RSL vs Wanker County All-Stars 5/9/2012 6:30 PM MDT

I ask because my sibling just spotted Espy still here in Utah.

I heard he was injured but haven't heard any news.

Please don't start Steele.
Gil is more productive as a full 90 player.
Steele can come on as a sub if we need a goal.

according to the on frame and nat borchers interview on 700, they flew out yesterday.

That means we'll likely see Sabo with Paulo up top. I'd so so so so much rather see Bonfigli get a start, but chances of him coming off the bench are much higher without Espy there.

I also want to see Gil instead of Steele. Jonny's defense was pretty bad in his minutes against New England. I'm not comfortable with him marking someone like Pappa or Nyarko

I think you will see Steele starting at some point this year. He has a talent that none truly posses on RSL. That talent is the ability to play the ball where ever he wants almost at will. Something that needs more than just a few minutes at the end of a game to develop and thrive.

I'm all for giving him more minutes to get adjusted to the game and surface to see him start sending dangerous pass after dangerous pass into the box and on the head of Sabo and others.

The guy is cool as ice under pressure and if given the chance could bring more to the offense than RSL would lose having him out there.

He can't make passes from the bench and that is why I think RSL has him on the team.

What's with the conflicting reports...unfortunately I had to watch the match from the booking room among Salt Lake's finest. A friend told me that Steele was solid....nothing spectacular, bu much better than against Toronto...I get the feeling from some of you that he was garbage...I have high hopes for him now that Valesquez is MIA

he had a really really rough opening few minutes against NE, he even stated as much in his post game interview. a couple sloppy passes and give aways, just a general rough go of things. overall i would say he just wasnt effective in his time on the field, whatever the strategy was when kreis put him out there it wasnt executed, unless that strategy was to be a ghost for the most part.

His defense has been rather terrible in his starts. But he's manage to be in the right spot for goals which is a bonus. His passing has been iffy. Sometimes he's picking out a nice cross field pass like Beckham, then he'll completely botch a few short passes. For now I'd prefer he was a sub but when his passing is on, it's really good.

It is what it is, I guess....oop:

All true but if RSL expects his passing to improve he has to be on the field.

Look at Javi. His set pieces and corner kicks have not been anywhere near what they were but the only way to get back is to play.

I'm not saying Steele is any kind of answer or deserves to be starting over one player or the next but if you brought him in for his ability to create service and he has that ability you need to let him get on track and the only way to do that is to play, a lot.

Looks like Jair Maruffo is in the center for this one.

Not really a fan of Maruffo, but it's got to be better than these refs with less than 10 games experience right?

Also I was informed that for whatever reason this game will be tape delayed to 9pm on CW. Looking at the channel guide I can't see any reason why this is the case.

WHAT? *****!
I'm going to have to stay up late the day before a big test...

To continue the Steele discussion,
Without Johnson in the midfield, a lot more of the defensive duties will fall on Beckerman's shoulders.
Beckerman likes to get forward.
Steele's defensive is pretty poor.
Some of Chicago's players are pretty scary. (PAPPA)

Unless you got Y.Alvarez there too,
Steele in the midfield will lead to 20+ goals being scored on us.

This is correct. It will be shown live on the Direct Kick package if you have that. If you don't the RA will be at The Bourbon House for the game. The Republican will also be showing the game live.

As for the Steele discussion, I would say that the ideal situation for me would be to see Velasquez start. I think he brings more creativity to the position, and though his defending hasn't been stellar it is getting better. The reality of the situation is that JK had to use Sebas far sooner than anyone would have liked. He did well with it, granted, but JK's MO has been to develop young players and bring them along slowly. It can't be easy for Sebas to have started and then not even make the 18, but he has been nothing but positive and I think that's a great sign.

If it's true that Fabi didn't travel it makes me a little nervous. I trust Paulo, though I'd rather see bonfigli, but Fabi brings an entirely different level of energy.

The only issue I have with the "bringing him along" thing that Kreis does is that Vela proved he can hang with the big boys. Why not throw him out there? DC United is doing it with DeLeon (who would have made a great addition to our squad... ********ing MLS) and it doesn't seem to be backfiring at all.

I'm pissed about the tape delay thing. If I read the TV schedule correctly, reruns of America's Next Top Model are taking precedence over this game.

Anyone have the email/contact info for the guy in charge of this at CW 30? I'm gonna give him some hell.

This is all I could find: http://www.cw30.com/feedback.aspx

I even looked at the other networks and couldn't see anything worth postponing it for. Perhaps there would've been a Jazz game had they not been swept? Only thing I could think of.

I've been MIA for some time, so forgive the most likely repetitive and redundant topics...

first of all, this new BS forum is, well, BS... almost as shitty as ESPN's format change!!!

On the topic of shitty defense being played (i haven't read through the N E R thread), Olave really needs to be called out for his lack of quality the past few games. Especially on the goal Saturday. His track back was way too casually to mark the long run to the wing... the player made a pedestrian move and EASILY got past the Verb. The shot/goal was a thing of absolute quality; however, the lead up was nothing out of the ordinary and should have been dealt with prior to the shot! Also, the previous game (or the one before) Olave left his jock on the ground multiple times!

Olave is one of my favorite players and frankly one of the best on the team... but he really needs to step it up if we are to win ANY trophies this season!

When in doubt, I turn to firstrowsports.eu to watch the game. Great website, (usually) always a game on. I watched the Mexican league last night, and this morning I watched the Belgium league. If you're lucky you can catch a Middle East league (the Qatar league game I watched was 8-2 ha), then you can really appreciate what the MLS is doing (I could count how many people were in the stands). On top of all that, you may get really lucky and watch a game in a country that you have never heard of before (Moldova). I watched a game once that was in a walled off "stadium" (had some middle school bleachers) and had barbed wire on top of the walls with military around the pitch. Good Stuff!!

Checked out the site this morning they do have a ton of matches, with my new higher speed connection I look forward to seeing if the quality improves.

even more confusing is the article that came out about the ratings on CW30 for the previous games, RSL has consistently been the highest rated program on the channel. it doesnt make any sense what so ever to tape delay and show the match at 9.

really weird decision by CW30. not that it affects me since i just watch the games on MLS Live anyways.

edit: according to RSL's twitter, "americas next top model" is CW30's highest rated program. which is interesting because i swear that article posted about the ratings RSL got showed that it was clearly the highest rated.

It's probably not a choice but a contractual obligation.

I think you mean this article?
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/53862292-77/games-rsl-jacquint-soccer.html.csp

It doesn't look like RSL games get the highest ratings and/or are not the most valuable to the station.

And

Really haven't seen much to give me any confidence for Maruffo to ever gain any proficiency as a referee. He has seemed to adversely affect the outcome of far too many games I've seen (some for us and other against).

Bingo. At least with these younger refs you can chalk it up to inexperience and hope they get better with time. In contrast, Maruffo has demonstrated over the years that he's not going to get better.

The last guy is like the young kid at your office who screws up a lot but he means well, and you hope that if he learns from his mistakes he'll become a good employee. Maruffo is the guy who has been there 20 years and nobody wants on their projects because all he does is sluff work and jack off in his cube all day.