Real Salt Lake bounced back from their loss at home last week in a big way as the team hosted Star Wars night against Vancouver Whitecaps at Rio Tinto Stadium.

RSL controlled possession in the first half, but the final pass and lethal finish wasn’t there, and both teams went into half time on level terms. With Alvaro Saborio and Robbie Findley out due to injury, the team really seemed to be struggling to find the back of the net. The attacking trio of Javier Morales, Devon Sandoval, and Joao Plata were making good passes and runs, but the finishing touch was missing. The most dangerous chance for RSL came in the 39th minute when a corner from Morales found the head of Schuler who failed to keep his shot on frame.

Photo credit to the Salt Lake Tribune

Jedi Master Jason Kreis must have given his team quite the pep talk at half time, because RSL came out of the gates fast. In the 47th minute, RSL goalkeeper, Nick Rimando, started the counter attack from a goal kick that found the path of a speedy Joao Plata. Plata took two touches before crossing the ball to an onrushing Luis Gil who, using the force, headed the ball in, giving RSL the lead! Gil unfortunately suffered a right ankle contusion and had to be subbed off after a few minutes.

Vancouver had a chance of their own after the goal. Cory Hertzog beat Nick Rimando and slid the ball past him. It looked as if the ball was going in until Nat Borchers heroically slid and cleared the ball off the goal line!

RSL weren’t done scoring, though. Joao Plata was once again involved in the attack as he craftily slipped the ball into Javier Morales. Javier kept his composure and cooly finished to the low left of Joe Cannon in the 72nd minute. The score would stay at 2-0 and the fans went home much happier than last week.

It should also be noted that Nick Rimando registered his 7th assist, and 4th game winning assist.

Two weeks to First Kick, RSL and MLS fans. We’re almost there! Luckily the league’s Web site has been streaming the Tucson Desert Diamond Cup live so we can feed our soccer addictions.

Real Salt Lake opened the tournament against the New York Red Bulls, starting a team of almost all new players, with the exceptions of Yordany Alvarez, David Viana and Carlos Salcedo, so I decided I wasn’t going to expect anything of them as they played Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill and former RSL stalwarts Jamison Olave and Fabian Espindola. You can imagine how excited I was when Joao Plata scooped New York’s keeper from 10 yards out and put the ball in the back of the net in the 1st minute! I’m pretty sure our neighbors could hear us singing RSL’s anthem at the top of our lungs.

Two minutes later, the neighbors broke out the earplugs as Real went up 2-0. Joao Plata hit a hard shot at the keeper, who deflected it into the path of an on running Cole Grossman who slammed that sucker into the back of the net, doubling the good guys the advantage in the 3rd minute. Although the lead was blown and the game ended in a 2-2 draw, I was encouraged from what I saw from the young and new guys: good moments, high energy, and bits of great combination play.

On Saturday, they took on the Sounders. They unfortunately lost this game 2-1, with goals from Mario Martinez (SEA), Philip Lund (SEA), and John Stertzer (RSL) .Despite the loss, the energy and play that was yet again displayed by the younger players was extremely impressive!

Photo courtesy of cronicadelquindio.com

A player who has been come to be known as, “Striker X”, among the RSL faithful as they have long awaited his arrival has finally landed on U.S. soil. Olmes Garcia is set to sign with RSL pending his physical and paper finalization, and may see playing time during the Desert Diamond Cup. The 20-year-old Colombian isn’t very well known, but his strength and height can be utilized well by Real. Trialists Josh Saunders and Khari Stephenson seem to be signing with the team as well. It looks as though RSL have filled the holes in their roster, and are set for the season.

Photo courtesy of rsl.theoffside.com

Luis Gil left the RSL camp to join the U-20 U.S. National team for the CONCACAF Championship. The played Haiti this Monday, finishing with a score of 2-1. Gil buried a PK in the 4th minute, and Daniel Cuevas blasted one in the net in the 26th minute. Next they take on Costa Rica. Good luck to Luis and the rest of the team!

The only players not training with the team at the moment are Gil, and injured players Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, and Javier Morales. Other players have little knocks, but the one’s that were mentioned by Jason Kreis during a radio interview on ESPN 700 saw about 40 minutes during the DDC game Wednesday.

SuperDrafts can be so unpredictable. You never know what kind of player you’re going to get, and even if you do get a player that was fantastic in college, it doesn’t mean they are ready for MLS play. Even with the announcement of Robbie Findley’s return to Real, it’s no secret we need another forward. So obviously that’s what everyone thought we would be going after.

RSL had the 12th pick of the first round, and selected Clark Kent, umm, I mean John Stertzer from Maryland. Really though, RSL’s colors are claret (red), cobalt (blue), and gold (yellow), which happen to be Superman’s colors, and John is 6-foot. Isn’t Clark Kent just a little over 6 feet? Anyway, the Superman doppelgänger scored 25 goals and raked up 13 assists in his 79 appearances for his number 3 ranked college. John was named to the First Team All-ACC in 2011 and 2012 and ACC Championship All-Tournament Team in 2012.

In his interview after being selected, Stertzer was asked what he could bring to the field for RSL, his response was, “100 percent effort all the time. Every minute I’m out there on the training ground, in a game I’m going to give 100 percent effort to this club and I can’t wait to start with them!” Does that remind you of anyone, RSL fans? Maybe Will Johnson? Will is one of the most conditioned players in the league, and his work rate will definitely be missed, but I think John can bring some of those aspects back into our midfield if Jason thinks he’s ready for MLS play. Even if he isn’t ready for MLS just yet, John can bring competition to the training ground and make those around him push to keep their starting spots.

General Manager Garth Lagerwey said, “Stertzer is a guy we feel like  can contribute for a long time. He’s potentially a really solid player and we’re excited to add another young dynamic kid to our midfield. We’ve got six, seven young guys in there now and I think it’ll be a fantastic competition there this year with guys battling every day to see who emerges and gets the minutes.”

“I couldn’t be happier,” University of New Mexico forward Devon Sandoval said after being selected by Real Salt Lake in the second round. Devon scored 28 goals in his four year college career, and earned Second Team All-American honors in 2012. Sandoval has been compared to Steven Lenhart, and no offense to San Jose fans, but that needs to change. Maybe it’s his Lenhart like hair or because he’s a bruiser, but I’m not sure I want a Steven-esque player on our team. It doesn’t seem to fit into our playing style. Maybe we can just have Devon go blow for blow with Steven the entire game. Sandoval trained with RSL for a week last summer and said he really enjoyed it. “It was an awesome experience and it’s an awesome team, one of the best in the league. It’s where I really wanted to play and when I heard my name I was just really happy.” He sounds determined and happy to be with us, so I won’t judge him based on how much Steven Lenhart annoys me.

In other RSL news, after tediously long months of fans waiting on pins and needles for his decision, Javier Morales finally resigned with the club. I’m willing to bet multiple other clubs were after him, but the only one I’m aware of is Espanyol. Yes, the La Liga Espanyol. Robbie Findley has also signed (resigned?) with RSL, as I said above. I expect to see a few more signings once the transfer window opens on the 21st, but the 2013 team is beginning to take shape!

Photo credit to RealSaltLake.com

Well folks, they did it–the San Jose Earthquakes are back on top with 33 points!  They finished off their road trip with a confrontation with (ex)league leaders Real Salt Lake.  While San Jose was riding high coming off their road win at Colorado on Wednesday, RSL had something to prove after squandering their 2 goal lead to lose 3-2 to LA at home on the same day.

The Real Salt Lake offense came out strong, with several amazing chances.  The fact that they were kept off the scoreboard until the 79th minute is thanks in no small part to the extraordinary work of the San Jose defense.  Both Justin Morrow and Jason Hernandez made crazy goal-line saves, and Victor Bernardez fell right back into his role of anchoring the central defense.  Even so, there were a few instances where even I could not believe the ball had not gone in.

The Quakes had some good chances as well.  Chris Wondolowski just couldn’t quite take advantage of a few good balls that came his way.  Whether it was the effects of the altitude and the short week, or still shaking out some of the rust from the long break, the offense just seemed slightly off their game for the first hour or so.

And then–you guessed it–Gordon Time happened.  Gordon Time actually came a little early tonight, when he subbed on for Steven Lenhart in the 59th minute.  It took him a full 15 minutes to get on the board, with a header remarkably similar to the game winner against the LA Galaxy back in May.  Since the 75th minute is actually early for Alan Gordon, at least a couple San Jose fans were feeling a little nervous about what could happen in the remaining quarter of an hour.

Sure enough, Javier Morales scored 4 minutes later for RSL off a beautiful free kick just outside San Jose’s 18 yard box.  Although Jon Busch got a hand on the ball, he just couldn’t push it past the post.  But that is when I sat back and waited for it to get good, as we still had 10-15 minutes to play and that is when San Jose usually shines.

They did not disappoint.  In the 84th minute, Gordon redirected a Morrow throw-in to Wondo, who made no mistake about putting this one in the back of the net.  2-1 San Jose.  13 goals on the season for Wondo.

Want some more impressive numbers?  San Jose have now scored 21 second half goals, 12 of which have been in the 75th minute or later.  In case you missed it when I said it in the beginning, the San Jose Earthquakes are on top of the league.  They are in the lead for the Supporters Shield.  Who would have predicted this last season?

The Earthquakes next face their resurgent rivals LA Galaxy Saturday, June 30, in front of what is set to be a sellout crowd of 50,000 at Stanford Stadium.  That will be a game to watch, with both teams coming off hot streaks this week.  My money is on the Quakes!

Image courtesy of mlssoccer.com