Both teams came out fighting at the opening whistle. Seattle maintained good possession and defensive marking for the first ten minutes of the game. RSL caught on to Seattle’s tactics and were able to bring the game onto a more even keel for the remainder of the first half.

Salt Lake used another early substitution for the second time in as many games. Chris Wingert got tangled with Seattles Eddie Johnson and tweaked his leg, immediately giving the substitution sign. Chris Schuler came in, playing in the left back position. Tony Beltran looked comically undersized next to the rest of the back line. Schuler usually plays in the middle for Olave or Borchers but showed skill on the flank and a desire to get forward.

RSL and Seattle both had long bouts of possession and passing in the first half. Neither team was able to make much of that possession in attacking the net though. Will Johnson managed a nice curling shot from the top of the box, but goalkeeper Meredith was right in it’s path. The half ended with only one shot on goal for RSL and none for Seattle.

The Claret pulled ahead early in the second half off a beautiful goal from Espindola. Gil and Saborio helped with a few quick passes between the three of them capped with an over the top from Gil that managed to fall goal side of Seattles back line. A cheeky left foot from Fabi around Johansson buried the ball in the bottom right. Fabi is now the leading goal scorer all time for RSL with 30.

The game continued to get chippier for the remainder of the match, mostly between Saborio and Osvaldo Alonso. No love is lost between these two men. A yellow card is finally called on one of them when Sabo clips Alonso late on a tackle. It wasn’t a hard foul but the accumulation lead the ref to reach for the yellow.

RSL substitutions in the second half helped shift the team toward a more defensive posture. Jonny Steele replaced Gil and Yordany Alvarez replaced Sabo. Steele is a straight midfield swap, adding more height and weight for defense and Alvarez helps choke the midfield with bodies, leaving Fabi alone up top to attack.

Always mindful of what Seattle can do in the dying minutes of a game, RSL maintained possession as much as they could and attacked the ball with multiple people when they lost it. This is the RSL we know and love. A defensive minded, possession oriented juggernaut, not giving into pressure and rolling on to victory.

Salt lake strutted away with 3 points and a standing on top of the league.

I still believe the stretch run will be these three teams, though LA might dig itself too deep a hole to emerge from if things continue much longer.

In contrast, Seattle has started the season on fire. The side is 7-1-1 and has more points per match than Salt Lake.

That sets up the match of the weekend, and Salt Lake’s biggest so far this season, Saturday when the Claret and Cobalt travel to face Seattle.

Salt Lake is likely to have near full strength Saturday. Will Johnson, Nick Rimando, Nat Borchers, and Fabian Espindola will all come into the match on a full week’s rest. Javier Morales is the only question mark (he is questionable). With or without Javi, the match should be a good one. Hopefully it won’t be decided by an official, like both matches last season.

Kickoff is at 8 pm MT and will be broadcast on ABC4 (TV) and ESPN700 (Radio).

Salt Lake had some lineup changes thanks to injury and suspension. Kyle Reynish in for Nick Rimando, who hurt his shoulder in the last game against New England. Paulo Jr up top, replacing Fabian Espindola, who did not travel with the team. Jonny Steele took Will Johnson’s spot because Johnson is serving a suspension for his red card. Finally Chris Schuler took over for Nat Borchers.

Chicago started out the game looking like the more dominant team. A near goal bounced off the crossbar, saving RSL from being down early in the match. The Fire seemed to sputter after the tenth minute though and RSL came out fighting. Paulo and Javi both had good looks at the net but were not able to sink anything.

Injuries reared their ugly misshapen head again near the half-hour mark with Morales clutching his leg. Luis Gil came on as an early sub and brought a little more energy to the offense. (Javi was diagnosed with a quad strain)

Chicago came on attack in the dying minutes of the first half. Salt Lake bunkered to prevent any half time buzzer goals. Schuler and Olave decided to intimidate anything that was foolish enough to enter their domain. They were able to maintain their clean sheet into the end of the first half.

Salt Lake come out kicking in the second half. On the restart Paulo wasted no time and ripped one on goal within the first 30 seconds. Chicago keeper Sean Johnson blocked it well and relieved the pressure.

RSL put on the pressure early with shots by Paulo and Sabo, mostly off target (but we will not yell at strikers for showing ambition). This is what they do. DO NOT QUESTION THEM!

Bonfigli came on in the 67th minute to replace Paulo, and in the 90th minute Yordany Alvarez replaced Gil.

A game in Chicago with Jair Maruffo would not be complete without a card given to RSL’s captain, Kyle Beckerman. Kyle disagreed with a call in no uncertain terms and goes into the book. This surprised no one and the game continued.

Both sides showed competent passing skills but not enough desire to finish balls, resulting in a somewhat ho hum game.
The game ball went flat near the end of the game and no better analogy could be made for how this game played out.

Zero’s are your final score and RSL will now travel to Seattle for a rematch of the 2011 playoff game that we all loved so much.

The side has gone four matches without a shut-out and given up numerous chances in every match. Unfortunately, these errors were not uncharacteristic of the side this season, and have caused problems a couple times.

Traditionally, the side has had a stalwart defense. In 2010, this same back line set the league record for fewest goals ever allowed in an MLS season (20 in 30 matches, a .67 Goals Against Average).

This year, they haven’t been nearly as good. The team has given up 12 goals in 11 matches and could have given up quite a few more if not for attacker mistakes and some tricky goalkeeping from Nick Rimando. Coach Jason Kreis said after the New England win that the side only received three points because of Nick’s goalkeeping heroics.

While a 1.09 Goals Against Average keeps Salt Lake in the middle of the MLS pack, it is this team’s defense that has helped it to compete for championships. In a sport with low scores, and a league where playoff games are often 1-0 or 2-1, defensive prowess earns a premium.

I expect defense will be high on the practice agenda until things improve.

Salt Lake looked ready to score a goal within the first few minutes of the match. Early passes from Chris Wingert to Alvaros Saborio and then from Fabian Espindola to Saborio nearly resulted in goals. Salt Lake continued to maintain possession in New England’s half. In the 4th minute, Espindola got a breakaway, but his shot was blocked by Reis.

Salt Lake controlled the run of play. Many chances were taken to score a goal within the first 18 minutes of play. Quick one, two passing by Espindola and Javier Morales was beautiful to behold.

New England scored in the 21st minute, which was devastating to the Salt Lake crowd. Blake Brettschneider dribbled around Jamison Olave and took a direct kick to the right side of the goal through Nick Rimando’s hands. This gave New England a 1-0 lead.

Espindola was denied a penalty in the 26th minute. John Lazona shoved him in the box as he was taking a shot on goal. The denial was questionable at best.

Saborio leveled the score in the 33rd minute, restoring animation to the team and the crowd. A cross from Kyle Beckerman led to a shuffle in the box with both teams. Saborio got the ball and used a firm left footed kick to put it into the back of the net. This evened the score at one.

Salt Lake maintained control of the first half of the game. The first half possession for Salt Lake was 60 percent, and their passing accuracy was 84 percent.

Both teams were in a fighting mood all night. Beginning the second half there were some minor tiffs. Saborio scored the game-winning goal for Salt Lake in the 55th minute. He used his head to put the ball in the top corner. This gave Salt Lake a 2-1 lead.

In the 59th minute of play Will Johnson received a straight red card for a dangerous play. The referee consulted his linesman before switching the call from a yellow card to a red.

Even though they were a man down, Salt Lake continued to fight with vigor. Jason Kreis brought in the super-substitute, Johnny Steele, to help the side. Steele played both defensively and offensively and created chances for Salt Lake.

Nick Rimando made a couple amazing saves in the 71st minute to preserve the lead. One was a direct kick from the box that he was able to punch to the right of the goal, and the other save came after the conceded corner kick. Rimando punched the ball over the top of the net.

Both sides went to 10 men when a collision between Olave and Fernando Cardenas earned Cardenas a red card. He slid into Olave without any intention of getting the ball.

Because Salt Lake could drop back quickly and recover lost possession, they maintained control of the game. There were a few scares in the 88th minute of play, but the Salt Lake defense was able to block all shots. All players dropped behind the ball when New England was on the attack.

RSL maintained pressure through the five minutes of stoppage time. Saborio almost tacked on a third for a hat trick, but Reis was in too good of a position and was able to keep the Revs within one.

The match ended 2 – 1 for RSL, and all 18,000 in attendance went home happy.

6. A 3rd Outside Back is Desperately Needed: After Terakazu Tanaka started against Montreal and proved he isn’t ready for first-team action, Diogo de Almeida became a long-term project RSL could not afford. The side waived him quickly and filled his spot with Chris Estridge, a player who is expected to be ready soon. This is necessary as Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran have started 9 of the 10 matches this season together and could get injured if this pace continues.
7. A Tale of 2 Rookies: RSL is notorious for not letting rookies break the starting lineup. Informed by the Freddy Adu experiment, the side endured national criticism for slowly integrating Luis Gil into regular play. Before each draft the front office reminds reporters that most draft picks won’t make the team and none will contribute in their first season. That hasn’t been the case this season.
   
   After the draft, RSL thought they had gotten the most ready-to-play prospect in the draft in Generation Adidas’ Enzo Martinez. However, the North Carolina prodigy wasn’t ready, at least by Salt Lake’s standards, and continues to develop with the reserve team. Instead, 2nd round pick Sebastien Velasquez has stunned, starting in five matches and contributing strongly to the side. The young man is very impressive both on and off the pitch and is a contender to have Salt Lake’s best hair.
8. Missing Morales… Solution Found: RSL struggled all last season to create opportunities without Javier Morales in the lineup. The side was built to run on Morales’ creative instincts, and missing him is always going to be a down-grade. The problem is worse this season as the side is also without the creative influences of retired Andy Williams. While Gil fills in admirably, he seems to be unable so far to do what Javier does by himself (see the Montreal match). However, the side is able to create enough with a combination of Gil and Velasquez. This pairing feels like it’s the start of a new core for RSL that will be quite potent in years to come.
9. Kreis Stays on Script: At the start of the season, I wrote that Kreis is focusing mostly on performance and trying to avoid discussion of the results of matches. He often reminds media that Salt Lake won’t win or lose any trophies in these early months, but that the side needs to get its performance ready, and team healthy, for the fall runs in CONCACAF and the MLS Cup playoffs. He hasn’t really strayed from this message, instead focusing what he thinks should have happened based upon the quality of play his team has shown.
10. The Side is On Track: Following Kreis’ criteria from the previous point, the side is clearly on track. They are staying healthy, building a lead so they can focus on CONCACAF in the fall, and developing a few key reserves who can step in as substitutes or even start key matches when regular starters are unavailable.

Here are 10 keys we’ve learned in this young season: (separated into two parts)

1. RSL has survived a tough early start: RSL has played a league-leading 10 matches already. This is by design as the team intends to go all-in in the CONCACAF Champions League this fall. Still, the side has survived two three-match weeks and performed well. (9 points and 4 points respectively) This is critical because the side will face three more stretches like this before mid-July. If they can survive near the top of the West until then, they will certainly be the favorite to take the West.
   
   In addition, the side has already played its only matches against the two best sides in the East (Sporting Kansas City, New York Red Bulls) and a couple of tough road matches in the West (LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, Portland Timbers).
2. Injuries haven’t been an issue: The side has had a few players out injured, but nothing has reached the level of last season. The biggest injuries the side has faced are actually leftovers from last season (Borchers injury, etc.). The side has survived an intense schedule relatively unscathed and has to feel good about its MLS Cup chances if things stay that way.
3. MLS Officials are well… MLS Officials: RSL is no stranger to controversy with officials. Still, it’s actually been better for RSL than last season. The side has had two disputed calls go its way, with two going to the other side. MLSSoccer.com’s Simon Borg believes only one of these calls (the Espindola hand-ball against Colorado) was a missed call, but he has gone against RSL on a few others.
4. Kyle Beckerman is the Yellow Card King: Success and decent officiating hasn’t stopped Beckerman from receiving four yellow cards and sitting on a caution accumulation warning in the 9th and 10th matches of the season. At this point, it might be wise to get a strategic yellow Saturday against New England to coincide his suspension with a much needed match off (Wednesday in Chicago).
5. Depth is a two-edged Sword: RSL is often called the deepest team in the league. That’s true, to an extent. The side can insert two or three reserves and see little or no drop-off in the performance of the side. However, RSL’s reserves have performed very poorly as a unit in Reserve League play (0-4-1, -7 Goal Differential), causing coach Jason Kreis to call out his side following their latest poor outing.

Check back tomorrow for the other five things we’ve learned so far this season.

• A tough win over Toronto
• RSL’s defensive woes
• Whether men are turned off by female soccer fans
• And much more

Be sure to check out the latest edition of the Real Nation podcast.

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Music: Kevin MacLeod