If Saturday’s 6-4 loss to DC United was any indication, Real Salt Lake is in for a long road trip.
After a home stand in which RSL looked like a playoff contender for a few games, the team fell back into its defensively-deficient road ways at RFK Stadium. Despite managing to score four goals on a good United side, Real was completely exposed defensively in the second half, echoing back to earlier in the season when the team gave up four goals in two different away matches, at New England and Montreal.
Credit to United — many teams would have given up after going down two goals early, but Ben Olsen’s side knew it could get back into the match after coming from behind the previous weekend as well. Several of DC’s goals were world-class strikes that would be unstoppable by any goalkeeper. Real, on the other hand, had neither the mental nor technical ability to hold onto its lead against a determined opponent outside the friendly confines of Rio Tinto Stadium.
While many were quick to blame referee Baldomero Toledo for giving DC a questionable penalty kick that ultimately got them back into the match, as well as several other poor decisions, the focus on Toledo’s performance only obscured the bigger problems that RSL faces.
Not to mention the elephant in the room in terms of the CONCACAF Champions League, of course. If the referees in the Gold Cup — one of CONCACAF’s biggest events — were any indication, the officiating in the Champions League is bound to be less-than-perfect. Real needs to be prepared to deal with these kinds of events and maintain its focus, not dwell on them and allow themselves to get distracted by referees’ decisions.
The mental aspects of the game seem to be particularly difficult for RSL this season, and the second half of this match was a perfect example of that. Once DC equalized, the wheels started to fall off for Real — the midfield was conceding huge gaps of space between them and both the strikers and the back four, and RSL was getting beat on the transition frequently. Things took on almost an air of inevitability as Real scrambled around defensively.
Even when things went right, as in Aaron Maund’s and Abdoulie Mansally’s goals (getting production from defenders, especially in the run of play, is definitely noteworthy), a poor clearance or a step-in at the other end would give United the opportunity to nullify those moments. While some of that can be attributed to relative inexperience at the center back position, especially in the case of Justen Glad, veteran players were also making mistakes all over the field.
With the 4-3-3, RSL lives (and subsequently dies) by team defense. The coaching staff has been quick to note that all season long, praising the whole team for their defensive efforts in critical wins. That also means that the whole team has to take responsibility in losses like this — when strikers make poor decisions with the ball and give it away, when midfielders get caught out of position, and when defenders make really obvious mistakes — that all has to be shared.
Perhaps — as some speculate — the return of Chris Schuler and Jamison Olave will help. But they’ll have to play their way back into match sharpness, and they’ll need everyone in front of them to be sharp as well. Otherwise, it could be a long, difficult August for RSL.
