Friday, March 20, 2009

RSL Preview, GotW Recap

Game of the Week Recap

Well, it was a real treat to be able to watch the newest team in the MLS, the Seattle Sounders.  They definitely have a good thing going in Seattle, and the amount of crowd support they had was unreal.  The fans were also treated to a very good game, and it looks like Seattle has worked hard to get a team that compete from day one.
Seattle surprised me and got a 3-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls.  Freddy Montero impressed me the most, as he scored 2 goals for Seattle.  Kasey Keller was strong in goal, getting a couple of pretty good saves, but he was not tested very often.  
Seattle was able to accomplish in one day what it took RSL 3 1/2 years to do, and that is being in first place in the West.  RSL has never won their season opener, which will hopefully change next saturday.

RSL Preview

RSL vs. Austin Aztex
Saturday, March 21, 1:00 PM
Rio Tinto Stadium

Seeing how there are now 15 teams in the MLS this year, one team has a bye each week, and this week it is RSL.  I think this is good because this gives us an extra week to prepare, and we can look at what Seattle did this week.  RSL did a good thing for the fans in giving us a preseason game to go to, so that we can feel like the season is beginning as well.
The game will be played against the Austin Aztex, from the USL-1 division.  Austin is an expansion team to the USL-1, so the only thing I know about them is from preseason play.  In the last game they played, Austin lost to the Columbus Crew 1-0.
Here are some interesting things to look at.  
Kyle Brown, who was a member of RSL in 2007 is currently playing for Austin.  Another player to look out for will be Gifton Noel-Williams, who has had experience playing in Europe for Stoke City.
It will be interesting to see who RSL puts out on the field.  I expect to see depth on the field, but I think that the club will go with the first team to begin the game to get a feel for what they can do together.

Guys, come out to the game.  It is free, and will be a great chance to see our club in action for the first time in 2009

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Jordan, you seem to have incorrect information on the Aztex. They in fact BEAT the Columbus Crew on March 14, 1-0. In the previous two weeks, we also drew with the Houston Dynamo, 2-2 and lost in our first pre-season match to the New England Revolution 2-0.

Congratulations on the Rio Tinto, from all of us in the Aztex Nation.

Jordan, Aubrey, Kaden, and Toby said...

You are correct. I must have read the stats wrong on the Austin Web page. Thanks for the clarification.
I thought that Austin played pretty well on Saturday.