Salt Lake - post facto

Hope all had a great Independence Day weekend. I did. Except for Thursday.

Thursday night the game started late, so I first watched a movie I had rented: "Be Kind Rewind." I didn't enjoy it much. It tried very hard, but had very little heart and passion. It was very choppy, with very little continuity from one event to the next. And the ending didn't seem to resolve anything and left me hanging. And do you want to hear my opinion of the movie, too?

Well, same description goes for the movie. It would have been better with more "sweded" movies included.

Back to the match.

Well, actually not much to say there. Here's the match recap. All in all it was one of the more dreary performances by the MIO, likely due partially to the turf. We should have had a free kick or PK early on when a cross by Mullan was knocked down by the extended arm of a defender right on the line of the penalty box, but the ref didn't see it or didn't deem it worth a free kick. Our best chances for a goal came late, particularly with a rocket of a shot by Mullan in the 84th and a sneaky header by DeRo that was heading for the corner of the goal before a goal line clearance by an RSL defender.

But Salt Lake definitely had the more dangerous chances, and the only way we ended up with a point was due to the ever-steady Onstad, some good positioning by the defenders, and some simple good fortune. Our midfield couldn't establish any sustained rhythm to maintain possession, which is highly unusual. Our forwards had a performance typical for this season, only this occasion was exacerbated by the lack of possession and service from the middies.

Salt Lake was extremely physical -- FC Dallas-style physical with the likes of Olave and Wingert taking out players when they were beaten. In the end, we resorted to the same tactics more than usual (at least, more than usual when E-Rob is not on the field) since that was the style of play RSL and the officials seem to want to play on the turf. Ugly game aesthetically and technically. I'm glad it's our last game in that stadium...unless something happens in the MLS Cup tourney that takes us back there.

After the MLS league action this weekend, our one point puts us in fourth place with more draws than any other club. (Three points would have flung us to the top.) We're one point from fifth and two points from sixth, and we don't have any League games to generate forward momentum until July 22. That's not too big of a problem, because two of the other Western Conference clubs have played as many games as us, and the other four clubs have only one game in hand. Therefore, we have as many games as the rest of the conference does to generate points.

The trip to Salt Lake ended with the Reserves losing their first match, 5-3. Don't know if that result had anything to do with our third string goalkeeper tending the nets. In the recap, it sounds like the defense didn't do the GK any favors.