Tuesday, April 10, 2007

And, They're Off!

As the gun for the 2007 MLS season fired, I felt like the tortoise choking on the smoke of everyone else flying off the line. I hadn't done any type of journalistic activity for months and it showed as I struggled to get any kind of decent work done...and in only twice the time!

Staying with that analogy could describe what happened at Rice-Eccles on Saturday, not necessary in literal speed, but in level of play. The RSL homeboys flashed off the line to an extremely energetic start. They kept up their feverish pace for much of the match, but Dallas remained steady, prepared to jump on any defensive mistake. They did, after all, have only one shot on goal in first half, and that one ended up in the side netting.

Do I really need to comment on Saturday? Either you saw it and, like the rest of us, are still trying to strike the last minute of play from your memory. Or, you didn't and you're sitting there wondering, "was it really that bad?" Yes. Yes, it was.

All I will say is that I love how the RSL offense is looking, especially during the first half against Dallas. Mehdi, Jeff, Chris, Freddy, Jason and Carey all looked good. At times you could see an understanding between Adu and Forko developing on the left wing. They seem to work well together and should lead to some exciting stuff.

Although the start was exciting and different, with a lot of improvement, the end result was strikingly familiar to the 2006 campaign. The defense - especially the last defender - will need to catch up to the level of the front six players for Salt Lake to have any hopes of reaching it's goal of making the playoffs.

Columbus is up next on Saturday, and is one of three MLS sides that have never lost at Rice-Eccles. The other two being New England and New York in all its various flavors.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home