Referee: Paul WARD MLS Career Stats: 28 games, 3.8 Y/g, 8 R Including Playoffs: 29 games, 3.9 Y/g, 8 R MLS 2011: 3 games, 6.7 Y/g, 2 R Assistant Referees: Anthony VASOLI and Chris STRICKLAND Fourth Official: Allen CHAPMAN All-time Real Salt Lake matches with Ward as referee: Code: 8/16/2008 Houston Dynamo 4 - 3 Real Salt Lake YELLOW: B. Ching, C. Mathis, N. Borchers RED: NONE 9/27/2008 San Jose Earthquakes 2 - 3 Real Salt Lake YELLOW: J. Olave, R. Findley, N. Borchers, N. Garcia RED: NONE 8/15/2009 Real Salt Lake 0 - 0 Houston Dynamo YELLOW: T. Beltran, C. Mathis, A. Hainault, J. Olave, W. Barrett, K. Beckerman RED: A. Hainault (2CT), C. Mathis (2CT) 8/7/2010 Kansas City Wizards 1 - 1 Real Salt Lake YELLOW: J. Morales, R. Smith, W. Johnson, N. Borchers, N. Grabavoy, T. Bunbury RED: NONE 9/9/2010 Seattle Sounders FC 0 - 0 Real Salt Lake YELLOW: A. Saborio RED: NONE OVERALL RECORD: 1-1-3 1.200 PPG All-time Chivas USA matches with Ward as referee: Code: 3/29/2009 FC Dallas 0 - 2 CD Chivas USA YELLOW: M. Trujillo, A. Pitchkolan RED: NONE 4/10/2010 CD Chivas USA 2 - 0 Red Bull New York YELLOW: J. Padilla, M. Petke RED: NONE 8/21/2010 FC Dallas 1 - 0 CD Chivas USA YELLOW: A. Harris, J. Padilla, D. Hernandez, P. Nagamura RED: NONE 10/23/2010 CD Chivas USA 1 - 4 Chicago Fire YELLOW: J. Flores, C. Borja, W. Conde, G. Maldonado, B. Zemanski, R. Espinoza, F. Ljungberg, A. Jazic RED: NONE OVERALL RECORD: 2-2-0 1.500 PPG
at least not at the same time as KB Those two on the same pitch was just painful. Jean is NOT an outside mid... even in our diamond formation. Javi needs to develop this part of his game more, or at leasts how that he has it. Far too often we seem to want to dribble the ball into the bloody net (aka, pulling an Arsenal). It may look really pretty when accomplished, however, it takes too damn long to pull of against a team that is compact. Espy will be the x factor for this match. We missed him in Portland greatly. Hope his head is in the "right place" (for Espy standards) having Ward as the ref is not a good sign, either. We draw like crazy with that guy in the middle (we do some pretty stupid stuff as a team, too, for what its worth). The positive thing is that he has never officiated a CUSA match that ended in a draw.
Jean is not ready for first team minutes, at least not as a starter and only sparingly as a sub. He's just not there. Against Portland, he just looked lost. He isn't an outside mid, but in my opinion he's not a first team player. I think we should dump him at the first opportunity like we did Campos. Ward, not going to panic about. I know he'll suck, but if I remember right, he doesn't suck any more or less than any other MLS ref. Yes, Espy will hae to snap out of it and be huge. He had a bad game in the CCL Final, this will be a test of how he can shake that off and rise to the occasion.
Lets get the W at any and all costs. We should be able to boss this team around, especially at home. I see a 4-0 drubbing. Up the Royal Army!
The team had a normal week. Normal pace, normal people, normal places. Returning to routine can help. Or, maybe a hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon, I don't know. But, I do think this is the week to win to show that the hangover from the loss of the CCL will not be permanent.
Don't agree with this at all. Jean's situation is not analagous to Pablo's. Jean is a serviceable backup at holding mid for a low-salary guy. He's not Kyle or even Ned, but he's not paid that way either. In a pinch, I am comfortable with him playing a reserve role.
Did we find a time machine that transported this team to 2007? No midfield play, only attack is launching a ball forward hoping a forward can get to it. This is weird...
The RSL midfield is M.I.A. It is all about lobs over the top to streaking Espindola or Sabo, cannot remember the last time RSL played a ball into a corner for a quality cross, just does not seem like it is something they are capable off. What ever happened to that beautiful game?? Yellow card should have been straight red as sabo was clearly past the last defender when he was taken down.
I figured it was a response to Chivas's clogging the midfield. Too bad we don't have someone who can run onto those balls like Findley could to stretch the field out a bit.
Boyens is officially the dumbest player on the field. Two potential red card fouls, three potential yellow cards, final expelled - all in 25 minutes.