Kyle Beckerman and RSL have a tough road ahead in 2010. (Getty Images)

We only have a few more clubs to go in our preseason look-ins. Now we’re getting in the home stretch with RSL today and hopefully closing out the rest of the week San Jose, Seattle and Toronto.

Today we take a look in to see how the defending Major League Soccer champs are doing this winter. Jason Kreis and company have started to really get into building up a core group of players to work around. That was key to their late run and success last year in the playoffs.

Now it becomes a question of do they have the depth to deal with a bigger and tougher schedule in 2010? They lost a few key players this winter like Clint Mathis to LA, Yura Movsisyan to Europe and Chris Seitz to the expansion club in Philadelphia. They did however pick a couple guys off waivers, which has been their bread and butter these last couple years along with drafting pretty well in January’s SuperDraft.

Lets see how well RSL is doing this winter and what pieces of the puzzle that they have left to build on. (Note: I’d like to thank Randy Davis from Keepin It Real for helping me out with this preview) Continue Reading…

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted a podcast by Jared Montz on here. In that time he’s interviewed a few folks but none maybe more interesting than Real Salt Lake’s star midfielder Kyle Beckerman.

You can subscribe to the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast for Free in iTunes by clicking here. If you haven’t done so by now I’d start because there are some solid interviews here to listen to.

Below is the audio to the Beckerman interview, enjoy!

Real Salt Lake took home their first hardware. (Getty Images)

I decided not to write a recap last night after the game finished up. Mainly I was exhausted from watching the game that went into penalties. MLS Cup 2009 wasn’t the very best game of the year but it definitely provided plenty of drama. From key injuries to key goals the game was compelling and exciting.

The PKs were kind of expected of this game after things were tied up going into overtime. Both teams were totally gassed on the field and just looked like they’d rather get it to the penalties rather than make something happen in the extra frames.

Injuries played a huge part in this game. Javier Morales’s knee injury really hurt RSL’s momentum in the first half, which the Galaxy did an excellent job of taking advantage of. The Galaxy found great space with Landon Donovan and David Beckham which lead to Mike Magee’s goal late in the half. The first half really was controlled by Bruce Arena’s squad.

But some halftime switches by Jason Kreis really turned things in RSL’s favor. Either it was the right halftime speech or the move to get the sick Will Johnson out that paid off but whatever was said or done by Kreis fueled his club. RSL came out with more energy than before and really caught the Galaxy off guard with Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley. Once the attack got going for RSL it was only a matter of time before Findley put away a goal. Continue Reading…

Will David Beckham and Landon Donovan be celebrating on Sunday? (Getty Images)

This is a game I’ve gone back and forth with all week. Two western conference squads meeting in the league final is going to be interesting. Not many had picked both the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake to make it this far back at the start of the season. I know some had RSL going far in the playoffs but not the Galaxy. Then again I knew some who had an idea that LA could be good this year as well.

But a RSL-LA matchup was not expected yet I do think the league is welcoming it a bit. It’s not quite a David vs. Goliath type of match but its close to some degree. But these two squads weren’t separated by much in the points column this season. Just eight points was the difference between the top seed in the west from the bottom seed in the east (or eighth seed in this year’s case).

I do see this game going either way though here. In one regard LA looks like they should easily win it but you can’t count out Jason Kreis’ club right now with the way they’ve been playing lately. Both are hot going into this game which should yield a good match.

I have a few points in my preview to go over then I will give you all my score prediction for the final time this season. Hard to believe that this season has blown by so quickly here. Continue Reading…

Today we’ve learned who MLS Commissioner Don Garber will be selecting for his picks in this year’s All-Star game.  In previous years Garber has picked guys in the final years of their career or guys that were “snubbed” by the voters.

Today Garber selected two RSL players (the game is at Rio Tinto Stadium): Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales.

Good picks, especially since I highly doubt either would have been picked by Kinnear and since they are the home town favorites.

Good to also see Garber not go with David Beckham. However I do have three other guys that I was kind of hoping to see in these two spots. (I’m picking three because I am assuming Dominic Kinnear may do one of the picks)

Those three are: Chivas USA keeper Zach Thornton, RSL midfielder Clint Mathis, and DC midfielder/forward Santino Quaranta.

I kind of see Quaranta getting picked by Kinnear but I was kind of hoping to see The Don go this way in his selections. I put Thornton up there since he is having a stellar comeback season this year. Mathis I thought is a little more deserving than both Beckerman or Morales here if he wanted to go with a RSL player.

What do you make of The Don’s picks? Good or bad?

The Cauldron will be loud tonight with DC in town. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Two midweek games for week eight. A big night in general if you count Toronto FC’s game in the Canadian Champion tonight against future MLS side Vancouver. But I’ll just stick with the MLS games for the evening to preview.

RSL returns home to host the Galaxy who just scored their first win of the year. And in Kansas City, DC comes to the CAB for a big time clash of two up and coming eastern clubs.

DC United – at – Kansas City Wizards:

1. First place on the line, who steps up for DC on the road?

No Ben Olsen, Marc Burch, or Fred tonight for the boys in black. Guess the need to lead will come on Jamie Moreno who easily stepped into that role last week against Dallas. As long as the offense is rolling fine for DC they could be fine on the road here. Just remember DC only has a single loss on the season here so far and it was at Salt Lake (a place DC and no one else wins at). Also KC is a play DC typically sees success in as well. As long as guys like Moreno step up on the road they should be fine. Continue Reading…

Just a crazy schedule it is. A Monday night game in July. Then again the league’s All-Star game is on a Thursday night and games are played in 100 degree weather in Texas. But anyways, tonight we get a rare treat as Real Salt Lake puts their unbeated home record on the line against visiting Toronto FC.

Should be a good game tonight though for those who want to get their soccer fix early this week. You get one of the best home clubs (I’m sure Toronto fans would say they have the best home team) against one of the worst road clubs. Could it sound like draw city? Maybe, we’ve had a bunch of them lately (12 of 21 games in July have been draws) so let’s hope not.

Toronto will be without a few too many key players (Edu, Wynne and Dichio all out for Olympics or injuries) and RSL is as solid as it comes on the turf at Rice-Eccles. The thing that worries me for RSL is Toronto is not like most clubs in this league, they know how to handle the turf and how to win on it. They proved it last year in Salt Lake city with their first ever road win there.

RSL has to get on the board early with guys like Javier Morales leading the charge and Kyle Beckerman finding gaps in the defense. Should those two have a good game you can bet RSL will walk with three points tonight. If they are stopped by Toronto, I wouldn’t expect more than a draw then.

So what will happen tonight? I think it will be similar to their last meeting in Toronto. It was a tight game that saw Toronto escape with a 1-0 win. RSL had some decent chances that day at BMO Field but it was their lack of attack in the first half that really did them in. I sort of see that kind of thing happening tonight. Defensively these two can shut one another down. Its just a matter of who makes that mental error in the final third.

I think RSL will win tonight though, Toronto has just been unimpressive lately and that should carry over tonight. RSL has done well enough in recent games to get themselves in position to win the west this season. It may not be pretty but whatever Jason Kreis is doing is working.

It will be another close one though, RSL sneaks by and moves up the standings in the process.

WVH Prediction: RSL 1, Toronto 0