I was going to mention MacMath, but Dewsnup started for the Monarchs against Vancouver over the weekend. I don't know if Halsey or Schmitt got minutes in that game. Those two are probably the lowest on the depth chart given who is in front at their positions. I assumed that the last preseason game would be a preview of the starters on opening day, but yesterday's roster puts that in question. I also wonder what the team will do with the 14 days between games. Hopefully they can scrimmage some USL teams, it's better than nothing.
Wait, so Dewsnup didn't even travel with the first team despite signing a first team contract? Yeah, that's our loan guy for sure. But are you saying Schmitt and Halsey didn't travel, either? That would be weird given their contract situations and that Dewsnup looks the obvious candidate for full season loan. getting a USL team up to Herriman sounds like a logistical nightmare with all of the rules. It would also pose a risk of exposure that probably makes it just not worth the effort to pull off. My bet is they scrimmage the Monarchs at least once, and then various intra-squad scrimmages thereafter. Of note on the Monarchs preseason: it is behind held locally right now, and Vancouver was their first opponent. Vancouver now heads to Illinois to play Chicago and Indy 11. That seems a missed opportunity for everyone. The next game in the Monarchs preseason isn't until April 28 at Sacramento.
I'm just going off of this. No lineup provided. https://www.rsl.com/post/2021/04/06/real-monarchs-compete-first-preseason-test Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I would hope that they do more than intra-squad scrimmages after Saturday. Need more minutes to evaluate the team. I'm curious what the Monarchs do this year. They only have like 12 players signed and are supposed to play more Academy kids. Plus, how many guys will be on unofficial loans? Has to be harder this year with health and safety protocols combined with the compressed schedule. Not to mention the rumors of the reserve league coming back this year. https://www.dispatch.com/story/spor...serve-league-crew-ii-reserve-team/4649870001/
Not surprising to have that lineup against Phoenix Rising, a team that isn't coming into this season with the expectations of being as good as in recent years. I would expect a mostly starter lineup against LA to start the game to give the chance to put everything together in a competitive environment before the opener. I would like to again complain of the lack of competitive reps this team has seen in preseason - a scrimmage against Sacto, and games against Colorado, Phx Rising, and LAG. For the 2nd year in a row, this is among the fewest preseason matches of any team in the league and quite frankly none of these opponents are expected to be terribly good this year. Colorado is expected to be mid-table in West and they are probably the strongest of the 4. With 6 or 7 games, we could have gotten Ochoa and/or MacMath a start or two AND still got Putna the reps he needed if he was the intended starter. That would have also given the new additions in the field much more game time with this squad. That could be important as there will likely be at least 2 of those new players in starting roles on this club (Julio, Rubin), and perhaps another one starting late May/early June through early July when Rusnak is away for Euros.
To be fair, covid restrictions make any preseason setup a nightmare. Minnesota, our opening opponent, only has 4 preseason games. Their schedule is below. As you alluded to, the quality of the opponent is just as important as the quantity. March 27 vs. Charleston Battery March 31 vs. Columbus Crew April 3 vs. FC Cincinnati April 9 vs. Orlando City SC Minnesota will also have played on April 16 against Seattle. That'll be 3 games better than any of ours.
yes, agreed that covid complicates life and we saw that with the cancellation of the Florida preseason games. I'm more concerned that its a trend or philosophy. Last year was 3 games, and that schedule was set when Fauci was saying covid wasn't something to worry about in the US.
League website has grades for all 27 MLS teams here. Lowest is the D for NYCFC, and right above them is us with a C. Three others have a C+ (Chicago, Houston, DC United) but everyone else is some version of a B or better. They are neither flattering nor overly critical of our offseason given how the ownership situation sits.
I'm very curious about a few things heading into the season: How does Meram "fit" into this lineup? I've always been a bit of a fan. He's crafty, and unorthodox. But in recent years, he's had trouble finishing off plays, which was part of the reason for his departure from ATL. The bigger issue Where does Kreilach play? At the #6 spot? As a #10? As a false 9? We know he'll be in the starting XI, but where? Brody looked strong in preseason - any chances, we'll see Herrera on left at times, with Brody on the right? I suspect Putna will start in goal. Will Ochoa get reps early? Where does MacMath stand in all of this? Will this team solidify a tactical identity early on? And whatever that is, will it involve this team being able to play through the middle of the field? Can we attend Whitecaps home games? Will I finally get to attend a Nash SC home game at Nissan Stadium?
Do we know anything else about the U-22 program? Curious if Jeizon would be a candidate for conversion from DP to U-22 status. And also curious if he'll ever actually play.
Also, RSL mentioned in the Matías Pellegrini rumors. For a bit of background, Pellegrini was acquired by Miami a couple of years ago (one of their first big splash signings) for $6M or something, after having a successful debut season with Estudiantes in Argentina. He hasn't shown much in MLS yet. But Miami find themselves with 4 DP's on the books and need to unload one, quickly. RSL is one of 6 teams that the Atlantic staff speculated as a possible destination.
Meram is a lot older than I thought he was. At 31, he's going to be the "veteran league player" that Freddy should point to. Not sure if that will work, but we'll see. All that said, Meram's productivity, as you pointed out, has severely dropped since he left Columbus in 2017. His brief stint back there was underwhelming and the season with us last year the same. Based on the LAG game and how the subs were done, I'm betting Kreilach is at the AM spot and Rusnak is out wide. The uiz crew sitting behind them. Also appears as though Anderson Julio has shot straight to the starting lineup on the other wing. That's promising. Rubin is the target. Brody did look strong, but not so strong that we should move the guy who was our most consistent player in Herrera out of his best spot (RB). I don't know why we have the 4 GKs we do. It still baffles me I wouldn't bet on Freddy suddenly wanting to play more midfield possession. All of his comments and attitude have been to continue bypassing the middle group and finding wingers/forwards as quick as possible. We also are not setup to be a high pressing team still. From what I've seen, no, we are not allowed at Whitecaps games. I would hope by July/Aug every team in the league is able to have fans in attendance.
I'm not sure how we could get Miami all the way down to a non-DP agreed salary to be paid by us. Also, I still do not understand how Miami had 4 DPs when every contract is league approved. It is so confusing
Wasn't Matuidi signed during the summer? Summer DP signings always seem to have fishy rules due to the how many months of the salary actually hit the books. Either way, I'd say it falls under the Bend It For Beckham rules.
Miami also got in trouble for fudging some payments to Matudi. They may have tried to get him in under the threshold and gotten caught.
RSL Show did a podcast about how this club hasn't made any real/honest marketing to the large Latino community here in the valley/Utah. It's something that, unless I'm mistaken, the club has lacked since it inception. Which is ironic, given the name/origins. But I think it is a league wide problem and, really, a US soccer problem. The most viewed league in the country is the Mexican league. The audience is there. Not saying it's as simple as "hey, put that in Spanish" but it seems some very simple things could be done to try to get that potential fanbase. It still baffles me that this team hasn't signed a Mexican international. Heck, besides academy products, have we had anyone with Mexican heritage?
They actually said that the club purposefully didn’t market to the Hispanic community and that the highly placed executive at the meeting they attended a while back made derogatory statements about Hispanics and, in particular, Mexicans. They also said that the day DLH was out the door the FO immediately began working on an outreach plan targeted toward the Hispanic community. Besides the anti-Hispanic attitude at the Executive level, one given reason for not wooing the Hispanic community was “we don’t want a lot of people at the stadium who are cheap and won’t spend money.”
Andy Carroll is a ********ing moron and should never hold a position of power again until he goes through some very serious training/enlightening. The more we hear about him, the more astounding it is that he was at that level of position in this day and age. The desire to go after high net worth/corporate clientele has killed the RioT and is a great way of summing up RSL in the last 5 years. Used to be fun. Used to be daring. used to be at least somewhat organic. Now it's a manufactured shit show. And, I'm sorry, but the "RSL Way" document isn't exactly the best way to fix that. I am happy they went about publishing something that says "we are not him" but it comes with the baggage of being an overly bloated corporate mission statement. Not to mention, the actions of the club since then don't exactly feel like a massive shift away from what the club was before. Andy Williams is a big one, but that we that KB took a college job over an academy job should be alarming. Especially when it's UVU. It's not like he moved closer to home or was picked up by a highly touted soccer school. This isn't a good look for RSL, IMO