Good news and bad news – first match report
By: Ian Rose | April 8th, 2007Real Salt Lake should have had the win on Saturday – there’s no doubt of that. We dominated play, and 2-1 seemed sure to be the final scoreline as time ticked away, but a costly mistake by Nick Rimando, and heads-up play by Dallas’ Carlos Ruiz led to a disappointing draw, 2-2.
In many ways, though, this team showed so much improvement that I can’t be too mad about the draw. We have a point, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the team had a total of one point from the first six matches last season. Freddy Adu continued his preseason run of poor high shooting (two more over the crossbar), but Jeff Cunningham stepped up with two good goals (one of which he should have been fired if he missed – it was a gimme). But Kenny Cooper’s early goal for Dallas kept things close, and Real was unable to convert a number of good looks. The Dallas midfield was in a bit of disorder, as I thought they’d be, but Real just couldn’t take advantage.
It wasn’t the start we were looking for, but it’s no disaster – Dallas are a fine club, and a draw is not a terrible result against them. It’s just that the late conceded goal by Ruiz makes the draw feel like a loss.
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Category: Team News
Tags: Carlos Ruiz, FC Dallas, Freddy Adu, Jeff Cunningham, Kenny Cooper, Nick Rimando, Postgame analysis, Real Salt Lake, RSL, Team NewsSubscribe
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I don’t get the feeling that Coach Ellinger coaches the team how to play the last 5-10 minutes. It’s like he expects them to know. If the Coach won’t, then why not let the Captains assume responsibility of laying out the plan and define roles. Too often, last year, an opponent would control the last 10 minutes and we’d be on our heals just like Saturday. It’s sure a sick feeling to watch that whole thing unfold.
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