. It was the beautiful game at its best and really fun to watch. The highlights don’t do the game justice as they cut out a lot of the great passing sequences that lead to goals or even great chances.

    With all that said, I still think Toronto is going to have a great season. However, they need to get some midfielders who value possession and passing. In this game they tried to play direct soccer a lot and will have little luck against the better backlines in MLS. Schuler especially really dominated the matchup with Defoe. However, the mix of Bradley, Jackson, Defoe and DeRo should be really good. They need to play those guys all together and not over think it too much; I know Jackson was suspended for this one. However, Gilberto looked really bad in this game and may be overrated. Midfield needs to improve a lot.

    Reply
  4. I only got to see the latter part of the match—just after Defoe subbed off. TFC looked overwhelmed, but Bradley still looked surprisingly good. I was happy to see that at least (as a USMNT fan). Had hoped to see more of a Kyle v Michael match-up, but that comparison never materialized given the massive difference between the rest of their squads.

    Reply
  5. I was at the stadium and I have to tell you, the passes were just incredible all night long. It was a clinic on how to play as a team. The Luis Gil goal in the 28th minute made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. That’s how you play the beautiful game.

    Now, if only RSL could do that every week…

    Reply
    • Injury bug has already bit and they’re still doing great. They should be in even better shape once four or more injured players get back. Then there’s the WC this summer and RSL will be missing at least three players in sabo, kb and rimando. They’ll need to build up a nice lead for that time and develop others to replace those key starters.

      Reply

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