News: RSL In-Season News Thread 2010, Part 2

does anybody know who all was on the bench for the game against the U 21 Mexican team?

 

• Wingert
• Will
• the practice keeper that they have used since Melia went on loan (last name is Kenny)
• Grabavoy
• another guest player, not sure the name

Thats all I remember. I think I may still have the roster at home.

 

was last guest player named Dave Rogers?

 

Luis Gil article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/losangeles/news/story?id=5187954

From ESPN Los Angeles.

 

Rio Tinto- Rio Tinto Stadium: Excellent State-of-the-Art Sports and ...

Rio Tinto- Rio Tinto Stadium: Excellent State-of-the-Art Sports and ...
Entertainment and Showbiz!
Somebody loves RioTinto Stadium, I can't blame the person.

 

interesting read, maybe he can replace findley. i really wish there was a developmental league still around, kids like Gil need gametime experience and he just cant get enough right now at RSL. if Gil can make good progress in the next year I would have no problem seeing him get more first team time. He will probably get more experience later in the US Open cup if we continue to advance and maybe in the CCL, depending on how serious we take that league.

 

Isn't he a midfielder?

 

hey, the kid lives with my ticket rep... maybe I could find a way to get some stuff signed by Gil

 

And that's relavent for a BS discussion how?

 

i remember in the carolina cup challenge he got moved up top for a bit, seemed to do ok. our midfield is so congested with players right now he is never going to get time on the field, especially if we keep the same roster for the next couple years (which seems likely, unless andy retires). i just dont know how we could get Gil on the field with the glut of midfielders we have, he's not good enough to replace javi, andy, kyle, will or gonzo yet and warner has seemed to impress enough to be considered ahead of Gil. might as well try and stick him up top and see what he can do, maybe act as a withdrawn forward.

 

by the same token, could there really be two better players to mentor Gil as an attacking mid in this league?
To have both Andy Williams (RSL/MLS Legend) and Javier Morales (soon to be MLS Legend, mark my words) as the guys teaching you the game... not too shabby

 

Given the description in the article ("not particularly fast") though, I don't see how he fits in as a Findley substitute.

 

Gil can play both forward, and attacking midfielder. He is not a quality option at this point, and is light years away from seeing first team action. He was in his words, "pretty bad", against the Mexican U-21's. Kreis reiterated after the match that he has a "long way to go" and that they expected that. He could see the 18 as an emergency option while Findley is away, but don't expect him to see any meaningful minutes.

Williams, Johnson, or even Jean would be much more likely to be thrown into that role.

 

Re: Rio Tinto- Rio Tinto Stadium: Excellent State-of-the-Art Sports and ...

I think it's called a press release/marketing copy.

 

Jason Saghini says Real Salt Lake is the best team in MLS right now.
http://mlsinsiderblog.com/?p=2386

It is towards the end of the video.

 

We'll be able to find out on June 9th if they're better than LA. I'm looking forward to it.

 

LOL.. the other two dudes are so flabbergasted that anyone would even dare mention that maybe RSL might be playing the best soccer right now. I mean, how silly to think the returning MLS champs might be good.

 

Alex Nimo, on loan to Portland (so not a former player, doesn't belong in that thread) tried to drag a Crystal Palace Baltimore player who was feigning injury off the pitch. Video link at this story:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog...ries-to-drag-time-wasters-off-?urn=sow,242823

 

Lol yeah the other guys reactions were dumb. He was absolutely right Real is better than a donovanless/buddless Galaxy, and we will see that on June 9th.

 

ha ha, thats awesome. I remember playing in a tournament in Vegas and literally rolling a guy off the pitch that was "injured". His team didnt particularly like it, but whatever, we won eventually (much thanks to the extra stoppage added on).

Is that center ref the guy from Utah that does the 4th ref spot for RSL games sometimes?

 

Yeah, I recognized him too.

This time waisting stuff is crap! I still say that FIFA needs to come up with some type of rule along the lines of:
If player A "suffers" an injury that requires stoppage of play, that player must exit the field and cannot re-enter for X minutes.

Team is allowed to substitute another player for player A (if they have any subs remaining) to avoid playing shorthanded.



Usually, the ref does not fully compensate for every second (or minute) lost to time waisting. If a team knows that they will likely be shorthanded for a little while due to an "injury", you would probably see much less of these "injuries". This would especially be true in late game situations. If the opposing team is down by a goal in the closing minutes/injury time, they will likely throw everything at you, sometimes even throwing the keeper into the mix for corners or free kicks. The last thing you would want is to play that scenario down one man due to an "injury". This crap is part of what makes soccer such a joke among many mainstream US sports fans and should be done away with!

 

I have played in games where the ref doesnt grasp what is going on, and I have played in games where it is handled correctly.
The best thing to do? If the "injury" happens in the last 10 minutes of a close game you have the "medical staff" come on instantly and move the player off the field. If the player refuses to move, you book him. All the while, as soon as you blow your whistle for the medical staff to come on, you stop the clock on your watch. Good refs have two watches so they can track stoppage time properly

 

After 9 games, we can see RSL is easily outpacing any previous season performance, including last season (shown in gold, of course ). We did not reach 16 points until game 13 in 2008, game 14 in 2009, and much later in previous seasons.

The 4th victory in a row ties a 4 victory streak in 2006. There has never been a regular season 5 victory streak by RSL (I can say it because I don't believe in jinxes). I think the most regular season games without a loss in a row is 5 (several times).

Lest we get too full of ourselves, our schedule has been favorable, and we've been fortunate to hit teams when they were off-stride (San Jose, notably).

However, previous editions of RSL did not know how to take advantage of those kinds of opportunities in the regular season. That seems to be a difference this season.

I'm using some new systems to create these graphs this season, so feedback on readability, size on screen, etc. is appreciated and will be taken into account (assuming I can figure out how to take it into account )

 

Feedback: Raise the ceiling. RSL has a real shot to eclipse 45. Nice graphic, thanks for putting it up.