In the second half of the game, Captain Kyle Beckerman continued his solid play which earned him a call up on the U.S. Men’s senior team, and scored with a nice shot placed just beyond the reach of the Toronto keeper. And then, Clint Mathis broke away from the Toronto defense and blasted a laser-beam shot into the corner of Toronto’s net. Clint provided the assist on Beckerman’s goal previously, and coach Jason Kreis’s faith in the veteran player was once again validated. As of the writing of this post, Clint is running a close second for goal of the week. He doesn’t score often, but when he does, his goals are beautiful to see.

Besides the inspired play of RSL in the second half of the game, Ian Joy, injured in the last preseason game against the USL Divsion 1 Aztex, finally made his debut as a late game substitute. Preseason it looked as if Joy would be the starting left back, but his hamstring injury has kept him off the field. Finally he is back, and with Olave’s penchant for earning red cards, and four players on international call-ups, Joy’s comeback could not be timed better.

Ian Joy returned from injury as a late substitute against Toronto

RSL sits 5th in the Western Conference table right now, two points behind Colorado and one point ahead of Los Angeles. Three games remain before the all-star break, and RSL will have its collective eyes on a three-point result when the San Jose Earthquakes arrive at Rio Tinto Stadium Friday night at 8:00 PM (MST). San Jose sits at the bottom of the table currently, but the Quakes are coming off a win against the LA Galaxy, and I have seen San Jose play several times this season and they are dangerous. My prediction (and it’s tough because I really like San Jose) is for an RSL win 2:1, over struggling San Jose.

The game against the Quakes will be followed by fireworks. Of course, I’d rather see the fireworks on the field (don’t tell my sons), but fireworks in celebration of solid play and three more points – well, I could get into that.

Seriously, RSL weathered a significant assault from Houston once Olave was sent off, but the man of the match (again exceeding my expectations) was Nick Rimando. I was a goalkeeper in a previous life, and I watch Rimando do things a keeper of his physical size just shouldn’t get away with. I mean, stopping a penalty kick, literally flying from one corner of the upper net to the other to stop a curving shot from someone like Brian Ching. Rimando has some of the best reaction saves I have ever seen, and he definitely has kept us in questionable games all season. If he gets just a little more support from the offense and some solid play from his back line, RSL can still get where it wants to be this season.

Tonight the team faces Toronto in Rio Tinto, and I have to say that the energy for RSL is high right now. How could it not be? EVERY member of RSL watched the amazing victory of the U.S. Men’s National Team, and then to get the fantastic news that Beckerman received a call-up for the US MNT for the Gold Cup that follows the Confederations Cup, is a pure shot of motivation and energy not just for Kyle, but for the whole team. The bad news in the Gold Cup call ups is that not just Beckerman, but Jean Alexandre (Haiti), Will Johnson (Canada), and Andy Williams (Jamaica) will be playing for their respective home countries’ rosters for the upcoming 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, to be played at stadiums across the U.S. between July 3′rd through the 26′th. Johnson and Alexandre will depart Utah early this week to join the Canadian and Haitian training camps, while Williams will join the Jamaican team on Sunday, allowing him to play in tonight’s game against Toronto FC.

My prediction for tonight (due partly to the excitement generated by tomorrow’s US MNT final against Brazil - check ESPN for time of game) is for high energy in Rio Tinto from both the crowd and the players. A few weeks ago Jason Kreis was disappointed in how his team was playing, especially on the road. He made some tweaks in the formation and the starting squad, and he kept focusing the team on playing with intensity and energy from the first kick. Getting Rimando back in full-form from his injury, and now the results in two tough road games, has to bode well for tonight’s match. Toronto is a tough team but they have had a short turn around from a mid-week game. Even so, Toronto is never a team to trifle with. They understand the power of a rowdy home crowd, and they will come into the match looking to counter RSL’s obvious home energy with an early strike. Rimando will need to be sharp from the opening whistle tonight, but I have faith, boy do I have faith!

I’d agree that the play wasn’t bad, and Colorado is a tough team, even without two of their stars who were on duty with the US National Team. In fact, it looked like RSL had the win until Omar Cummings hammered a fantastic shot from the top of the penalty over the head of RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

One bright spot was Yura Movsisyan, who has struggled to make goals this season. Movsisyan scored in the 79th minute, and that is a decidedly good thing. The match may have gone RSL’s was after the Movsisyan goal, but when Robbie Russell was sent off with his second yellow card in the 82nd minute the defense faltered. It not only left RSL a man down the rest of the way, but forced them to change their formation that had worked so well in containing the Rapids attack up to that point. (RSL played a 4-3-3 for the first time this season and the Rapids had difficulty handling it.)

After Russell’s sending off, Colorado scored five minutes later and closed the game with a tie they probably felt fortunate to get away with. This week, RSL heads out on the road to play the LA Galaxy at The Home Depot Center Saturday night. Not sure if Kreis will use this new formation against LA, or will go back to his old one with the return of Beckerman and Morales, but it may be worth a try. RSL has the elements of a great team, but they need some little tweak to get them over the edge. Maybe it’s a new formation, or perhaps they need a shot of Xango before the games.

Apparently San Jose did not get the memo. Even without Darren Huckerby, the Earthquakes handed RSL a 2 - 1 loss with a big San Jose smile that said, “Not in our house!” I sat in my chair and watched the game on TV and then asked myself, “What happened to RSL, they looked so good defensively last week?” I asked. My self (the voices from last week’s blog I think), replied, “At least they scored a goal on the road.”

You know, that’s right… at least they scored a goal on the road; first road goal this season, in fact. Thank you Robbie Findley! Granted, that is a pretty low bar, but when you haven’t been able to score away from home at least that’s a bit of a silver lining. And while the monkey may not be off the team’s back completely, at least it’s strolling around the concession area occasionally. A road win, no, two road wins, and I’d say the monkey is gone. There was some good play in the game against DC United and the Earthquakes, especially by Nick Rimando in goal. If Rimando had not played a great game, the score may well have been 3 or 4 to 1. The big question for me is: why were the Quakes getting all the solid shots at Rimando? Where was the usually strong RSL defense?

This week is the second game in the Rocky Mountain Cup and The Colorado Rapids beat up Real in the first leg of the cup. I know Rimando remembers. He has a nice scar on his hand if he starts to forget that gem of a game.

Seriously, if Real cannot get up for this game and bring some serious play to Rio Tinto on Saturday night, they can’t get up for any game. The Rapids will be expecting a pumped up Real to come at them from the first whistle and Real had better be prepared to give everything they have. Otherwise, the road monkey may be looking around Rio Tinto and thinking about relocating to the Wasatch Front from its favored place on the road. The Wasatch Front is a nice place, after all.

Gotta run… I hear the staff coming on rounds.

RSL was relentless from the start and made 29 shots on goal with six going in, and as noted before, two of the goals are up for MLS goal of the week. New England weathered the first half storm but managed only six shots against RSL for the night, all handled effectively by Nick Rimando. RSL has a lot of positives to take away from the game: the scoring, the records, the win… but if you look a little deeper, I would say it’s all about the intensity that Kreis wanted and got. In other words, he defined a problem after the loss at New York, and his players responded. Now, the challenge will be to enjoy the way the intensity resulted in a high level of play and the results that came from that level of play. If the team listens to the coach this week as it did last week, and plays accordingly, RSL can move to the next level. Good intentions mean nothing without actions and results.

Tonight, RSL travels to Seattle for an Open Cup match, and then Saturday night they are in Denver to face the Colorado Rapids in their next MLS game. There are still some soccer-pundits saying, “Yes, but can RSL win on the road?” That’s a legitimate question, but I will bet that the rest of the MLS had a wake up call about RSL, and whether they are facing Real at their home stadiums or in Rio Tinto, playing RSL won’t be taken lightly.

RSL has some injury problems in the defense and Ian Joy, Nat Borchers, and Robbie Russell are likely out this week. Not good. That said, The Revolution have seven players out or questionable for play, including Taylor Twellman. RSL has done one thing very right this season and that is to play until the end of the game. In other words, they do not give up and “phone in” the last fifteen minutes of play. Now, bring that intensity to the start of games and RSL could be at the level they are capable of playing at.

Kickoff for Real Salt Lake against the New England revolution is 7:00 PM Mountain Time at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. It would be nice for me to blog next week about how the stands were filled with rabid fans and not be talking about Seattle. I’m just sayin….

The second half of play saw Real pick their intensity up, but the Red Bulls Juan Pablo Angel scored and put RSL down two to nil. This was the best game that the Red Bulls have played so far this season but unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Real. Let’s hope Real can regroup before next week’s match against The New England Revolution at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real has had problems winning away from home since joining the MLS, but coach Jason Kreis does not seem to think that being on the road is the primary problem for RSL. After the game, coach Kreis commented on his frustration that Real doesn’t seem to come out with intensity in the first half of games, either at home or away. So, coach Kreis has identified the problem, and now the team has a week to get ready for the Revolution. We will see if the players respond.