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Goal.commentary: Real Salt Lake: Getting To The Core Of It
There’s a new approach in Salt Lake, one that relies on more stability than the club has seen in the past.
Mar 20, 2009 12:22:52 PM
By Randy Davis
Change. That’s the word that you would associate with the previous three off-seasons in Real Salt Lake’s short existence. There have been high-level draft picks (Seitz, Ballouchy), noteworthy trades with MLS teams (Kovalenko, Adu, Cunningham), and much ballyhooed international signings (Tejada, Cordoba, Deuchar).
Core. That’s the buzzword around this year’s entry by Real Salt Lake. It’s what the coaches are talking about. It’s what the players are talking about, and it’s what the media is talking about.
Dictionary.com defines core as “the central, innermost, or most essential part of anything.” So for Real Salt Lake what is the central, innermost or most essential part of the team?
Over the last several months they announced long-term deals with defenders Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert, as well as deals for playmaker Javier Morales and their coach, Jason Kreis. They also have significant cap hits this season for the 2008 acquisition of Nat Borchers and for the recent loan buyouts of Olave and Morales – a clear sign that they are willing to invest in these players and want them around long-term as part of their core.
Besides those players already mentioned there are other components returning that are “an essential part of the team” including goalkeeper Nick Rimando, midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Will Johnson, and emerging striker Yura Movsisyan. Sprinkle in some other role players and emerging talent, and the team clearly has everyone talking about them as a potential MLS Cup contender this season.
However, the Real Salt Lake staff seems to believe that the “core” is much more than having key individual players. It’s also about everybody being on the same page in many different aspects. Coach Kreis explains some of these factors,
“You’ve got a large group of players that knows exactly how we play. And knows what the demands and expectations of the coaching staff and the demands and expectations of each other are. There’s clearly a team understanding that didn’t exist last year.”
RSL GM Garth Lagerwey recalls some basic discussions that took place during last preseason that are not required this time around,
“Are we going to play a 3-5-2? Are we going to play a 4-4-2? Are we going to go Dutch and play a 4-3-3?” Those were literally debates in the last preseason.”
Lagerwey sums all of this up by clarifying, “It’s not just a core, it’s an identity.”
Having everyone know their role and know what’s expected of them makes the players much more relaxed and comfortable out on the pitch. It helps them to fine tune their game and take it to the next level. This isn’t lost on the players and they feel that it’s going to allow them to take another step forward this season. Movsisyan feels confident as the season approaches,
“We’re building on what we did last year. We’ll be even stronger this year.”
Another important aspect of having a core group together is that natural leaders emerge. Leadership plays an important role in soccer which unlike other team sports has no breaks during the course of play (other than halftime). Therefore the coaches rely heavily on experienced leaders on the field to help make adjustments, and help reinforce the elements that they have worked on in training during the week leading up to the game. Coach Kreis feels fortunate to have an abundance of leadership on his team,
“We’ve got Beckerman and Borchers, we’ve got Joy, we’ve got Wingert. We’ve got a guy like Javier Morales who now has a handle on English well enough that he’s starting to be a vocal player as well. And Rimando.”
These core elements will have benefits in many areas this season, but there are two in particular that RSL could benefit from this season: performance early in the season, and road performance.
Having the team together now for over a year will allow them to get out to a faster start this year. The team was very inconsistent at times last season. This was evidenced by the fact that they did not put together back-to-back victories at all last year.
The leadership element especially should have a big impact on the road performance this year. The team struggled mightily until the last two months of the season in which they only had one loss in five outings. This year they will lean on those on-the-field leaders to provide the spark needed on the field, and to help their teammates around them to elevate their play.
While some pundits have become believers in Real Salt Lake and the core that they have built over the last 18 months, others have been critical of the lack of high profile moves by the club in the offseason. Lagerwey understands the angst, but feels like it’s misguided,
“I know it’s not the sexy thing to do to stand pat and to keep the same guys, but I think it’s an intelligent strategy both for this year and under the cap long-term.”
Beginning next week, we’ll start to see if this “core” philosophy provides the results that Real Salt Lake is banking on.
Randy Davis is a regular contributor to Goal.com
Change. That’s the word that you would associate with the previous three off-seasons in Real Salt Lake’s short existence. There have been high-level draft picks (Seitz, Ballouchy), noteworthy trades with MLS teams (Kovalenko, Adu, Cunningham), and much ballyhooed international signings (Tejada, Cordoba, Deuchar).
Core. That’s the buzzword around this year’s entry by Real Salt Lake. It’s what the coaches are talking about. It’s what the players are talking about, and it’s what the media is talking about.
Dictionary.com defines core as “the central, innermost, or most essential part of anything.” So for Real Salt Lake what is the central, innermost or most essential part of the team?
Over the last several months they announced long-term deals with defenders Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert, as well as deals for playmaker Javier Morales and their coach, Jason Kreis. They also have significant cap hits this season for the 2008 acquisition of Nat Borchers and for the recent loan buyouts of Olave and Morales – a clear sign that they are willing to invest in these players and want them around long-term as part of their core.
Besides those players already mentioned there are other components returning that are “an essential part of the team” including goalkeeper Nick Rimando, midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Will Johnson, and emerging striker Yura Movsisyan. Sprinkle in some other role players and emerging talent, and the team clearly has everyone talking about them as a potential MLS Cup contender this season.
However, the Real Salt Lake staff seems to believe that the “core” is much more than having key individual players. It’s also about everybody being on the same page in many different aspects. Coach Kreis explains some of these factors,
“You’ve got a large group of players that knows exactly how we play. And knows what the demands and expectations of the coaching staff and the demands and expectations of each other are. There’s clearly a team understanding that didn’t exist last year.”
RSL GM Garth Lagerwey recalls some basic discussions that took place during last preseason that are not required this time around,
“Are we going to play a 3-5-2? Are we going to play a 4-4-2? Are we going to go Dutch and play a 4-3-3?” Those were literally debates in the last preseason.”
Lagerwey sums all of this up by clarifying, “It’s not just a core, it’s an identity.”
Having everyone know their role and know what’s expected of them makes the players much more relaxed and comfortable out on the pitch. It helps them to fine tune their game and take it to the next level. This isn’t lost on the players and they feel that it’s going to allow them to take another step forward this season. Movsisyan feels confident as the season approaches,
“We’re building on what we did last year. We’ll be even stronger this year.”
Another important aspect of having a core group together is that natural leaders emerge. Leadership plays an important role in soccer which unlike other team sports has no breaks during the course of play (other than halftime). Therefore the coaches rely heavily on experienced leaders on the field to help make adjustments, and help reinforce the elements that they have worked on in training during the week leading up to the game. Coach Kreis feels fortunate to have an abundance of leadership on his team,
“We’ve got Beckerman and Borchers, we’ve got Joy, we’ve got Wingert. We’ve got a guy like Javier Morales who now has a handle on English well enough that he’s starting to be a vocal player as well. And Rimando.”
These core elements will have benefits in many areas this season, but there are two in particular that RSL could benefit from this season: performance early in the season, and road performance.
Having the team together now for over a year will allow them to get out to a faster start this year. The team was very inconsistent at times last season. This was evidenced by the fact that they did not put together back-to-back victories at all last year.
The leadership element especially should have a big impact on the road performance this year. The team struggled mightily until the last two months of the season in which they only had one loss in five outings. This year they will lean on those on-the-field leaders to provide the spark needed on the field, and to help their teammates around them to elevate their play.
While some pundits have become believers in Real Salt Lake and the core that they have built over the last 18 months, others have been critical of the lack of high profile moves by the club in the offseason. Lagerwey understands the angst, but feels like it’s misguided,
“I know it’s not the sexy thing to do to stand pat and to keep the same guys, but I think it’s an intelligent strategy both for this year and under the cap long-term.”
Beginning next week, we’ll start to see if this “core” philosophy provides the results that Real Salt Lake is banking on.
Randy Davis is a regular contributor to Goal.com
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