Real Salt Lake Vs Toronto FC

Posted Thursday, April 29, 2010 by Goal.com

Showdown in Sandy, Utah.

On Form

Salt Lake: RSL suffered yet another road loss to yet another top-notch opponent, but they played yet another solid match in the process.  Only a questionable call and Will Hesmer standing on his head prevented Real from earning a draw in Columbus last week.  Javier Morales and Robbie Findley are on the mend, and when they came into the Columbus match, they lit a fire under the anemic offense.  If those two can play a full 90 this week, RSL could do a lot of damage.

Toronto: Coming off of what was their best performance of the season against the Sounders last weekend, TFC will be hopeful that Sunday was the start of a streak of better effort and good results. Dwayne De Rosario remains in MVP-like form, while Sunday saw tremendous individual efforts from Stefan Frei and Julian de Guzman. Moreover, as a whole, the club effectively shutdown the big guns of Seattle.  Perhaps most importantly for TFC, though, somebody other than DeRo was able to score, with O’Brian White tallying his first of the season. Buoyed by the once dormant offense beginning to click, the Reds are expectant that the trend of spreading out the goals will continue going forward.
 
Off Target

Salt Lake: Despite the overall solid play, RSL keep finding ways to lose matches.  They are also prone to committing silly fouls in bad places, and it has cost them dearly more than once this season.  And though they have only played at home once this season, that match was not the dominant performance we are used to seeing out of Real at home.

Toronto:It’s refreshing to have to search for the bad in a Toronto FC match for once, rather than desperately seeking to find a positive in a poor performance, but nonetheless, it might be time for TFC to curb some of its over-aggressiveness. While it’s encouraging that the Reds have become a team that is physically demanding of its opponents, the reckless challenges that seem to be doled out on a regular basis are going to eventually come back and haunt the club. It was remarkable that Martin Saric, TFC’s new king of the crunching tackle, managed not to be sent off on Sunday afternoon. While he did pick up a caution in the 2nd, a cynical challenge on Freddie Ljungberg very early on and a blatant hauling down of Sanna Nyassi while sitting on a yellow both somehow went unpunished. Needless to say, the complexion of the match would have changed dramatically if TFC ended being a man down. Players like Saric, Raivis Hščanovičs, and Maksim Usanov, all newcomers to MLS, must get a better gauge of how matches in the league are officiated and temper some of their more hard line tendencies before it costs their team. Ideally, this will come with experience in MLS, but patience might be in short supply.

Tactics

Salt Lake: The big question this week will be how many minutes Morales can handle.  If he starts, that gives RSL way more options for subs late in the match.  We also may see Findley back in a starting role for Fabian Espindola who hasn't been very effective lately.  Real will need a good match out of Kyle Beckerman this week if they want to keep DeRo contained.

Toronto: Everything seemed to click in the second-half on Sunday versus the Sounders and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Preki go right back to that line-up versus Real, including a White/Barrett strike force. TFC will be looking at a shortened bench, though, as Ty Harden suffered a significant leg injury in TFC’s 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact on Wednesday and Nick Garcia was a victim of a suckerpunch in that same match. Harden is looking at a long spell on the sidelines, but Garcia might be able to dress on Saturday, despite leaving the match visibly dazed midweek.
 
Intangibles

Salt Lake: You could almost hear the sigh of relief from the RSL players when they realized that their brutal road swing was over.  Back in the friendly confines of Rio Tinto Stadium, and with several key contributors on the mend, expect to see a reenergized and reenvigorated Real Salt Lake.

Toronto: Rio Tinto is one of the most difficult stadiums in which to obtain points in all of MLS, with RSL having dropped only one match at home all of last season and playing 7 of their next 9 at home. While the champs haven’t rounded into form yet, this is going to be a tough ask out of the Reds, a team who has been notoriously poor on the road, pointless in 2010 and winning only twice all of last year. TFC will also have to worry about the chip that will no doubt be on Jason Kreis’ team’s collective shoulder on Saturday after hearing the disparaging remarks made last week by Columbus ‘keeper Will Hesmer, who questioned Real’s championship credentials by calling them a glorified .500 club.
 
Prediction

Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 2-0 Toronto FC (Saborio, Morales) - It's good to be home.  RSL should take full advantage of their improving health and the home crowd and ride to a comfortable victory over a TFC team that hasn't shown well away from home this season.

Toronto: Real will remain undefeated at home, but the Reds will also pick up their first road point of the season. Look for the clubs to split the points in a 1-1 draw.



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