Real Salt Lake: One Hit Wonder?

By: Rocky Cole | 3 Comments

Today Real Salt Lake begins their defense of the MLS cup when rookie camp opens up at the Newpark Indoor Sports Facility just outside of Park City, Utah. The unvoiced question (and voiced by some non-believers): Is RSL just a one-hit-wonder or will it be a serious contender in MLS this season? The answer to that question may be as simple as looking at what Garth Lagerwey and Jason Kreis have built over the past three years. Simply, they built a team that is tough and does not give up even if they are down in a game. All indications are that they intend to bring the never-quit attitude they finished 2009 with into 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Real Salt Lake Looks to Keep the Band Together for 2010 MLS Season

By: Rocky Cole | 1 Comment

A candid interview with the General Manager of Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake pulled off one of the biggest upsets in professional sports, coming from the number eight-seed in Major League Soccer’s post-season, to win the 2009 MLS Cup. En route to its first MLS Championship, RSL had to beat the defending champion Columbus Crew and the surging Chicago Fire on consecutive road trips. Finally, RSL took on and defeated a star-studded LA Galaxy team, headlined by David Beckham and Landon Donovan. This was no easy task, squeeking into the playoffs, and then facing three tough teams with internationally known “designated players”. However, upstart RSL, a team with no designated players, was up to the task and came out MLS champions.

The origin of RSL’s success was not random. RSL had a plan to build a team a different way: Not to go after highly paid designated players, but to spread the money around the field and build a deep, interdependent team. The architects of that plan were two men in their first management roles: Jason Kreis and Garth Lagerwey.

Everyone knows Jason Kreis, young, stoic and visible coach of RSL, but the other key builder of RSL, is less visible. Garth Lagerwey, a 37 year-old former MLS goalkeeper turned attorney, was a crucial player in RSL’s success. Just after the start of the 2007, RSL owner, Dave Checketts, took a risk on the untried team of Lagerwey and Kreis. In two short years Lagerwey, in his role as General Manager and Vice President of Soccer Operations, and Kreis, as RSL Head Coach, have accomplished a tremendous feat, taking an “also-ran” MLS team to the top of the league.

Soccer Hype recently sat down with Garth to discuss what RSL accomplished in 2009, and where the team hopes to go in 2010 as they defend their MLS Cup and play in the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time.

Soccer-Hype’s, Rocky Cole: During the regular season, Real Salt Lake had one of the best records at home, yet had a tough time on the road. Then, your road-wins in the playoffs carried the day. Do you think that you guys finally crossed that hurdle of knowing how to win on the road?

Garth Lagerwey: Yes, we definitely crossed the road rubicon, and hopefully we’re never coming back. It was definitely rewarding to see the guys step up when they had to, and when we knocked off the defending champs – coming back from two goals down – we knew we could do pretty much anything.

Then to win on the road in Chicago, and against LA on the road, although at a neutral site, we have cleared that mental hurdle. I hope that will point us towards a more consistent performance over the course of the entire next season.

RC: This will be RSL’s first year competing in CONCACAF Champions League, along with it being the Seattle Sounders first year, Columbus and LA being the other two teams in CONCACAF play… How will the addition of these highly competitive games alter your off-season acquisition strategy and training, or will it change it?

GL: We think we have a good basic team structure… From a salary cap perspective, our basic philosophy has been to spread our money all over the field. We did not go out and get any players that cost a million dollars, but we spent our money on fifteen or sixteen players.

That depth that we went for really showed itself in the playoffs. Especially in the final when we had two of our best players go off injured, Will Johnson and Javier Morales, and we had Clint Mathis and Ned Grabavoy that could immediately step in and fill the void, and do so in really solid fashion.

What changes with Champions League play is now we have to go from 15 to 16 solid guys to 19 or 20 that can play at that high level. Now, hopefully, some of that is accomplished by the improved performance of some of our young players. We have some talented young guys that just haven’t gotten in a lot of games.

We certainly need to continue our model of trying to spread our cap-money over a number of spots, so that we have the depth to survive the season. You can’t be playing in MLS every Saturday, and then be traveling to Central America and the Caribbean, mid-week and then come back to play an MLS game on Saturday at a high level… you are going to have to rotate players.

RC: I have read that RSL is trying to keep much of the squad together, to include Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman, and I just saw a that you locked down Fabian Espindola. How are your efforts going to keep the core of what you had this season, and is keeping the team together a major priority?

GL: Keeping the team intact is our top priority. We built a team that reached the conference final in our first year [of the Kreis/Lagerway era] and won the championship in our second year. Our group is a young group, and if we can keep them together over a number of years, we can be consistently competing at a high level.

We were pleased to get Espindola locked in, and players like Findley and Beckerman are our top off-season priorities… Will Johnson, probably needs to be in that conversation as well. The thing I should stress is that all of those players are under contract to us through 2010, so, none of those guys are going anywhere, but we certainly would like to tie them up long-term, and further our long-term success.

RC: You are not going to have Yura Movsisyan or Chris Seitz this year. How is the loss of those two players going to impact the team?

GL: Chris Seitz is going to have a really bright future. I think he is an excellent goalkeeper, but it was the right thing to do to give him the chance to start somewhere.

Obviously, Nick Rimando was the finals MVP, and has just been solid on goal for us the whole time that I have been here. Rimando has earned the right to be our starting goalkeeper here for an extended period. Given that set of facts, and that Chris had not counted against our pay-cap, because he was part of the Generation-Adidas program, it became difficult to have both of those cap numbers [Rimando and Seitz] count against us.

Kyle Reynish will be our backup, and we have a lot of confidence in Kyle to pick up any minutes that Chris would have been called on to play.

Replacing Yura… well, losing forwards is always difficult. We feel like Pablo Campos, who we picked up in mid season from San Jose, can come in and give us an option. But we need to get better at the forward position. It is always difficult to find good players at that position. We tried to keep Yura, but he chose to go to Europe. We will see if Robbie [Findley] has a different opinion.

RC: I know you have recruited in Argentina… you got Will Johnson from the Dutch league… where are you looking this year?

GL: We will be looking in South America, as we always do. Since I have been here we have signed players from Norway, Greece, Ukraine, Germany, Scotland, Argentina, Ecuador… the point is, we try to cast a very broad net, and have had some success in doing it.

We will continue to work our network for players. I think out of pure economics, our focus will generally end up being in South America, from the standpoint that if you looked at the same level of player in South America, he will be earning less money than in Europe, and that makes him a little more affordable for us.

RC: How important is management and owner support in what RSL achieved last year, and what you are looking to do this year?

GL: I cannot say enough about the support we get from [team owner] Mr. Checketts. He has been in sports management for 30 years at the highest levels [NBA New York Knicks and NHL New York Rangers]. He just knows everything when it comes to sports management. He created a management culture that we are able to pass on down to the team. The thing that he told both Jason [Kreis] and myself when he hired us was, I think you have some modicum of ability, some talent… but what you don’t have is experience.

We quickly learned that when you work for Dave Checketts, don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t act like you know everything. The two guys I work for directly, Dave Checketts and Bill Manning, have about a combined 40 or 50 years of pro-sports experience. I would be a tremendous fool not to use those resources.

Mr. Checketts has created a culture at RSL where we are empowered to make decisions. He may offer advice, but we get to make the calls. This is a really great place to live in, and a really great job to have. He has allowed Jason and I to make mistakes and grow, and because of that culture, we have been able to take some chances on some players that we might not otherwise have been able to… we’ve had some really terrific successes along the way.

RC: Okay, last question, Garth. If you had one wish for player acquisition – by either position or type of player – for the coming year, what would that be?

GL: I guess that depends on how our contract negotiations go. Obviously, Findley, Beckerman and Johnson are guys we would like to keep, and keep for a long time, but if they turn us down and are not interested in what we have to offer… we’d need to go after a forward.
We have a clear preference to keep the team intact, but we have to get in under the salary cap. We are going to have to reach reasonable agreements with those guys and it is too early to say whether that is achievable or not.

The college combine is January 6th down in Florida, and the draft is January 14th in Philadelphia – right after the combine. We will be looking for good players that can fit into the team we’ve built, and we are excited about next season.

You know what, Garth… so is the rest of MLS.

This interview originally was published at www.SoccerHype.com.

Real Salt Lake Wins MLS Cup in Seventh Round of Penalty Kicks!

By: Rocky Cole | 12 Comments

Real Salt Lake wins the MLS Cup in the seventh round of penalty kicks! Once again, Nick Rimando proved the value of a goalkeeper with catlike reflexes in carrying his team through the penalty kick round. Rimando was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his efforts during a hard fought match with the LA Galaxy. Read the rest of this entry »

MLS Cup 2009 – Dear Seattle…

By: Rocky Cole | 6 Comments

Dear Seattle, it’s been quite a year for you all up there. After all, an expansion team is not supposed to do what you all did. I have to give you ‘props’ big-time! Seriously, the Seattle fans came out and supported a well-designed and well-staffed team, hammering all MLS attendance records. Then, the Sounders took the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 2-1 win against DC United at RFK Stadium in one of the hardest fought and most entertaining games of the MLS season. Finally, the MLS playoffs and two great games against the storied Houston Dynamo. An a amazing opening season from anyone’s perspective. Now though, invaders are entering the Sounder’s Holy Cathedral of Soccer to play for the 2009 MLS Cup. While it would be best (from a Sounder fan’s perspective) if the 42,000 seats at Qwest Field were filed with enraptured Seattleites in full-voice cheering their Sounders on, well… there’s always next year. And with the team that Sigi has built, I am sure there will be a next year for the Sounders. Read the rest of this entry »

MLS 2009 Playoffs: Battle in Seattle

By: Rocky Cole | 1 Comment

It is not just that Real Salt Lake’s captain, Kyle Beckerman, has been working on his dreadlocks longer than the LA Galaxy’s David Beckham has been coifed with an under-cut resembling a mullet with a racing-strip, that leads me to predict RSL as the 2009 MLS Cup winner. Rather, it is that RSL is peaking at the right time and relishes the underdog role. I will hazard a guess that not many soccer commentators and fans outside of Utah predicted RSL would get this far. But then again, the same could be said of the LA Galaxy after last season’s dismal finish at the bottom of the table. Add the supposed “failure” of “The Beckham Experiment”, and LA wasn’t on the top of anyone’s pre-season MLS Cup prediction. But Beckham proved he is not just a pretty face with fashion-forward hair, and the Galaxy rallied under Bruce Arena to go from worst to first in the West. Read the rest of this entry »

Real Salt Lake Sends Defending Champion Columbus Out of the Playoffs!

By: Rocky Cole | 5 Comments

Andy Williams seals the deal for RSL with a late goal in Real’s 4-2 aggregate win to advance in the 2009 MLS Playoffs and move on to the Eastern Conference Final. Last week after Real Salt Lake beat Columbus at home in Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, Jason Kreis said something interesting after the game. “No one believes in us, but us,” he said in a local post-game interview. Maybe people outside the locker room are starting to believe now, Jason. But the thing is, RSL has been playing some of their best soccer in the past six weeks. The team has been able to put some balls in the back of the net and the defense has been as solid as any team in the league. Read the rest of this entry »

Real Salt Lake Gives Columbus Crew a Fright on Halloween – Takes Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals

By: Rocky Cole | 4 Comments

Robbie Findley, MLS’s Player of the Week during the last week of the regular season slipped a late goal past the diving Columbus Keeper from a beautiful Yura Movsisyan pass, and delivers the victory to Real Salt Lake in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semis. The score came late in the game, and it became apparent early on that Columbus would have been happy to get out of Rio Tinto with a nil-nil draw, but RSL was just as determined to get a win at home.

I was puzzled by Columbus’s strategy from before the game even started when I saw their star, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, not working that hard in warm ups and actually never taking his sweats off. Read the rest of this entry »

RSL Versus the Crew: The Power of the 12th Man in Rio Tinto

By: Rocky Cole | 3 Comments

I have been surfing the soccer blogs today and not many people are giving Real Salt lake much of a chance to get past defending MLS Champions, The Columbus Crew. I just want to remind people of three things:

1. Overall, RSL has scored 23 more goals than its opponents in home games this season. In its last four MLS home matches, Salt Lake has outscored opposing teams 10-1.

2. RSL had the best record in the league at home (9-1-5) with 34 goals for RSL and 11 against in its first full season in Rio Tino Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

3. RSL also set an interesting record by scoring the most goals (18) after the 75th minute of the game of any MLS team. Read the rest of this entry »

MLS Playoffs Begin Thursday Night in Seattle and then RSL Kicks Off Against Columbus Saturday

By: Rocky Cole | Add Comments

Conference Semifinals Begin

Finally, after seven months of play the real contest for Major League Soccer bragging rights begins on Thursday night in Seattle. Who would have thought that Seattle, the newest team in the league, would be playing post-season? Well, maybe Sigi Schmid and the guys that suit up in Sounder-Blue and Rave-Green week after week and walk out in front of insane crowds at Qwest Field in Seattle. And anyone who thinks that Seattle doesn’t have a chance to advance over perennial playoff favorites, the Houston Dynamo, hasn’t been inside Qwest Field during a game. Remember, Seattle already has one piece of hardware this year, the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The Sounders took the cup from storied DC United at DC’s home field in September. The Seattle Sounders believe! Their fans believe! Drew Carey believes! So, Houston is not a sure thing to gain points up in Seattle, and the Sounders have designs on getting the win at home.

In an effort to keep our readers informed about what is going on with the playoffs and where to see the games, here is the listing for the first round. MLS plans to have one game each week on Thursday, so the playoffs actually begin tomorrow night in Seattle. Some notes on things to look out for follow each team’s schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Does Everyone in Utah Have a Big Smile this Morning?

By: Rocky Cole | 1 Comment

Why does everyone in Utah have a big smile this morning? I will tell you why, because (imagine the Urkel happy dance) Real Salt Lake put the hurtin’ on the Colorado Rapids with a 3-0 win and the stars aligned when the Red Bulls decided to see just how slackidaisical they could make Toronto FC look. Add the icing on the cake of retaining the Rocky Mountain Cup and you understand the statewide smiles. Read the rest of this entry »