As Sporting Kansas City faces Western Conference rivals Real Salt Lake tonight at Rio Stadium Stadium, I caught up with Salt Lake Tribune writer Chris Kamrani to preview the match. Live coverage of the match is available at 10:00 p.m. CT on KMCI (38 The Spot), UniMas, and La Grande 1340 AM.
Jonathon Feyerherm: What has been Real Salt Lake's form since these two sides last met on June 21st (2-1 win by RSL)?
Chris Kamrani: I think what stood out for me in that last match on June 21st was what Kansas City said afterward. I think it was a resounding sentiment that RSL outworked and outplayed Kansas City. I think that is something that SKC prides itself on. IT’s rare for KC to get outworked in a game and they said that they were last time they were here. Granted, Dom had a great goal from a great assist by Benny, but other than that it felt like RSL was on the front foot for most of the game. The goal in the 90th minute was off a deflection but it still counted for three points in the standings that RSL needed desperately. Looking forward the way RSL has played the last few weeks, it’s been a pretty hard start with so many injuries and so many call-ups. Last week was probably the best they’ve played by piecing performances back to back in beating LA in the Open Cup and then beating Houston at home, even though Houston is not a great team right now. Being able to grab three points against a western conference opponent was huge for them in order to build some sort of momentum going forward into this game and then to make a push, for RSL.
JF: What are your thoughts on the rivalry between these two sides?
CK: It’s a great rivalry. I’m of the opinion that MLS needs for rivalries like this that are out in the open. Not necessarily pure distain for each other, but Benny made his remarks a few months ago about how he doesn’t like RSL. These two teams don’t like each other, but it’s not as if they don’t respect each other. It’s not as if you have to be friends with your opponent every time you play them and I think this is one of those cases. I think Benny was a little more direct in how he described his feelings compared to RSL. They don’t want to give too much fodder to SKC. In talking to Cassar and some of the players, they say they have the utmost respect for Kansas City and I think what they like most about his game is that it brings out the best in them. I believe Sporting feels the same way about RSL. When you have a rivalry game that you can point to on the calendar and say this is the game I’m going to be stoked for when the season starts, it builds some sort of energy around it for both fan bases whether it’s here in Utah. I talked to about it and he said that this is one of the top three games for him. He finds RSL on the calendar and he points to it. I’m of the opinion that this is good for both fan bases, and for the league.
JF: What lineup can we expect to see with injuries and internatiional duty fo several RSL players?
CK: I think you’re going to see a similar team to June 21st outside of Kyle (Beckerman) and Nick (Rimando) obviously are two huge names that are gone. Chris Schuler, our center back, is still dealing with knee soreness after undergoing knee surgery in April. He came back and played a couple of games but they’re being cautious with him. Jamison Olave is out with a quadricep tear. Obviously the trade of Alvaro Saborio to D.C. was a really big point for this club. They wanted to get younger and be more dynamic and they acquired a guy in Luis Silva who they think can be part of that equation, but he’s currently injured too so it doesn’t look like he’s going to play. Obviously Kyle and Nick are two huge names so it is going to be hard to play without them. You’re going to see a similar lineup minus those to guys compared to June 21st.
JF: RSL had some inconsistent results early but are they now starting to find their form at Rio Tinto Stadium?
CK: That’s a real interesting point. As most people know in MLS Rio Tinto has been a tough place to play these last five years but this club has been unable to get those results this season as opposed to past seasons. They’ve only lost once, but there have been very many draws as opposed to wins. I think that win against KC was huge for them, but then they go to New York and drop a 1-0 result. Then the next two games at home against Columbus and Orlando they draw whereas in the past they would have won those two games. It’s been kind of an up and down year for them across the board. What I think has hampered them from really making the conversation at the four or five spot is there lack of wins at home up to this point. You look at beating KC and Houston as two big western conference games at home. Then you look at Columbus coming in and that’s a game you probably have to win, especially considering they had the lead twice. Then against Orlando, Kaka sees red in the 45th minute and they were unable to capitalize on that in the second half. For RSL to be able to get another win over KC would be massive, but I think the problem RSL might run into is a more motivated Kansas City team considering how last time played out. Obviously Rio Tinto isn’t Sporting Park, but how well they’ve played recently at home could translate to Friday.
JF: What are you looking forward to from tonight's match?
CK: I think for RSL, looking at KC you have to figure out how to slow down Benny Feilhaber. He’s having as good a season as any player in the league. He had the assist on Dom’s equalizing goal last time they played each other. I’m not comparing the two but the way KC will maybe look at Javier Morales is the same RSL will look at Benny. They need to figure out a way to get him out of the game and not allow him to put his stamp on the game. He’s just playing at a different level right now. If he’s on you can see what he’s been able to do over the past two months with time and space to pick out passes for guys like Dom and Nemeth. I think he is kind of the focus point for RSL on Friday. For RSL on the attack, Joao Plata scored his first goal on the year on Saturday against Houston. If he can get on a roll, that would be huge. Also if Sebastian Jaime can continue his form, I think he scored his first goal against Kansas City on June 21st and then went on a streak of scoring five goals in six games across all competitions, would be important. I think for RSL it’s how they can test KC’s backline considering they just played that tough 90 minute game Tuesday at home. It was a 3-1 win but it wasn’t easy. Houston had control at the beginning of the game before KC took over. I wonder if RSL can capitalize on some tired legs for KC after RSL had six days off compared to KC’s three.
JF: How has Real Salt Lake's depth been tested this season?
CK: RSL has been waiting for it’s depth to shine through. They need it to because in May and June it wasn’t there. When you lose guys like Beckerman, Rimando, Elias Vasquez with the Guatemalan national team, and Saborio with the trade, we need some guys to step up in the West in order to help keep yourself afloat. If you look at the separation in the western conference, first to sixth place is within six points and then you have RSL who is within six points of Seattle and Portland, that is pretty astounding. For RSL to continue to stay in the postseason picture, they need their secondary guys to play well. Especially going into August when you have this road trip from D.C to Vancouver, then to Guatemala, and finishing in Kansas City for the Open Cup semifinal. If they could have some of the young guys step up that would be huge.
