RSL: Defender Joy eager for return to lineup against Dallas -> Salt Lake Tribune/Michael C. Lewis
Defender Ian Joy returned to the practice field for Real Salt Lake this week, thrilled to finally be off the stationary rehab bicycle and poised to return to the lineup at FC Dallas on Saturday. Several of his teammates were not so fortunate, though. Midfielders Javier Morales and Nathan Sturgis remain "very questionable" to be available for the FC Dallas game, coach Jason Kreis said, because of lingering injuries. Striker Fabian Espindola is uncertain, too, and striker Yura Movsisyan is out for several weeks after having surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee, a team spokesman said.
Real Salt Lake: Team looks to shake road woes -> Deseret News/James Edward
Unbeaten at home, winless on the road, and just over a quarter of the season in the rearview mirror, a trend is starting to set in for Real Salt Lake — and it's not one that leads to the playoffs, either.
Steve Morrow Out as Dallas Coach -> Goal.com
“We have set high standards, expectations, and goals for this team and organization,” said FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock in a statement. “I feel that the team was not heading in the direction we had planned, and believe it is in the best interest of the club to make a coaching change at this time.”
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Daily Update: Wednesday May 21, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Daily Update: Thursday May 1, 2008
U.S. Open Cup qualifier: It's Open season for RSL in rout -> Salt Lake Tribune/Martin Renzhofer
"I've been waiting for an opportunity," Cordoba said through an interpreter. "I probably didn't get a chance up to now because there were people who were doing better than I was. But I just kept working. It was a new experience for me because I had never played on an artificial field before. It's quicker."
Wednesday Night U.S. Open Cup Action -> Behind the Shield
"However, despite their best efforts the visitors couldn’t keep RSL at bay for long, as midfielder Kyle Beckerman fired home from short range off a bouncing ball in the area. Apparently Kyle wasn’t satisfied with his first effort as only 12 minutes later he blasted home a highlight-reel long range effort that squeezed into the lower left corner past a diving Burpo. Not to be outdone, striker Yura Movsisyan capped off the scoring less than a minute later, as he clinically finished a Matias Cordoba cross for the third RSL goal."
Moving On -> Behind the Shield
"The weather continued to get worse as the half went along and, as has become tradition in Salt Lake in April, the home fans saw the introduction of the famous orange ball right around the hour mark."
Match Photos -> RSL Boz
Quakes lose game, two players -> San Jose Mercury News/Andrew Aragon
"In the ninth minute of their 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, Quakes defenders Jay Ayres and Ryan Cochrane violently collided while battling for a high ball. Both players were taken to a hospital with facial lacerations and concussions. Coach Frank Yallop, after the game, said Ayres might have some broken cheekbones."
Major League Player Who Hasn't Forgotten His Roots -> Washington Post/Dave Yanovitz
"Kyle Beckerman has gone from Crofton to the big time. Big time as in he's the player gracing the home page on the Web site for his current Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake. Big time as in he is featured in more than 20 YouTube videos."
POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
(courtesy RSL Communications)
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On what the best aspect of RSL was this evening:
“The brightest spot for me tonight was just the mentality of the group. They were very up for it, very bright in the first 20 minutes, and also were rewarded at the end of those 20 minutes by capitalizing and getting a goal. We’ve gone through a lot of times this year where we’ve had that mentality and we’ve been bright and done a lot of things in their half and walked away with no goals, so it was nice that they ended up that period with a goal.”
On RSL’s attitude:
“I think we were very pleased with the way our team’s mentality was. It would have been easy to come out a little flat and these Open Cup games can be difficult at times because of that and also because it’s so early in the tournament, but our guys’ mentality was fantastic.”
On how the RSL staff juggled personnel with two matches this week:
“We had a very set idea of how we were going to handle this game and Saturday night’s game compared to each other and, yes, it was a bit of a trial for some of the guys.”
On the play of MF Matias Cordoba:
“I thought he did pretty well. He really looked pretty gassed around minute 40; when you looked at his face it looked like he was breathing through his nose, his mouth, and his ears as well. But I thought he had a decent showing. I’m certain he [took it seriously]. One thing I know about Matias Cordoba is he’s a good guy, a competitor, and he’s been wanting for a very long time to show us what he’s about. He took advantage of the situation tonight, for sure.”
On the double-injury to San Jose defenders Ryan Cochrane and Jay Ayres in the first half:
“I think we were benefactors of that, for sure, because one of them was Ryan Cochrane and he’s really the organizer in central defense for them. So we were certainly benefactors of that injury.”
REAL SALT LAKE GK CHRIS SEITZ
On not seeing many shots on goal during the game:
“That’s the position. Any goalkeeper might not see a shot for 60 or 70 minutes, but when the ball comes in you’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to stay warm, you’ve got to stay in the game as much as possible.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF KYLE BECKERMAN
On RSL’s aggressive mindset:
“If we can get a goal and be the aggressing team in the first 20 minutes that’s what we were playing to do and it worked out for us and then set the tone from there.”
On opening a 3-0 lead:
“We had them on the ropes, we knocked them down with the goal and then got one after that and it was no turning back for us after that. They were just chasing the game.”
On the short timing between the first and second goal:
“I was like ‘Whoa, hey man, we’re about to score again.’ We were just focused and we made sure that after we scored the second one we were right on top of them again and not giving them any breath, so it was good to get a third.”
SAN JOSE HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On the Cochrane & Ayres injuries in the opening minutes of the game:
“It shocked us a little; it was a pretty bad collision, to be honest. I was sitting close, it was loud and I think it disturbed a few of our players. We just have to see how they are. I think Jay Ayres is worse off than Ryan Cochrane, but they’re both pretty concussed and in the hospital at the moment, so hopefully they’ll be okay.”
On if the wintry weather played a role:
“It’s never an easy surface to play on, and I think Real Salt Lake played well on it, to be honest, and we didn’t play good at all. Late in the game [we] had a couple of chances, but I think the game was well and buried by then.”
SAN JOSE GOALKEEPER PRESTON BURPO
On what the Earthquakes can take away from the result:
“There’s not much to take out of it; it’s a knock-out game and we lost. You can talk about the weather, you can talk about the field, you can talk about a good crowd tonight. They were pretty decent and we were [expletive]. There’s nothing to take out of it quite honestly. At this point we’re out of the tournament. We had two chances at a trophy, this was one, and now we have league trophy to look at.”
Friday, April 11, 2008
Practice Update: April 11, 2008
My first day before game practice, here are my two words to describe it: Intense and Short.
Although it only lasted about an hour, here are my observations:
- A drill with six aside, that emphasized tight passing and then taking an accurate shot at the end. Each team was in a small square and tried to make 6 one-touch passes in a row and then kick it into the small square at the other end in order to score a point. *Note: it seems like we have concentrated a lot on tight passing drills. Hopefully it will pay dividends this season.*
- An 8v8, small field drill with players surrounding the field (sidelines and endlines). These players assisted whoever had the ball, and helped to keep this gam moving. This became a fast-paced game like you'd see in indoor soccer and had everyone focused on quick build-up, good finishing and maintaining form. Was quite intense. A couple of players were pretty vocal about their teammates on this one. I heard several comments that I won't repeat here. This is the accountability that Lagerway talked about.
- Finishing - everyone took turns receiving a pass from the coach and tried to finish. There were some pretty impressive shots. Olave, Cordoba, Bomma, Morales - all hit some high quality shots. However, there was a stretch when Rimando was in goal where nobody even put the shot on net. He said "Do I even need to be here?" Next thing you know, he was in the line with the players taking the kicks and he blasted one past Reynish and said "that's how you do it". It was a pretty funny moment at the end of practice.
- Brennan Tennelle was running during practice and didn't participate in the drills. Yura participated fully, but was icing down his left (I think) knee afterward.
- There was a group of kids there watching practice, and when the players came out after practice they were swarming for autographs. You'll see a couple of pictures of this.
- The crowd of media was a little bigger for this than preseason practices. I assume that's a function of it being nearly gameday, and that there was a chance to get a glimpse of DC>
- DC came in for their practice and I snapped a couple of pics, but their practice was closed and I didn't catch any of them afterward for pics.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Player Profile: Yura Movsisyan
Position: Forward
Date of Birth: July 6, 1987
Place of Birth: Baku, Azerbaijani
Height: 6 ft 0 in
Weight: 180
Previous Clubs: Kansas City
National Team Exp: none
Jersey Number: #14
Current Status: Developmental Roster
How Acquired: trade w/ Kansas City
Personal summary: Born in Azerbaijan, but considers himself Armenian. Left Azerbaijan in 2000 with family seeking asylum in the US. Family settled among Armenian community in LA. In high school scored 32 goals in 13 games. Played soccer for 1 year at Pasadena City College where he scored more than half of his team’s goals. Father, Sergei Movsisyan, coaches an Armenian soccer team in LA.
Professional summary/highlights: Drafted by Kansas City as 4th pick in 2006 Superdraft. Played only a little over 200 minutes in his first year. In 2007, scored 5 goals in 666 minutes before being traded to RSL.
Webpages/Myspace/Facebook:
Youtube/video links: How ya doin' Pat?
Other links: MLS Player profile: Yura Movsisyan/MLSnet, Wikipedia Page: Yura Movsisyan/Wiki
Keepin It Real Expectations for 2008: Yura seems to be in a word, determined. There is no questioning his athletic ability, his effort on the pitch or his desire. In addition, at times he has above average footwork, but this isn’t consistent and he still appears to be quite a raw talent. This is your classic case of major upside. Can he put it all together this year? If he can, he could help RSL be a force to be reckoned with.
Fans Scorecard Ratings: Movsisyan Rating
Interesting Fact/tidbits/quote: First played organized soccer in 2000.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
PRACTICE AT XANGO FIELD: MARCH 18, 2008
Practice today was a little more fun. Tuesday was mostly fitness. Today was just a full field scrimmage for 90 minutes. Here are a couple of noteworthies:
Same crew as Tuesday with the addition of Dema, and a keeper named Brandon who I believe is from BYU.
They worked more on offense, and spent some time practicing set pieces. For one team it was Andy and Cordoba taking the kicks. For the other team it was Morales and Alex Nimo. During the scrimmage, Horst had a sweet header for a goal.
I was impressed with: Beltran, Reiman, Nunez and Yura. (partly because they were on my side of the field)
Other news: it's up-in-the-air questionable if Deuchar's work permit will come through in time to get him here for opening day.
Also, Manning hiring came as a result of SCP using a professional executive search firm. This does not appear to be a case of cronyism.
A few pics below (more at http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg45/realslfan/RSL_practice_0318/)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Realslfan's Underdog #1
Why he's an underdog.
With the acquisition of Kenny "The Good Doctor" Deuchar, most of the national media attention seems to be on Deuchar and sophomore striker Robbie Findley as the odds on favorite for the starting postion. However, I think many knowledgable RSL fans understand that this race is much more wide open than that.
Why I'm rooting for him.
REASON #1: Intensity! Although it was a really dumb move on his part, I loved the passion he showed as he collected a red card last year after knocking Pat Onstadt to the turf in our match against Houston last season. This was at a point in the season when the heart and effort of many players was in question. From the moment he joined the club, he never stopped hustling.
REASON #2: Ability! His combination of speed, size, and even skill could make him a deadly attacker in this league.
REASON #3: Background! Although I don't know all of the details, I can only imagine what he has gone through. Yura is of Armenian descent, and grew up amidst the instability of Azerbaijan before his family came to the US under political asylum in 2000. Upon arrival in the US he began playing the first organized soccer of his life - a few short 7 years ago! Recently his father has had some health issues and this makes me want to pull for him even more this season.
REASON #4: We need him! In certain circumstances, Findley may not be a good option from a tactic standpoint. Findley will also likely be away from the club quite often with the Olympics looming. In addition, Findley has had a few bumps and bruises since he joined RSL, and may not endure an entire season fully healthy. As for Deuchar, he seems like the 'Real Deal', but can he adapt to our style of play or can we adapt our style of play to fit him? Either way, having Movsisyan playing as a real threat can only help our chances this season. Let's face it - we need goals!
