3 Points: RSL's unbeaten start is over ... but did Sporting KC unlock bigger concerns in the way?
3 Points: RSL's unbeaten start is over ... but did Sporting KC unlock bigger concerns in the way?
Johnny Russell's goal didn't lead to the biggest loss of the weekend for Real Salt Lake. This team is wading through a lot of early injuries.
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Now, let’s talk about Real Salt Lake’s first loss of the season.
Johnny Russell scored the lone goal of the match in the 81st minute to hand RSL its first road defeat, 1-0 at Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. But the actual loss on the scoreboard may not be the worst one suffered by the visitors.
Real Salt Lake (3-1-1) were somewhat limping into this game, the product of the beginning of a long road trip and an ever-extending list of injuries across the front line.
So while nobody likes to lose, there are much bigger concerns than a flukish goal scored off an even-more flukish deflection with 10 minutes left in regulation.
Sure, Joni Menendez had a brilliant chance in the fifth minute to put RSL up 1-0, and Erik Holt’s push into the final third in the 42nd minute probably would’ve change the match, as well. But even without those chances, the visitors would’ve done extremely well with a draw on the road.
One moment of brilliance from Russell or flukish defending undid an otherwise solid defensive effort.
What’s the biggest takeaway from the match? On to the next one.
Who’s healthy … and who can play center back?
RSL only had a match-day 17 because of a last-minute scratch during pregame warmups, when rookie midfielder Jasper Löffelsend replaced defender Johan Kappelhof due to a calf issue. That shifted Pablo Mastroeni from his favored back-three to a more traditional back-four formation, but it was only the beginning of the injury issues.
By halftime, Holt was forced off with left foot plantar fasciitis, leading to the debut of RSL homegrown defender Jaziel Orozco. Even in a game where Rubio Rubin made his season debut after missing the first four matches with injury, and Damir Kreilach and Marcelo Silva both returned to the pitch, the visitors missed two players while also being without Nick Besler, Justen Glad, Zack Farnsworth, Aaron Herrera, David Ochoa and Bobby Wood due to injury.
Limping to the starting line? Barely a month into the season, there are already health concerns — especially with nearly a half-dozen injuries affecting center backs.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Mastroeni said after the match. “We might have to bring one of our outside backs in to somehow build a three, but then that leaves us exposed in the wide areas. I don’t even want to think about that yet; I just want to digest this game, but you bring up a valid point.
“The timeline for these guys doesn’t look like it is going to be next week, as far as returning. We are going to have to come up with something and throw whatever we can at it.”
RSL travels to Commerce City to face Rocky Mountain rivals Colorado on Saturday before returning home to host Toronto FC on April 9. Whether any of those players — but particularly the injured center backs — are available is still unknown.
Another Academy debut
That being said, Orozco’s debut shows the acclaimed RSL Academy still has a bit of shine in terms of producing quality young players. The 17-year-old dual citizen was born in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico before moving to El Paso, Texas and eventually matriculating to the academy in Herriman, but he looked like much more the veteran than a player who signed his first two-year contract in January. Maybe that’s because of the experience he had with Real Monarchs, or because he’s trained with the Mexican national team.
Either way, he didn’t look like much of a 17-year-old debutant. Much more, maybe.
Facing a Sporting Kansas City side that held 62% possession, Orozco and the Salt Lake back line held the hosts to just four shots on target among their 11 strikes and were on the verge of a clean sheet before Russell’s late goal.
A loss is a loss, but Orozco’s debut will find plenty of positives moving forward, not the least of which being the chance to pair with an established veteran like Marcelo Silva.
“It was unbelievable,” Orozco said. “Unfortunately Holt had an injury, and I had to step up and do my duty. It was amazing. I want to say thank you to every coach, every staff member, my family, and I want to thank God for the opportunity.
“Unfortunately we did not get the win, but we have to keep going.”
There’s a real chance it won’t be the last RSL fans see of Orozco this year, either.
“I just wanted to do what I always do,” he said. “Just do what the coaches tell me and take the advice other players give me. Go out on the field and be calm and relaxed, and try to give the best performance I can.”
Added Mastroeni: “Jaziel went in there and did a really good job. I think that’s why you can make all the excuses you want, but the other teams don’t really care to hear it; they’re going to put their best out. We put our best out tonight and the guys did fantastic.”
Better early than later
There will be no moral victories, no taking too much pleasure from the pain of a loss. RSL lost, Sporting won, and three points is three points.
But the advantage of a hamstrung roster fielding a range of lineups early in the season isn’t a bad thing, either. If nothing else, this is how a team like Real Salt Lake builds depth.
Depth for what? That’s up to the team to decide.
Again, a loss is a loss. There will be no moral victories, let alone in a rivalry match like RSL-Sporting. But the season moves swiftly. Live, and learn.
“I don’t really know if there’s any good way to lose. Obviously you always want to win,” Löffelsend said. “But I think the way we handled the situation on the pitch was awesome. We left everything out there.
“It would have been a worse feeling if you come back to a locker room and feel like you could have done more. This wasn’t the case today. WE had Holt out at halftime as well, and Jaziel making his debut. He did fantastic, as well. Just an unlucky moment that they took advantage of. I think we could have closed the game in the first half; we had two or three really good chances. If you score on the road, it makes it easier … I think at the end, it was just a little bit unlucky, the way the goal got together. We’ll see if we can do more, but fantastic job from the team. I think the work, the effort, and the mentality of the team was brilliant again.”
And to put the final dab of lipstick on the loss: RSL is still tied for first in the Western Conference, tied for second with 2.0 points per match, and is still off to a fantastic start to the season — even if the only win of said start has been “like winning the first 50 meters of a mile,” to loosely quote Mastroeni in mixing the metric and imperial systems.
