One-time MLS Cup favourites trounced by Whitecaps 7 Oct 2011 But, in examining RSL’s 3-0 loss to the Whitecaps Thursday, you have to shake your head and try to think back to the spring, when the Royals were everybody’s shoo-in pick for the MLS Cup. Think back to when Real Salt Lake was one lousy goal away from winning the CONCACAF Champions League and making plans to head to Japan for the Club World Cup.
RSL’s Alexandre named player of the week for his performance against the Whitecaps 6 Jun 2011 In what was a low-scoring week across Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake’s Jean Alexandre stood out. Alexandre scored and made the pass to free Fabian Espindola for the second goal as RSL beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0. His performance earned him top spot in the vote from the North American Soccer Reporters.
Mondaini gets four-game suspension for Morales tackle 12 May 2011 The league’s Disciplinary Committee decided to ban Chivas USA’s Marcos Mondaini a total of four games and levy fines worth US$1,500 for his red-card challenge from behind that broke two bones in the ankle of one of the league’s top stars, Javier Morales. This comes just hot on the heels of the decision to ban Colorado’s Brian Mullan 10 games for his studs-up challenge that broke the leg of Seattle’s Steve Zakuani.
Another weekend, another star goes down in MLS 8 May 2011 Canada’s Will Johnson scored the winner on a goalmouth scramble to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 win over Chivas USA on Saturday, but the talking point of the game — indeed, the weekend of MLS action at large — will be yet another serious injury to a star player. This time, it was Javier Morales, RSL’s midfield sparkplug, who will miss months because of a fracture and dislocation of the left ankle after he was brought down from behind on a red-card worthy challenge from Chivas’ Marcos Mondaini.
RSL win over Monterrey could be soccer’s “Lake Placid moment” 25 Apr 2011 Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerwey knows that Wednesday’s second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final could be a watershed moment for U.S. Soccer and MLS. “We weren’t able to finish. We haven’t had the Lake Placid moment,” Lagerwey said in a conference call Monday ahead of the second leg.
Magical strike from Morales has RSL in great shape in CONCACAF Champions League 21 Apr 2011 It was a moment of brilliance. We can speak of David Ferreira, Chris Wondolowski and, yes, even Landon Donovan. But, is there a player in MLS who can carry a team quite like Javier Morales? The Argentine midfielder conjured a goal in the 89th minute, allowing Real Salt Lake to leave Mexico with a 2-2 draw against Monterrey in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final.
Rimando named MLS Player of the Month 4 Apr 2011 The Player of the Month voting wasn’t just a statement about Nick Rimando the goalkeeper, it was a statement about Real Salt Lake, the club.
Morales wins battle of the Javiers for MLS Player of the Week 28 Mar 2011 Javier Morales’ performance was judged to be superior to that of Javier Martina. The Real Salt Lake midfielder was named the MLS player of the week by the North American Soccer Reporters on Monday. Morales scored twice and set up another goal as RSL decimated the Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1, only adding to Rio Tinto’s reputation as being the toughest place for a road team to go in all of North American pro sports.
The super-duper MLS season preview 14 Mar 2011 It’s become obligatory for every sports journalist to provide season previews for the league he or she covers. It’s automatic, and a great space killer! In that vein, The 11 presents its “waited until the last possible second before the regular season” season preview! Why the wait? Because it’s hard to figure out the East. The West? Wow, a lot of power and depth there. As for the East? Last season, New York and Columbus and six other mediocre to bad to awful clubs were in the conference. New York and Columbus left them all in the dust.
MLS needs to step in and stop preseason ugliness 9 Mar 2011 On Tuesday night, a preseason game between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake was abandoned in the second half because of what’s being described as an ugly brawl.