SANDY — When an injured Juan Manuel Martinez trotted off the field shortly after scoring an early goal last weekend, the writing was realistically on the wall for Real Salt Lake.
Despite the 1-1 score, RSL hadn’t played well in those open 20 minutes, whereas the L.A. Galaxy were buzzing around the field with confidence and creating numerous chances.
Already without Javier Morales, Joao Plata and Stephen Obayan, the club was suddenly forced to forge ahead without its most creative player.
Those absences are too much to overcome on just about any night, but particularly against the Galaxy.
The circumstances shouldn’t be nearly as bad this Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium when the Houston Dynamo come to town.
Morales and Obayan have trained fully the past two days and figure to be back in the starting 11 against Houston. Martinez trained partially on Wednesday, and coach Jeff Cassar listed his status for this weekend as probable.
Plata, however, is a bit further behind as he deals with the quad injury picked up in training last week. He’s yet to practice this week and seems highly unlikely against the Dynamo.
“He’s doing all the right work to get right,” said Cassar, who said he doesn’t want Plata to start training until he can train fully
LEAPS AND BOUNDS: When Yura Movsisyan left Real Salt Lake for Europe following the 2009 season, MLS was a very different league.
For starters, it was a 15-team league compared to the 20 in the league this season. And, in his mind, since returning to MLS after a six-year stint in Russia, Movsisyan has noticed a significant increase in the quality of play across the league.
“The league has definitely gotten faster. The players have gotten stronger, faster and more technical. The league has grown a lot. I don’t just say that. It’s been six years, and I’ve seen a big, big difference,” said Movsisyan.
Asked whether he’s frustrated by the lack of goals he’s scored in his return to RSL, Movsisyan said the results are what really matter.
“I don’t think I’m at that age where I worry too much about my own accomplishments. If we accomplish something as a team, that will mean a lot more to me than maybe just getting the golden boot or something like that. It’s about the team and the team getting the results,” he said.
GETTING STRETCHED: In the buildup to last weekend’s match with the Galaxy, one of the talking points was the big field at the StubHub Center and the importance of RSL not getting stretched defensively.
It happened quite a bit in the first half, but Chris Wingert said not in the manner you’d typically expect. He said instead of getting stretched out horizontally, RSL was frequently getting stretched out vertically — and that wide play led directly to several LA goals.
“They used their wide to their advantage,” said Wingert. “They take some calculated risks by pushing a lot of guys forward. Sometimes they have five guys on our back line, and they’re OK pushing them forward because they think it’s going to pay off. And in this case, it certainly did.”
To counter the Galaxy, Wingert said, whenever RSL won the ball it needed to be quicker with its counter-attack opportunities.
Deseret News prep editor and Real Salt Lake beat writer. EMAIL: jedward@deseretnews.com