Welcome back to storylines.
Another quick turnaround game means less time ruminating and dwelling on the errors of the past, and efforts, instead, all dutifully geared towards advancements and progress ahead of immediate challenges that lie in wait.
RSL quickly return to action midweek on Wednesday at home at America First Field for the visit of Minnesota United to the Wasatch Front in what, at the very least, promises to be yet another thrilling spectacle.
Pablo Mastroeni’s charges arrive at Wednesday’s impending fixture on the back of a frustrating 2-2 draw away against Austin FC in its most recent outing where goals from Matt Crooks and Diogo Gonçalves put the Claret-and-Cobalt in charge of its own destiny, before a late fightback from the hosts forced a share of the spoils.
A quick turnaround contest, and return to America First Field, thus presents an opportunity for a return to winning ways and a chance to try and build a winning momentum ahead of the commencement of playoffs.
So what were some of the lessons we learned from Saturday’s stalemate in Austin, and how can the team positively apply some of it towards a more flattering result on Wednesday? We take a closer look at some of these as well as other compelling pieces of narratives and information in this latest iteration of RSL pre-game storylines.
Storylines
- We erred in our naivete: Saturday’s stalemate in Austin featured a rinse and repeat of the team’s defensive shortcomings in its previous game against Portland. Improvement remains a gradual process, and first step will be learning from these mistakes and perfecting its process of game management.
- More rotations expected? Competition for places is also set to ensue ahead of the commencement of playoffs, with the team’s quality in depth poised to be a major contributing factor.
Where to Watch
You can catch RSL vs Minnesota on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass right here https://tv.apple.com/
or take in the euphoric America First Field experience by getting your tickets today here https://rsl.com/tickets
Kick-off is at 7:30 p.m. MT on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
The Deep Dive
- We erred in our naivete: Saturday’s stalemate in Austin featured a rinse and repeat of the team’s defensive shortcomings in its previous game against Portland. Improvement remains a gradual process, and first step will be learning from these mistakes and perfecting its process of game management.
At the end of the preceding weekend’s draw with the Portland Timbers, head coach Pablo Mastroeni made a few concessions about some of the areas in his side where he sought improvements.
“… In the last two games we’ve given up three poor set pieces, so we need to go back and evaluate that, and consider in training what we can do better in those moments. But again, it’s about experiencing those moments and understanding how important they are,” Pablo explained.
“The hardest thing to do in football is to score goals, so when you’re conceding that many so easily there’s no attack that’s going to be able to consistently make up for it, so that’s another area that we’re going to have to address.”
For the opening 70 minutes in Austin, his players delivered the perfect response.
For much of the weekend’s contest in Austin, RSL looked comfortably in the ascendancy. Second-half goals first from Crooks and then Gonçalves had put the visitors two goals to the good and looked to have seemingly settled an initially tight contest in its favor. But alas, disaster would strike in the final 10 minutes, and the team’s rearguard Achilles heel would rear its ugly head once again and conspire to undermine all its collective success up until that point with multiple goal concessions only eight minutes apart, including an 89th-minute heartache that forced both sides to settle for a point apiece.
It represented a disappointing repeat of the same story against the Timbers only a week prior, where the team had once again squandered a two-goal lead, succumbing to two set-piece goals and a 90th-minute leveler forcing it to settle for a mere point in a pulsating 3-3 draw, experiences Pablo maintains the team must learn from in order to move forward.
“It’s a point on the road, but again, what we’re [mainly] chasing is performances, and I thought for 70 minutes we were a really good team,” RSL’s head coach explained during the press conference in the aftermath of Saturday’s result.
“I thought we started getting sloppy with the ball in the latter stages of the game which ended up stretching the team a little bit, but again, it's a learning curve we have. We have a really young group and these are experiences that unfortunately you have to go through to learn from.
“We improved on the set pieces from the last [Portland] game, and we’ll improve on the low block defending after this one. We have a quick turnaround for Wednesday, so we need to make sure our heads are in the right place, put forth the same type of effort and performance that we had for 70 minutes today and just clean up the areas that cost us the two points.”
RSL’s rearguard struggles have still continued to constitute a perpetual theme and thorn in the team’s collective flesh over its last few games. The reasons for this too are perhaps highly complex ranging and difficult to pin down to any one, singular factor. But the general, overriding sentiment and point for improvement remains the team’s need to consistently retain full focus and efficiently see out games over a full 90 minutes, a task which, on the season’s evidence at least, should not prove too difficult.
The team has already demonstrated this on various occasions this season with its series of impressive, record-breaking form and performances throughout the beginning and middle of the campaign, as well as most recently in its 2-0 and 3-2 victories over New England and Dallas respectively since the domestic season restart. The task at hand, thus, now lies in effectively replicating something it has already done before, but this time on a more consistent basis, and quickly.
Three games left in the season represents a limited time frame to solve its inconsistencies and banish its rearguard demons before the commencement of what, as has often been noted, is expected to be a challenging, unforgiving playoff bracket.
Time is running out, and fast, and in its bid to consequently also solve its recent malaise in form, this constitutes perhaps the biggest talking point for Pablo and the team ahead of the midweek visit of Minnesota.
- More rotations expected? Competition for places is also set to ensue ahead of the commencement of playoffs, with the team’s quality in depth poised to be a major contributing factor.
Throughout RSL’s games in September, a central, consistent theme that remained was the constant rotation of players and positions by Pablo and his staff. During the 3-2 win against Dallas two weeks ago, a total of seven personnel and positional changes were made, and then three, only three days later, in the 3-3 draw with Portland. Against Austin, that tradition continued with four new faces brought into the starting lineup ahead of kickoff.
Goalkeeper Zac MacMath was drafted in between the sticks for his first start in a month, in place of homegrown prodigy Gavin Beavers, and outfield players Andrew Brody, Braian Ojeda, and captain Chicho Arango were also all handed minutes from the off in Texas having all featured as substitutes against Portland.
With such a congested schedule, it duly represented a necessary cycle of options and distribution of minutes to keep players fit and firing, but simultaneously it was also more than just that. Whilst personnel rotation and management of players’ game time still represent a crucial factor, this also illustrated something perhaps even more telling, a fierce, healthy competition for places, and evidence of the strength and quality in depth throughout the team all across the pitch.
RSL enjoyed its busiest-ever transfer window in franchise history in the summer which provided a platform and opportunity for the club to properly strengthen in several key areas.
In attack, midfielder Crooks was awarded a third straight start on Wednesday alongside Diego Luna, Dominik Marczuk, and Chicho all in attack. Despite this, the likes of Gonçalves, Lachlan Brook, and Anderson Julio all yet remained on the substitute bench as quality options and all still competing for a spot in the starting team ahead of the commencement of playoffs.
Midfielder Nelson Palacio recently returned from an injury that had kept him out for nearly a month prior, and alongside Noel Caliskan represents the biggest competitors and even more quality options in the holding midfield positions to Emeka Eneli and Ojeda.
In defense, new signing Javain Brown remains an option at both right and center back, to Justen Glad and Brayan Vera, full back Brody also remains an option in either defensive position out wide having started ahead of Alex Katranis on Saturday, with the Greek defender largely expected back in the team on Wednesday. And homegrown defender Bode Hidalgo remains a unicorn quality option, with his versatility making him increasingly well-suited to various positions in defense and attack.
In goal MacMath and Beavers continue to also represent good, competitive options behind the back four with the pair both impressing at different points in the campaign so far.
A crucial advantage to this evidently remains that strength in depth provides quality prospects all across the board in a team, but added to this, such stability also breeds healthy competition for places which, in time, could consequently also foster consistency and strong performances, resilience, and camaraderie and motivation throughout the team. And RSL’s potency in depth with quality and numbers, a manifestation of the club’s pursuit of a playing squad boasting an elevated floor and even higher ceiling, signals as a nod to the aforementioned advantages and to the possibilities of an even brighter future on the near horizon.
So grab a snack, sit back, and enjoy. It’s another quick turnover game on wednesday, and the Claret-and-Cobalt go marching in.
We’re back home at America First Field, so get behind us, yet again, and may the odds, as always, be ever in our favor.
we;re back again at AFF. Get behind us yet again, and may the odds as always be ever in our favor.
