RSL struggled on Saturday with a Fire team much improved by the additions of Cuatemoc Blanco and Paulo Wanchope. While Real took it to Chicago early in the match, Blanco and Wanchope gave the defense fits for most of the game, were able to hold the ball up top and dramatically improve the Chicago transition.
I can’t say enough good things about what Wanchope adds to this Fire team…He runs like Daffy Duck in spring-loaded shoes, but has pace and hops to spare. A tremendous aerial threat, he fielded nearly every piece of junk Chicago put up in the air. Pope was up to the task of defense, and the battle was fun to watch, but dragging Eddie all over the field left Blanco with some serious room. These two were truly an impressive tandem.
Some gutsy play from Ritchie Kotschau dug Real out of some serious holes, including his expert handling of a 2 v 1 scenario that I had chalked up as a sure goal. RSL struggled with some touch issues in the midfield and up top. Eskandarian was man-handled and continuously bumped off of possession, and was struggling to find space and help up top. His balance looked off, and sadly his shot was wildly off the mark on the couple of opportunities he made for himself. Findley’s touch to the post was bittersweet, as it certainly would have been a nice goal against stout defense. It was hardly hit with authority, but very nearly squeeked far post despite being hounded on the ball. Real struggled with the Chicago counterattack and had difficulty committing midfielders forward into the attack as they opted to knock too many balls long rather than work the ball forward through the midfield. Our midfield played a surprisingly east-west passing game, rarely utilizing diagonal runners to open up the Chicago defense. This compounded with some poor touches in the midfield which often gave the ball away with too many men forward reeked havoc on RSL’s ability to control the middle of the pitch. Frankly, RSL lost the game of ends, unable to maintain possession on the front long enough to utilize their midfield support, and struggling to find room to advance the ball from the defensive end.
One bright spot was the play of Edgar “Fabian” Espindola, who showed tremendous desire and some exceptional touch on the ball. He tracked back to get the ball himself when no service was forthcoming and the team was starting to show fewer and fewer signs of life. He had 2 opportunities at the same shot later in the game with Perkins woefully off his line…unfortunately, neither shot hit the mark.
Kipre worked his butt off against a much taller and stronger Wanchope who physically punished him for much of the game. Eddie Pope was tremendous, scrapping like a man 5 years younger and fighting to win balls in the air. Kotschau, though often plainly outmatched by Blanco, had some outstanding play, keeping RSL in the game on numerous occasions.
Questions of note seem to be…What’s wrong with Carey Talley. He’s looked lackluster for weeks…where’s the old drive and passion? Where’s the urgency to his game which made him so much fun to watch last year? RSL looked weak on the flanks due to some defensive miscommunication in the center. We often had trouble quickly releasing on the flank, which sucked valuable time out of our counter-attack. How long will it take Eskandarian to recover some form after his injury lay-off…he frankly looked awful up top on Saturday.
According to the RSL release, they have finally officially signed Javier Morales. Expect this to provide some help and hopefully definition to RSL’s midfield attack…That is provided our multiple central midfielders don’t start tripping over each other. I would definitely look to see Espindola start up top with Findley against Chivas, which will definitely provide some measure of control which Esky hasn’t been able to muster recently.
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