Real Salt Lake: RSL opens Petke era with an unforgettable night

Danilo Acosta and the continued youth movement

Another noticeable change by Petke was deploying young defender, Danilo Acosta, at right back for his MLS debut. Once again, his simple change had a positive impact early and often. Filling in for the injured Tony Beltran, Danilo successfully completed 44 passes, 23 on Vancouver’s side of the field, with 10 of those being in the final third. Acosta and fellow youngster Brooks Lennon, bombed down the right side the whole match, creating several key opportunities as well as controlling possession when needed.

The youngster also helped out defensively. Whitecaps’ wingback and MLS veteran, Marcel de Jong, struggled to control the right side against Acosta and Lennon.  While Acosta played at both center back and defensive mid for the Monarchs last season, before starting at left back for the US U-20’s in World Cup Qualifying, he showed he is more than capable of filling in for the injury plagued back line.

The move also came as a bit of a shock. Last week against Minnesota, both Luke Mulholland and Lennon saw time at right back after Aaron Maund went down injured. Playing them out of position partially contributed to four United goals while Acosta stayed on the bench.

Petke felt comfortable deploying the versatile, left-footed defender on the right side. One has to wonder if the United match would have gone differently had Acosta filled in on the right instead of asking two attackers to sit back and defend, but hindsight is 20/20. Acosta’s strong performance does give added pressure to starting veterans Tony Beltran and Demar Phillips. We will also likely see Acosta filling in outside instead of Chris Wingert for the time being.

A reinforced back line?

Having one more able body to fill in defensively couldn’t come at a better time for RSL. A healthy Acosta means Tony Beltran wont have to rush his way back, and allows Chris Wingert to focus on a center-back role while Aaron Maund and David Horst also recover.

Getting everyone healthy is still the club’s top priority. Especially considering Acosta, Glad, Lennon, and Saucedo are all likely to be called up to the U-20 World Cup next month. The club’s depth will be tested once again, as the youngsters will likely miss at least five matches, and possibly more depending on their performance.

Chris Schuler once again put together another strong performance. Schuler has gone a full 90 in all three of Real’s shutouts this year.