This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
With all of the emphasis that Real Salt Lake has placed on its pursuit of a Champions League title, fans could be forgiven if they looked at the calendar this week and slapped their forehead with the realization that the team also is starting its seventh season in Major League Soccer on Saturday.
Oh, man … is that here already?
Hard to believe, but the answer is yes — and RSL again will be targeting nothing short of another MLS Cup championship run when it opens a new 34-game schedule on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Players and coaches are eager to make amends for allowing the best regular season in team history to dissolve into an early playoff exit last season.
"We're coming into this season with a big chip on our shoulder," defender Nat Borchers said. "We felt like last season we finally got that consistency and proved to all our critics that we could be consistent, do well on the road, get results. ... The problem was, we didn't get any hardware.
"We set all these records," he added, "got all this great press, but at the end of the day Colorado won" the MLS Cup championship.
To write a different ending, RSL will have to navigate a league that has changed a lot since last year.
Not only has the schedule expanded but also the league has added the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers expansion teams, which are expected to form an intense three-way rivalry with the Seattle Sounders in the Pacific Northwest.
It also has expanded the rosters from 24 to 30 players to help accommodate a revived reserve division designed to develop young players.
Four of the 18 teams are building stadiums or renovating existing ones — only the Timbers and newly renamed Sporting Kansas City will occupy them this season — and Commissioner Don Garber has urged referees to crack down on rough play and ease up on certain offside calls in an effort to "reward attacking soccer."
That's a move that could significantly benefit a team such as RSL that aspires to play attractive soccer and often face opponents who try to bully its best playmakers.
"I'll believe that when I see it," midfielder Andy Williams joked.
On the field, RSL figures to be ranked among the top championship contenders.
Often hailed now as the league's model franchise, the team has kept its core group of players together for another year, signing forward Alvaro Saborio to a designated-player contract and locking up four others — forward Paulo Junior, midfielder Will Johnson, Borchers and goalkeeper Nick Rimando — to long-term extensions.
It also traded for forward Arturo Alvarez, who will get a chance to feature against his former team when RSL meets the Earthquakes.
Team officials hope Alvarez can fortify an attack that lost Robbie Findley to Nottingham Forest in England, after leading the league with 45 goals in 30 games last season. It also set a league record by allowing only 20 goals, during a 15-4-11 season that fell just three points shy of the Supporters Shield regular-season title.
"We're not focusing on any records," Williams said. "We're just going to grind it out, try to get those shutouts and play defense … then our offense will take care of the rest."
Once again, the Los Angeles Galaxy appear to rank as one of their top rivals, having lost leading scorer Edson Buddle to Ingolstadt in Germany but added lethal striker Juan Pablo Angel from the New York Red Bulls after winning the Supporters Shield last season.
The Red Bulls are widely viewed as the top team in the MLS Eastern Conference, which now includes the Houston Dynamo.
Otherwise, though, most of the other contenders figure to come from the Western Conference, where the defending champion Rapids, FC Dallas — the team that eliminated RSL from the playoffs last season — and Seattle Sounders are fielding strong teams.
The Rapids kept every starter from last season, though the Hoops and Sounders are coping with some notable departures. The Sounders already lost their season opener at home, though, falling to the Galaxy for the fifth straight time in league play.
"I've said before this game, there's going to be 33 games left after this one and there's still a lot of points out there," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said, "so we've got to lick our wounds, go forward and take care of the points as they go."
That's the approach RSL is sure to take, as well.
It's hard to imagine the team will put quite full resources into its first two league games — at San Jose and then home against the Galaxy at Rio Tinto Stadium on March 26 — with injuries to defenders Jamison Olave and Chris Wingert lingering and the second leg of its Champions League semifinal looming at Saprissa in Costa Rica on April 5.
But it does hope to enjoy a better start than it did last season, when a five-game winless streak followed a season-opening victory at San Jose and ultimately cost the team too many points in the regular-season title chase.
"That was an important lesson to learn last year," Borchers said. "Having a slow start can affect your aspirations of winning the Supporters Shield. I'm glad we learned that lesson last year."
A look at the league
Western Conference
Los Angeles Galaxy • Defending regular-season champs lost Buddle, but added Angel.
Real Salt Lake • 'Model franchise' led the league in scoring and defense last season.
Colorado Rapids • Defending champs are new RSL, out to prove title was no fluke.
FC Dallas • Runner-up last year is counting on young players to fill some holes.
Seattle Sounders • Big names and a massive home-field edge, but can they finish?
San Jose Earthquakes • Looking for another monster season from leading scorer Wondolowski.
Chivas USA • Former RSL assistant Fraser in charge now, and building defense first.
Portland Timbers • Could have some scoring punch with striker Cooper back in league.
Vancouver Whitecaps • Landed DeMerit to anchor defense, but future is a long way off.
Eastern Conference
New York Red Bulls • Henry, Marquez and Lindpere remain from historic worst-to-first team.
Sporting KC • New name, new stadium, new designated player in Mexico's Bravo.
Columbus Crew • Lost a ton of starters from last season, including Schelotto.
Philadelphia Union • Adding ex-league MVP Ruiz could really boost scoring output.
Houston Dynamo • Midfield still in recovery mode after losing Holden and Clark.
DC United • Leaked goals and couldn't score, but added Davies amid roster overhaul.
Toronto FC • Leadership has been seriously questioned, but DeRosario is still there.
Chicago Fire • Lost perhaps more talent than anybody from a team mediocre to start.
New England Revolution • Worse defensive team in league last year is staring at long season. —
MLS playoffs
With Major League Soccer expanding to 18 teams this season, it has changed the format for its MLS Cup playoffs. The top three teams in each conference will make the playoffs, along with the four next best teams based on points in the standings, regardless of conference. The four "wild-card" teams then will play each other in single-elimination games, with the winners advancing to join the others in the final eight. The surviving wild card teams will be matched against the top seeds in each conference for the two-game conference semifinal series, with the second and third-seeded teams also squaring off against one another. The conference championships will be single games hosted by the higher-seeded team, and the MLS Cup title game will remain a one-game affair at a previously determined site, although the league has not yet announced where that will take place.
Michael C. Lewis —
RSL at San Jose
P Saturday,
8:30 p.m.