SANDY — Was the glass half full or half empty in Real Salt Lake’s scoreless season opener at Portland last weekend?
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Sure, the attack in the new 4-3-3 formation was nonexistent most of the match, but the defense was superb, thwarting away not only Portland’s build-up but its counter attack after repeated RSL giveaways.
“For me it’s great, for the team, it’s great,” said Cassar. “There were no negatives to take away from the game whatsoever.”
Cassar admitted that on Portland’s slick turf surface, in front of a hostile crowd, in the season opener with a new formation, the performance was never going to be pretty.
“You have to have a little bit of a different mindset. For crying out loud it was the first game of the year, it’s not like we’re in midseason form and the ball is zipping around. We have to be a little bit patient and look at the big picture and say we’re doing some new things and it takes a little time,” said Cassar. “But if the defense is nice and strong and the offense keeps getting better and better each time we’re going to be fine.”
Shutting out Portland at home is no small achievement either.
The Timbers were only shut out twice in two home matches in 2014. The first came against Kansas city in a 1-0 loss in June and the latter was a 0-0 draw against Real Salt Lake in October — a devastating result for the Timbers who missed the playoffs by one point.
“Anytime we get a shutout on the road I’m pleased. It’s a very positive start, very positive result for the start of the season,” said RSL defender Tony Beltran.
He said it was a grind dealing with Portland’s long balls, but was pleased with how everyone worked together to handle the pressure.
“When I re-watched the game, Portland never broke us down. Their momentum came off of long balls and set plays, and that can be tough to deal with and I thought our guys did a great job of dealing with that,” said Cassar.
Even though Real Salt Lake’s impressive five-game winning streak in season openers came to an end, Cassar views the draw as a point gained — especially with two games at home against Portland later this season.
Against visiting Philadelphia this weekend, Real Salt Lake will try and dictate the tempo and better demonstrate the potential attacking qualities of the 4-3-3 formation, not just the defensive qualities that were on display in Portland.
“We have to think about us, we have to play a little better in the final third and then the goals will come,” said midfielder Javier Morales.