Round 2, Fight … or, RSL Matchday 2 preview
By: Ian Rose | April 13th, 2007Well, it appears that I have been called on my slacking ways by Jeff of the Columbus Crew Offside, who beat me to the punch and got his preview of tomorrow’s Crew-Real match up before mine. Well played, Jeff.
Last week, I went out on a limb and made a prediction for a 2-1 Real Salt Lake victory. That victory, and that exact scoreline, looked to be coming true, when Nick Rimando gave up a late goal from Carlos Ruiz and gave away both two points and all my confidence in my powers of prediction. So, I’m tempted to be a little more conservative this time.
Both the Crew and RSL are coming off of first-week draws that arguably should have been wins. Real beat up on Dallas for 80 minutes, but, like their Offside blogger, got lazy in the end and allowed the equalizer. The Crew are not exactly an explosive offense, but should have been able to finish at least once against New York - they certainly had a few nice chances. So, how to match up two adequate but underperforming sides?
It comes down to whether the offense of Columbus or the defense of Real is worse. RSL is going to get their chances at goal, even against the strong back line of the Crew. So, I’ll predict another two goals for Real. Including one more for Jeff Cunningham. But, on the other side, it could go either way. If we see Nick Rimando and the much-maligned defenders of RSL step up their play even to the point of being average against the somewhat anemic Crew front, I think we’ll see 2-1 Real, or even a 2-0 shutout. But if the defense continues to struggle, and gives up a dumb one like we did against Dallas, I could see another draw.
My prediction: same as last week’s: 2-1 Real. Hope springs eternal.
Category: Team News
Tags: Carlos Ruiz, Columbus Crew, Jeff Cunningham, Nick Rimando, Pregame Analysis, Real Salt Lake, RSL, Team NewsSubscribe
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Nice work, Ian. I linked to this, but gave away your call. I also thought that, with the mirror image calls, we should devise some form of shared punishment should the teams tie - e.g. the one case in which we’d both be indisputably and equally wrong. I floated the idea of stove-heated malt liquor quaffing, but don’t know how we’d verify compliance - and I’m not doing that one again on my own…that’s just a shockingly awful taste.
I’ll keep working on it, though, and get back.
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Glad I didn’t agree to your terms for a mutual punishment … I don’t want to drink hot malt. Watching the scoreless draw was punishment enough. I expect that from the Crew (good D, poor O) but I expect goals from an RSL match - too bad.
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