Real Salt Lake’s 2016 season came to an anticlimactic end in the knockout round of the playoffs in a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The loss was wholly unsurprising, considering that the team appeared to have run out of steam tactically, mentally, and creatively. The last two months of the season seemed to personify that old saying about insanity as RSL continued to employ the same tactics, start the same players, and make the same mistakes over and over again.
Significant change seemed to be inevitable this off-season, even before the playoffs were over. However, a series of events took things in a wholly unexpected direction over the past week and a half.
Keeping Jeff Cassar — despite the fact that a contract extension was reportedly offered several weeks ago — appeared to be a mind-boggling move in the immediate wake of the loss. In Cassar’s three playoff matches as head coach, RSL went 0-2-1 and was outscored 8-1.
Rumors about him having lost the players aside, there were clear signs of problems as the season progressed: a lack of urgency in the team’s play; the consistent slow starts in which it took the team 60-70 minutes to really ‘wake up’ after the Copa America break; Cassar growing increasingly critical of his players in the media over the final weeks of the season; and the visible signs of frustration from Burrito Martinez and Joao Plata upon being substituted in the last matches.
However, RSL announced last week that Cassar has indeed been given a new contract and will return for 2017. The agreement is a one-year deal, with options for additional years going forward. Craig Waibel stressed that future extensions would be based on “performance and results”, but did not elaborate on specific targets.
Speculation about player movement had also begun in Salt Lake City as well, especially because of the expansion draft. Waibel recently took a 10-day scouting trip to Europe, apparently preparing for 2017 before the 2016 regular season had yet to end, and he and his staff will have a lot of work to do over the next several months.
That’s in large part due to the news that Javier Morales will not be returning to Real next season. Morales, the linchpin of RSL’s attack for almost a decade, announced his departure himself on Twitter but gave no reason initially. That led to a raft of rumors and speculation among the fans, many of whom believed that Morales would retire in Salt Lake and possibly move into a coaching or front office role. Meanwhile, the club remained strangely silent.
Things got even more dramatic when Morales announced that he would hold his own press conference last Thursday to address the issue. In that press conference, the Argentine midfielder was insistent that his departure was not of his own choosing, and that RSL told him in his exit interview that they would be going in another direction and that his option would not be picked up.
Elaborating further, he stated that he expected some sort of re-negotiation when he did not start against Seattle on the last day of the regular season. Prior to that, he had 23 starts, and a 24th would have automatically triggered his option, Morales said. The club later denied that was the reason for Morales not starting in Seattle, claiming that it was a tactical decision.
Morales, who has no plans to retire from playing right now, also claimed that Real had not contacted him or his agent after the initial interview until the day before Morales’ press conference, by which the damage seemed to be done. Indeed, just before the press conference, Waibel seemed nonplussed by the whole situation, appearing to chalk it up to misinterpretation.
The two decisions, coming on the heels of one another, haven’t instilled a sense of confidence in a large, vocal portion of the fan base. In previous seasons, the front office has worked with players that weren’t returning — like Will Johnson and Nat Borchers — find situations that worked well for the player. To some fans, the Morales situation feels like a bit of a betrayal in that regard.
Regardless of what transpired between the two parties, it looks as though Morales’ time with Real is over. And without a ready replacement from within the current roster with the same ability, RSL will need to be active in the transfer market this winter.
Waibel and the front office staff will need to repeat the successes they had with signing Yura Movsisyan and Sunny Obayan last winter. Movsisyan’s loan was recently made permanent; his strength, ability, and experience will be an integral piece of RSL’s attack next year. In addition, Sunny was one of the most influential players on the pitch before his injury, and gives the midfield a unique presence to complement the likes of Kyle Beckerman and Morales.
Presumably, the club will be looking to strengthen the roster in a few key positions. A creatively-minded attacking midfielder ought to be at the top of the list. In addition, depth at center back has been an ongoing problem, in large part due to injuries — adding an experienced player there should be a priority. Outside backs may be in demand as well, depending on who leaves the club in the next few months.
Overall depth was a problem for RSL in 2016, at least in the way the roster was constructed. With few “impact” options off the bench, Cassar relied heavily on his first-choice players, arguably too much so, given the way the season developed. After the season ended, it was revealed that Martinez had been playing with an injury, and Beckerman was unable to join the USMNT recently because of injury as well.
After the first 13 or 14 players, the roster was filled out with familiar-but-aging players like Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert in combination with a number of homegrown players and rookies with little MLS experience. By the end of the season, Real had nine players aged 23 and under on the first-team roster, with another (Sebastian Saucedo) on loan.
Those particular players got significant playing time only through necessity, as in the case of Justen Glad, who got his chance due to injuries but used the consistent minutes to improve substantially over the course of the season. Jordan Allen also featured often, but was used in so many positions and without consistent minutes in one role that he still doesn’t appear to have an actual position yet. Others, such as Omar Holness, Phanuel Kavita, and Boyd Okwuonu, saw the occasional appearance mid-season but did not see significant playing time even as the season was unraveling in the autumn months.
Meanwhile, the few players in the middle of the age spectrum weren’t overwhelmingly impressive — injury replacement was the primary reason players like Olmes Garcia and John Stertzer got starting nods. Likewise with Olave and Wingert — they provided cover but weren’t consistent first-choice players.
That leads to the chicken-or-egg question about starters and reserves: Were the starters relied upon so much because the reserves weren’t competitive enough to push them out of their places, or were the reserves found lacking because they experienced so few competitive matches?
Regardless, if the club wants to commit to having a number of homegrown players on the roster, the experience/quality imbalance needs to be addressed in the coming months. Real may have to be a bit ruthless and move on from some of its reserve players, regardless of their tenure with the club, if they’re not able to challenge for starting roles. This week, Olave also announced via Twitter that he was leaving Salt Lake, marking the departure of another piece of the puzzle from Real’s glory years.
RSL’s roster has been generally pretty stable over the years, with many of the veteran players having been brought in during the Kreis/Lagerwey era. However, the club has recognized the need for new players (as the Morales saga demonstrates, however bizarrely it was handled), as the core of the team — the likes of Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman — are approaching their mid-to-late thirties.
Right now, there are a lot of unknowns surrounding Real that will need to be addressed during the offseason. How will RSL “replace” Javier Morales? Will the team look to bring in a number of immediate-impact players, or hope to develop its younger players? Can the front office obtain sufficient depth to keep its key players healthy as they age? Is Cassar capable of getting things back on track with his players both mentally and tactically?
As the league playoffs are still ongoing and the international window still over a month away, there will likely be little news other than departures in the immediate future. However, as the new year commences, look for RSL to start making moves in anticipation of a better 2017 season.
Real Salt Lake
