This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sandy • Kyle Beckerman described Sunday's 1-0 loss to Chivas USA a "wake-up call" for Real Salt Lake, one the club possibly needed at this juncture of the season. In the club's first day back at training since the lackluster outing, players and coaches spoke about the missed opportunity to clinch a playoff berth and provide further distance in the Western Conference.
I asked the ever-honest Ned Grabavoy if "wake-up call" games do, in fact, exist. The RSL midfielder in his 11th season in MLS said it wasn't purely the result that needed reversing, but the basic performance.
"Yeah, I think losses can help, because, let's be honest, if we played the same and our form was the same in that game and we tied or maybe won 1-0, I don't necessarily think that hides some of the things that we need to work on," he said. "Sometimes taking a loss like that can make those things more clear. It's one of those things sometimes where the tougher things to take and the harder things to take are the right things. It's sometimes easier for everyone to look in the mirror a little bit and say, 'This is where we can do better as a group,' because certainly the game this past weekend wasn't good enough in all phases of the game."
Defender Nat Borchers said the loss at Chivas remains disappointing, which isn't a surprise. RSL has accounted for two of the Goats' seven wins so far in 2014.
"The mistakes we made are very correctable," he said. "The quality in this team is good enough to beat anybody. We have to be mindful of that. It's really just our intensity and our defensive efforts that are going to make the difference."
Grabavoy said the club isn't overlooking the poor result over the weekend, but must not search for various what-ifs as three games remain on the schedule, including San Jose at home Saturday evening.
"Given what's left the rest of the season, I think it would be pretty foolish of our group to just sit there and dwell on one bad result. Because it's a bad result," he said. "We'll take it and we understand that and we know that, but let's learn from it and let's move forward together as a group."
Coach Jeff Cassar said the answer is — believe it or not — focusing on a single game each week and not looking forward to potential playoff spots or avoiding such things as the Wild Card match.
"We have to concentrate on San Jose right now," he said. "We can't be worried about anything but a good, solid team performance and that's what we're aiming for."
***
FIFA dates creep back into the fold • Much has been made over recent seasons between Major League Soccer and FIFA's international dates — especially during the late run of the MLS season. MLS, unlike most leagues around the world, don't take breaks. Which leaves clubs scrambling in one of the most important times of the season. RSL (13-8-10, 49 points) remains in third place with FC Dallas hot on its tail currently trailing by a point.
But it will be without Joao Plata (Ecuador), Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica), Nick Rimando and Luis Gil (both away with the U.S.). Carlos Salcedo, scheduled to be with the U-21 Mexican national team over the week, went to Mexico to talk to his coach face-to-face after Chris Schuler suffered likely facial fractures against Chivas. Down several players, RSL simply couldn't afford to lose Salcedo for a match of this magnitude.
"It was a conversation that obviously playing for your national team is a big deal," Cassar explained Wednesday. "But also we're doing some important thing here. He's an important piece right now looking forward, and he was fantastic about it. He was great. Went down and spoke to the coach and he should be at training tomorrow."
Grabavoy was succinct when asked it if it's frustrating to lose that many players with so much on the line late in the year.
"MLS isn't on the FIFA schedule, so I don't know," he said. "I think the rest of the world probably is, and we're not. So I don't know if we can get mad at FIFA about it … These are big games for some of these guys to make a stamp."
***
Injury updates, et al • Cassar said he didn't have an immediate update on Schuler's injury after training. He expects to know more sometime Wednesday or in the near future, but one thing's for certain: Schuler will need surgery for orbital fractures and a nose fracture suffered when he collided with Borchers in the first half against Chivas.
"I think you guys know as much as I do about that play," Borchers quipped to the media. "The beard's a pretty brutal piece of work to get involved with. Unfortunately for Chris, he got the wrong side of it. In all seriousness, we're just hoping he ends up OK, and we can get him back on the pitch as soon as we can."
Cassar said Schuler saw another specialist Wednesday in the hopes that surgery could me moved up a few days, but added it all depends on Schuler's official diagnosis that may not come for another week.
Is Schuler out indefinitely?
"It's safe to say that he won't play this weekend," Cassar said. "Other than that, it depends exactly when they get in to see the complete damage, but we've got to make sure we're making a right decision for him for his career."
Defender Tony Beltran trained fully Wednesday. The 26-year-old right back suffered a herniated disc in training two weeks ago and has missed RSL's last two matches. Cassar said Beltran hasn't had any setbacks and that he's moving forward.
Available for San Jose?
"I would like to think so, as long as everything goes well," Cassar said.
Without Plata, Saborio, Rimando, Gil, Schuler and Javier Morales — suspended due to yellow card accumulation — Grabavoy was asked if RSL would likely stick with its patented 4-4-2 diamond formation against the Earthquakes.
"I'm not even sure it necessarily matters, because we're going to put 11 players on the field. I'm pretty certain of that, unless there's a different plan I haven't seen somewhere," Grabavoy said. "We're going to need all 11 players to work both sides of the ball and do their job. We understand that it's a total team commitment and collective effort and I honestly don't think it matters what formation we decide to play."
***
-Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani