Real Salt Lake: Initial Reaction and Player Grades vs. Toronto FC
Midfield
Kyle Beckerman: 8. A question mark coming into the match thanks to a bone bruise, KB was all over the field for 90 minutes. His flick to Plata was the best chance RSL had to score, and the captain had strong contributions to the attack throughout the match.
Sunday Stephen: 6.5. Sunny covered a lot of ground in the first half before picking up a knock trying to stop a counter attack in the 40th minute. His engine was missed in the second half, which could be the reason he was subbed off late. Hopefully the substitution was precautionary and he won’t miss additional time.
Albert Rusnák: 6.5. A quiet debut for the Slovakian. He had a handful of good through balls, tracked back well on defense, and just missed two good shots from distance that were almost identical. The attack had a hard time stringing together passes, and if it becomes a recurring issue it will be a long year.
Luke Mulholland: 6. Short stint for Mulholland, coming on for Sunny in the 78′. Handful of passes that led to shots. Not much else.
Forward
Yura Movsisyan: 6.5. Not a lot of opportunity up front in this one for Yura. Only two shots, neither of which were on target. He did well to track back and defend. He contributed the most by creating several good shots for others, but the midfield needs to create chances for him if this team is going to win many games.
Jordan Allen: 6.5. Similar to Yura, just not much in the attack today. Allen had one decent look early, after cutting back into the middle and finding a gap in the traffic. It didn’t require much effort from Irwin as the shot went just wide. Allen also defended well, but passing for the whole team struggled in the final third.
Joao Plata: 6. Plata was lively and threatening the whole game, as he always is, but he couldn’t capitalize on RSL’s two best chances. The missed chance in the first half came from about four yards out after Yura chased down a Jordan Allen deflection, but it was really a great defensive play by Eriq Zavaleta. His botched chip from Beckerman should have been a goal.
Chad Barrett: 5. An interesting twenty minutes from Barrett. He had a few good shots and did well to create a few for others. In injury time however, two horrendous giveaways in a row led directly to excellent looks for TFC. What makes it worse is that both giveaways came from little pressure.
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Ricardo Velazco: NA. Just a couple of minutes for Velazco, but it was good to see him get on the field after a promising preseason. He created a late chance for himself cutting back into the middle from the wing, like we saw several times in Portland. It remains to be seen how much time he will get once the youngsters return.