Real Salt Lake defender Aaron Herrera passes a ball during the second half of an MLS soccer match against Sporting Kansas City, Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) | AP
SALT LAKE CITY — Real Salt Lake hangs its hat on the defensive side of the ball, it’s that simple.
Until the team develops are signs a player who can score 20 goals per season, that style isn’t going away anytime soon, and don’t expect an apology either.
It’s a style that Kyle Beckerman said proved effective last season.
“A lot of our first mindset especially early in the year is not give up many goals,” Beckerman said. “I think from last year that was something we could hold our hat on throughout the year — that we didn’t give up many goals. That helped us get that first place in the Western Conference.”
The mindset can often lead to lower-scoring games, and sometimes frustrating performances — like its second and third group games in the MLS is Back tournament — but RSL will always pride itself on being a difficult team to play against, not a team that will outscore you.
The best example of that, and perhaps how it compares to its Round of 16 opponent San Jose, was the second group game for both teams.
For RSL, it tightened things up defensively against a good Minnesota attack and earned a 0-0 draw — an important result as it helped the team qualify for the knockout round before ever playing its last game.
San Jose, meanwhile, allowed three goals in the opening hour against Vancouver but showed great resiliency in rallying for the 4-3 win.
“Anytime we can limit shots on goal and prevent being scored on we give ourselves a chance to win the game. And we did that in the first two games and got positive results,” said RSL keeper Zac MacMath. “Keeping organized and making it hard for the other team is one of our biggest strengths and something we’ll look to continue against San Jose.”
San Jose was the surprise winner of Group B as it posted a 2-0-1 record, and RSL will be very mindful of that attack in Monday’s game (6:30 p.m., FS1) with a spot in the quarterfinals up for grabs.
Being a strong defensive team is often a great recipe for success in a single-elimination tournament. That played out Saturday night in the first two knockout round games. Orlando and Philadelphia were both strong defensively during group play and that continued as they each advanced with 1-0 wins.
San Jose plays a very unique man-marking system that will force Real Salt Lake to be very precise with the ball. Similar to high-pressing teams like Kansas City and New York Red Bulls, San Jose wants to limit an opponents’ time and space on the ball, but they do it unlike any other MLS team.
RSL coach Freddy Juarez said San Jose’s purpose is to make a match as chaotic as possible and then pounce on mistakes.
Patience amid the chaos will be critical for Real Salt Lake.
“It seems to be really effective for them. We’re going to expect them to keep a lot of possession and then when the defensive part comes to the game it’s about making them a bit uncomfortable, and do they leave their man when it’s in that 1v1,” Beckerman said.
“It’s about finding ways to find that open man or the man that’s on the other side of their 1v1 defending and then really taking advantage of that open space. At some point they have to leave their man and then that creates some problems for them.”
The winner of Monday’s match advances to the quarterfinals against the Columbus-Minnesota winner on Saturday at 6 p.m.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3jGlXlK
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario