Real Salt Lake Gets 2-1 Win Against College of Charleston in Training Opener

16 year-old Luis Gill makes RSL debut

Real Salt Lake faced off against The College of Charleston Cougars on Saturday and came away with a 2-1 win, both goals coming in the second half of play. There are a few notable things about the game. First, it was the first time that the entire RSL team was together now that Robbied Findley, Kyle Beckerman, and Nicky Rimando have returned from duty with the U.S. Men’s National Team, although Beckerman and Findley sat the game out. Second, it was the introduction of sixteen year-old Luis Gil, who played the first half of the match as a striker. Third, one of the two goals in the second half was scored by Pablo Campos who was acquired in 2009 from the San Jose Earthquakes.

Campos is the player that RSL is hoping will step up and fill the role once ably played by Yura Movsisyan. Will Campos be able to be that dominating presence on the front line and score regularly? The judge is out still, but Campos has shown in previous play at San Jose and in his limited time at RSL that he is capable. More playing time and greater expectations may be just the things that Campos needs to get to the next level. If you look back through the history of this blog, you will see that it began last year during RSL’s road trip to this tournament, The Carolina Challenge Cup. RSL won the cup, but more importantly, this is where RSL began to gel as a team and RSL’s play in the cup was indicative of how the season went. Last year though, RSL struggled on the road, especially early on, and this year Coach Kreis would like nothing better than to have a strong start and not have to go through the road woes of last season. This is a big year for RSL. There are detractors out there that believe RSL was a “one hit wonder” and did not deserve the MLS Cup. Others (and I am one) think that Garth Lagerwey and Jason Kreis built a tough, intentional team, and that the operative word is “team”. There are no superstars on RSL and that is exactly the way they want it.

Category: MLS, RSL, Real Salt Lake, Scores