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Sandy • Does Garth Lagerwey delve into the realm of conspiracy theories? He doesn't. He can't. How could he? Real Salt Lake's general manager is a lifelong Cubs fans. So forgive Lagerwey if he didn't entertain the worry of heading into Leg 2 of the 2014 Western Conference semifinal series against the L.A. Galaxy assuming Sunday's match could feature contentious calls in favor of the home side.
We know the narrative, and it is one Major League Soccer wouldn't exactly hate to see continue as America's best soccer player ever, Landon Donovan, is now no more than 120 minutes away from seeing his career end at the hands of RSL — should part two even get that far. Expect shady whistles in favor of L.A.? Perhaps take a page out of Nat Borchers' book. The RSL veteran center back was brutally honest after the 0-0 draw Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium and went as far to say that, if anything, RSL was on the receiving end of fortuitous calls.
Advice: Let the minutes play out. Maybe save hypotheses for the off-season, whenever that comes.
Back to Garth.
"Not worth worrying about," Lagerwey explained. "I don't think it happens. It's a much harder task than people would think it would be ... Being the most equitable soccer league in the world, where every home market is having a legitimate chance? I think it's one of the strengths of our league in particular. I think there's a lot of things to balance here."
It was a rare moment when I've heard Lagerwey's voice grow increasingly assertive. The ever self-deprecating GM wanted to get his point across.
"Games get decided by players on the field," he said. "Managers can delude themselves into believing they can make a difference by coming through with a verbal trap that can ensnare their opponent. But it's all nonsense."
So there you have it. Sunday at StubHub Center will read two zeroes, one for the road team, the other for the home team. Enter conspiracy theory land, if you so dare. Garth Lagerwey isn't.
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Same plan, different venue • RSL coach Jeff Cassar said Tuesday his group, if it manages to move by the L.A. Galaxy and onto the Western Conference finals for the third time in four seasons, must play the way it knows best. At the spacious StubHub Center, it's easier said than done. But regardless, RSL will try and play the Galaxy straight up.
"If we go in there and start to sit back on them and think it's going to be enough and we're going to get one chance, you're going to absorb too much pressure," Cassar said, "they have too much quality. We have to come in, play our game and what's really going to be important is if we keep the ball. Obviously we don't want to defend against them all the time so if we keep the ball, we'll make them defend."
Midfielder Ned Grabavoy, working his way back from an illness over the weekend, said RSL can't rest on its Leg 1 outing. Shutting out a team that scored 69 regular-season goals is a start, but Grabavoy said L.A. wasn't as sharp and precise as it typically is.
"They were still a bit unclean with final passes or a chance around goal and usually, on most nights, those guys aren't like that, so I think we're probably going to be dealing with some more things on our end," he said.
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Shutout streak balloons • Four games now RSL has played 90 minutes without conceding a goal. The last time it did? Oct. 5 at Chivas USA in a 1-0 loss to the now-defunct former Southern California side. The last time RSL had a three-game shutout streak was Oct. 2012, when it drew 0-0 on the road with Seattle, drew 0-0 at home against Vancouver and again in a 0-0 draw against Seattle in its 2012 playoff opener.
(Random note: From May 29, 2010 to July 27, 2010, RSL had a 567-minute shutout streak spanning seven matches).
RSL has now played 403 consecutive minutes without giving up a goal.
"I think it's a combination of a lot of things," Cassar said. "If you look at the game against L.A., we didn't sit back. Our forwards played defense, our midfielders played defense, our defenders played defense obviously. As we attacked, we were in good position to stop their counter-attack, so like I said last week: We've got to have 11 people defending, 11 people attacking, and I think we did that at home and there's no reason we can't there."
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Through the wringer • The vibe of this series, of RSL needing at least a result to squash L.A.'s hopes of a fifth MLS Cup championship, is expectedly upbeat.
"We feel good," midfielder Luis Gil said. "We're going into the playoffs. We know it's fun. We know it's going to be a great game."
Grabavoy said this group has faced every imaginable scenario when it comes to high stakes.
"We've kind of been through everything," he said. "Not just in league, but in CONCACAF [Champions League], we've dealt with these two-leg series a little bit. I just think we've been in kind of every different circumstance possible. So as a group, we think to ourselves, 'We can go there and get a result. We can certainly score goals, we feel like we can advance.'"
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Constructing the Monarchs • The Real Monarchs — or Real Monarchs SLC, if we're being cordial — don't have firm timelines as the now-official USL Pro franchise will expectedly announce additions and news piece-by-piece in the coming weeks and months, Lagerwey said Tuesday.
"At the end of the season, there will be more than enough time," Lagerwey said. "Hopefully we're playing until Dec. 7 [MLS Cup final]. That means until March, you've got at least three months. We have a place to play and we're working on securing a training site. Those questions right now are more important than who the players are."
Lagerwey continued, saying that broadly speaking, most of the expected Monarchs players are already in RSL's system or on the radar, whether it be with the first team, at the U-18 level in the RSL-Arizona Academy, in college or former players associated with the club now elsewhere.
-Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani