Photo: Greg Little (Prost Amerika)
Real Salt Lake’s 1-1 draw with San Jose on Friday night was bizarre. Bananas. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
The real story of the night wasn’t a spectacular play, a key tactical shift, or any individual moment. Referee Sorin Stoica stole the show with a strangely-called game, frustrating both teams with his frequent foul decisions, an inordinate amount of time spent lecturing the players, and not allowing quick restarts. The first half was so disjointed as a result that some observers joked that there should have been a half-hour of stoppage time.
Chris Wondolowski’s first-half goal for the Earthquakes was deemed to be onside in a decision so controversial that people were still debating the interpretation of the rule on Twitter two days later. Though Wondolowski was clearly behind all of the RSL defenders, the official explanation for allowing the goal came down to something about Jamison Olave’s hips being “open”.
Things got even weirder in the second half when Victor Bernardez chipped his own goalkeeper, David Bingham, under pressure from RSL striker Alvaro Saborio. That gave Real its equalizer, despite a subpar performance from a side that suffered after Javier Morales went off with concussion symptoms in the first half.
Refereeing aside, the match revealed a lot of problems that should be troubling Jeff Cassar. The midfield frequently got pulled out of shape, leaving big gaps in the middle third that San Jose really should have exploited more ruthlessly. Defensively, it allowed the Quakes to push runners forward, and on the attack, left the weak side completely empty with few options to move the ball laterally.
Transition play was also a problem for RSL. On several occasions, one or two midfielders would be slow to get forward, moving in tandem with the defenders. Olmes Garcia kept pulling back to try and cover some of that space, and Tony Beltran and Abdoulie Mansally weren’t able to make many forays forward. The lack of options usually resulted in Real either turning the ball over or trying a useless vertical ball forward from 30 yards out.
The 4-3-3 should be giving RSL opportunities to get forward quickly and with purpose, which is a big shift from the methodical approach that the team used for years. During the first 3-4 matches, some of those things were bound to happen as the players adjusted to the new formation.
This many games into the season, though, it’s troubling. Is it a fitness issue? A problem of not understanding the runs that need to be made? A matter of breaking some of the bad habits left over from the days of the diamond formation, where it would often take 2-3 passes for Real to switch sides?
Javier Morales’ form early in the season masked some of the midfield issues, but those problems have been laid bare since his initial injury a few weeks ago. While Jordan Allen and Sebastian Saucedo both came on as substitutes and made a positive impact with their ability to take individuals on and distribute the ball, they’re both very young and inexperienced.
RSL’s effort was much improved from last weekend’s disastrous outing at New England, but the tactical execution has got to turn around quickly if Cassar’s side has playoff aspirations. The defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy come to the Riot on Wednesday, and memories of last year’s playoffs will be looming large in the minds of the Real players and staff.
