Here are the lineups for tonight's match-up between Real Salt Lake (3-0-0, 9pts) and Colorado (3-1-0, 9pts):

 Real Salt Lake

Starters:  Chris Wingert, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman (Capt), Javier Morales, Ned Grabavoy, Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola, Nick Rimandio-GK

Bench: Robbie RussellJean Alexandre, Arturo Alvarez, Paulo Araujo, Jr., Chris Schuler, Collen Warner, Kyle Reynish-GK

Coach:  Jason Kreis

Colorado Rapids

Starters: Kosuke Kimura, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Drew Moor, Brian Mullan, Jamie Smith, Jeff Larentowicz (Capt), Wells Thompson, Omar Cummings, Caleb Folan, Matt Pickens -GK 

Bench:  Joseph Nane, Andre Akpan, Quincy Amarikwa, Sanna Nyassi, Scott Palguta, Anthony Wallace, Steward Ceus-GK

Coach:  Gary Smith

The first installment of the Rocky Mountain Cup is on offer as two of the teams with the brightest starts this season meet when Real Salt Lake play host to the Colorado Rapids at Rio Tinto Stadium.  Real are the only team still with a perfect record after last week's win at New England.  The Rapids won their first three games on the trot as well, before falling at FC Dallas last Friday in a rematch of MLS Cup 2010.

Real Salt Lake is the only team remaining in MLS with an unblemished record, returning to league play with a 2-0 victory against the New England Revolution on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium.  RSL is tied at the top of the Western Conference with Colorado with 9 points from 3 matches.

The starting lineup out here for RSL tonight looks pretty much like what we placed out there against Saprissa last week.  Will Johnson is not playing tonight due to the Red Card he received in the Revs match.  

Let's get onto the match!

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I attended the RSL Watch Party at Rio Tinto last Saturday and I must admit that RSL puts out quite a spread and the atmosphere was fantastic.  Especially after Fabian scored in the five minute mark of the game.  If you ever get the opportunity to attend an official watch party...please do.  You won't regret it.

Now on to last week's game and the upcoming match on Saturday evening.  I really loved how Coach Kreis got the men to attack on Saturday evening and it worked when Espindola scored very early in the game.  A few key mistakes and "let-downs" throughout the match gave FCD an opportunity to tie the match then take the lead.

My hat is off to FCD, they seemed like they wanted it more in the 2nd half.  RSL on the other hand looked very sluggish .  Maybe all those games over the last third of the season has caught up with them.   Cunningham's goal in the final minutes of the first half really helped boost the morale of FCD's side going in at halftime.

more after the jump:

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Here are the lineups for tonight's match-up between Real Salt Lake (3-1-1, 10pts, t-1st Group A) and Cruz Azul (3-1-1, 10 pts, t-1st Group A):

 Real Salt Lake

Starters:  Will Johnson, Rauwshan McKenzie, Nat Borchers (Capt), Tony Beltran, Luis Gil, Jean Alexandre, Collen Warner, Andy Williams, Paulo Araujo, Jr., Pablo Campos, Kyle Reynish-GK

Bench: Fabian Espindola, Robbie Findley, Ned Grabavoy, Javier Morales, Jamison Olave, Robbie Russell, Tim Melia-GK

Coach:  Jason Kreis

Cruz Azul

Starters:  Joel Huiqui, Julio Cesar Dominguez, Alejandro Castro, Javier Quino, Horacio Cervantes, Gerardo Torrado (Capt), Christian Gimenez, Cesar Villaluz, Adrian Cortes, javier Orozco, Yosgart Gutierrez-GK 

Bench:  Fausto Pinto, Alejandro Vela, Nestor Araujo, Rogelio Chavez, Diego De La Cruz, Luis Alanis, Jose de Jesus Corona-GK

Coach: Enrique Meza

The Defending MLS Cup Champions kick off tonight by hosting CONCACAF Group A co-leader Cruz Azul at Rio Tinto Stadium, with both teams already having clinched spots for February's quarterfinal stage...Cruz Azul is coming off a dominating 3-0 win over Santos in Mexican Primera Division action on Saturday, while RSL defeated FC Dallas 2-0 that same evening.  RSL wins the group with a win tonight, to include home field advantage (2nd leg of Quarterfinals at home) - while Cruz Azul wins the group with a win or draw.

If you don't remember the teams met back on August 25 in a rain-soaked affair, one that saw four (4) ties and four (4) lead changes in Mexico City, with the home Cruz Azul side eventually stormed back to take a 3-1 lead, but Los Cementeros scored four (4) goals.  With RSL's Will Johnson briefly knotting the game at 4-4.  Then Cruz Azul scored in dramatic fashion in the final minutes to pull out the victory.

The starting lineup out here for RSL tonight looks like a brand new team.  We have three regulars starting tonight in Nat Borchers, Andy Williams and Will Johnson playing on the backline out of his normal position as a midfielder.  I'm really looking forward to watching Paulo Jr play tonight.  Every time he has been on the pitch, it seems like something special has happened.  Like Denz stated to me in the Pressbox a few minutes ago, it looks like some of the youngsters are getting their chance tonight to show Coach Kreis that they want to be protected when draft time arises.

Let's get onto the match!

At '15 mark...

The place is really rocking tonight.  Seems electric in here.  Also, seems like a larger crowd then Saturday night's game against FC Dallas.  Nice stop by Gil to not give up the center pass to the middle of the box.  Cruz Azul just had a great opportunity to get deeper into the box, but came up a little short and offsides.  There seems to be an enormous contingent of Azul fans in the stands tonight.  RSL's Campos had a breakaway called back by the lead official for some reason.  Cruz Azul keeps penetrating but cannot seem to break RSL's backline.  The backline for RSL is playing strong tonight and they are getting pressed heavily by the aggression of Cruz Azul.  Great play by Will Johnson keeps Azul from gaining an opportunity in the box.  Both sides are playing very well in the first 15 minutes.  I do believe Azul is more of the aggressor though.  RSL is having a hard penetrating Azul's backline.

At '30 mark...

Azul's long shot on goal went wide.  Campos fouled an Azul player and Azul is receiving a set piece at 30 meters out that Reynish stops with no trouble. Not much action so far in this portion of the match.  Just a lot of back and forth play.  Warner receives a Yellow Card at '22 mark.  Seems like the Azul player tried to jump over Warner and fell on his back.  Didn't seem like a foul at all to me but as hard as the Azul player hit the pitch, you knew Warner was going to get carded.  A shot by Aquino goes wide right at '26 mark.  Shot by Castro falls into the hands of Reynish.  Azul is really passing the ball well in the middle of the field.  A corner kick by Azul bangs into the side of the net.  Nice save by Alexandre at the last second to keep the ball away from Reynish.  Another corner kick by Azul goes nowhere.

more after the jump:

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Fellow Soapboxers who check this site out regularly have already read Denz's importance of this upcoming match tonight at Rio Tinto in Sandy.  So, I will not duplicate his column below.

However, I will give my two-cents on the upcoming match tonight. 

We have a great opportunity to win Group A  in the CCL before traveling to Colorado for a huge match on Saturday night. 

But even another opportunity we have is to extend our home unbeaten streak that is presently standing at 31 games. 

The make-up of that streak consists of the following:

17-0-8 in Major League Soccer's regular season

1-0-0 in MLS playoffs

2-0-0 in the CCL

2-0-1 in international friendlies

RSL's aggregate score line over this stretch is a unbelievable 62-15.  Also, "the streak" began back in May of 2009.

I will let you digest those numbers above for a second or two...

If you have a hard time counting, then let me add those numbers up for you.

15 goals allowed in 31 games in 19 months!!!!!

I haven't researched any other futbol teams out there and their unbeaten home streaks, but this is impressive!

Do we have enough left in the tank to extend this streak to 32 games?  We are playing (in my opinion) one of the best teams in all the CCL.  Actually, there have only been two teams that have beaten us in the second half of this year.  The first one was FC Dallas and we showed them who we were this past Saturday night by up ending them 2-0 here at Rio Tinto. 

Our next victim will be Cruz Azul tonight.  You should remember that game.  It was an unbelievable shootout in the final 15 minutes of that rain drenched pitch in Mexico City two months ago.

We have some key players likely not to compete, so we will see how deep a squad everyone says we have in Sandy, Utah tonight.

Like Denz stated in the article below, there are over 18,000 tickets sold for this game.  Pretty fantastic considering how Utahns spend their Tuesday nights of the week.

I would love to see a sellout, so all you Soapboxers...please promote this game tonight and bask in the glory of our streak being extended to 32 games!

Here are the lineups for tonight's match-up between Real Salt Lake (14-4-10, 52 pts) and FC Dallas (12-2-14, 50 pts):

Real Salt Lake

Starters:  Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman (Capt), Javier Morales, Will Johnson, Alvaro Saborio, Fabian Espindola, Nick Rimando-GK

Bench: Jean Alexandre, Paulo Araujo, Jr., Robbie Findley, Rauwshan Mckenzie, Collen Warner, Andy Williams, Kyle Reynish-GK

Coach:  Jason Kreis

FC Dallas

Starters:  Heath Pearce, George John, Ugo Ihemelu, Jair Benitez, Jackson Goncalves, Dax McCarty, David Ferreira, Daniel Hernandez (Capt), Marvin Chavez, Milton Rodriguez, Dario Sala-GK

Bench: Atiba Harris, Eric Alexander, Jeff Cunningham, Zach Loyd, Ruben Luna, Brek Shea, Chris Sharpe-GK

Coach:  Schellas Hyndman

One of the biggest games of the 2010 season is being held at Rio Tinto Stadium as Real Salt Lake takes on FC Dallas.  RSL is riding an MLS-record 24-game home unbeaten streak and haven't lost in their last 12 games.  But FC Dallas haven't lost in 19 games - matching the MLS all-time record set by the Columbus Crew in 2004-05.  It will also be a key match for Western Conference playoff positioning, with both teams still having a chance of winning the Supporter's Shield.

Real Salt Lake extended their unbeaten streak to 12 games, playing to a scoreless draw with the New York Red Bulls last Saturday evening at Red Bulls Arena.  Real are in second place in the Western Conference, with 52 points from 28 games, four points behind 1st place LA Galaxy.

Coach Kreis is going with his usual 4-4-2 lineup.  Some changes than usual are Beltran playing Chris Wingert's position; Ned Grabavoy playing in Andy Williams position and Fabian coming on strong in the final month of the season...he is starting over Robbie Findley tonight.

Let's get onto the match...

At '15 mark...

RSL comes out strong (as usual) to put pressure on Dallas' backline.  The ball has been on Dallas' side of the pitch for most of the first 15 minutes.  Dallas is starting to control the middle of the field and the ball.  A Dallas corner kick at '8 mark saved by Rimando.  Dallas gets a set piece at '12 mark which Rimando cannot handle and nearly goes in, but Sabario saves the day and boots the ball out of the box.  Dallas is really pressing hard in the first '15.  Don't know if they can keep this intensity up for the entire match.

Continue reading this post »

Here are the starting line-ups for the Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC match.

Real Salt Lake

Starters:
Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Nelson Gonzalez, Robbie Findley and Alvaro Saborio

Bench:
Kyle Reynish, Jean Alexandre, Tony Beltran, Pablo Campos, Ned Grabavoy, Paulo Araujo, Jr., Chris Schuler

Jason Kreis - Coach

Toronto FC

Starters:

Stefan Frei, Nick Garcia, Adrian Cann, Ty Harden, Dan Gargan, Martin Saric, Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario, Jacob Peterson, Maicon Santos, O'Brian White

Bench:

Jon Conway, Chad Barrett, Mista, Raivis Hscanovics, Joseph Nane, Maksim Usanov, Nicholas Lindsay

Nick Dasovic - Coach

Defending MLS Cup Champion Real Salt Lake returns home to Rio Tinto Stadium to sume CONCACAF Champions League action tonight...RSL has dropped just one of its last 19 MLS games, going 11-1-7 and outscoring opponents 30-8 since May 1, the lone loss coming at Dallas on July 17.

Tonight's return to CONCACAF Champions League play marks the 9th match in RSL's 14-game 56-day odyssey between August 7 and October 2, and the kickoff of a brutal 6-game, 18-day run within that larger stretch...During this run, RSL is 2-0-4 so far in MLS play (will be 8 games total), and 1-1-0 (3pts) in CCL competition.

CONCACAF Champions League continues:

Real Salt Lake (MLS Cup Champion) enters Matchday #3 tied with the other Group A teams with identical 1-1-0 marks, with home teams holding serve.

It is good to see that we have most of our starters out here tonight for the CCL match.  We (RSL) will severely miss Morales for this match.  If you didn't already know Morales is hampered by a right quad strain and Fabian Espindola is hampered by a left hamstring strain.

Let's get on with the match...

At '15 mark...

RSL's Gonzalez goes down hard in the first minute of the game and had to be helped off the field.  He finally returned after two (2) minutes and we are back to full strength.  Toronto goes on a counter-attack off of Pat Borchers bad pass and scores at '8 mark...TFC 1, RSL 0.

more after the jump

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Here are the starting line-ups for the Real Salt Lake and New York Red Bulls match.

Real Salt Lake

Starters:
Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Ned Grabavoy, Robbie Findley, Fabian Espindola 

Bench:
Kyle Reynish, Jean Alexandre, Tony Beltran, Pablo Campos, Rauwshan McKenzie, Nelson Gonzalez, Collen Warner

Jason Kreis - Coach

New York Red Bulls

Starters:
Greg Sutton, Danleigh Borman, Tim Ream, Carlos Mendes, Chris Albright, Tony Tchani, Macoumba Kandji, Joel Lindpere, Seth Stammler, Juan Pablo Angel, Thierry Henry

Bench: 
Mike Petke, Andrew Boyens, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Austin da Luz, Conor Chinn, Salou Ibrahim, Daniel Cepero

Hans Backe - Coach

Real Salt Lake has a chance to make history when they play host to the New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium in a rematch of the 2008 Western Conference Championship.  RSL can equal the MLS record for the longest home undefeated streak (22), unbeaten in six (6) games after a scoreless draw at Toronto FC last weekend.  The Red Bulls have won on back-to-back weekends, defeating San Jose 2-0 at home last weekend.

There are some International absences in this game tonight on both sides.  Will Johnson was called up to the Canadian National Team in its friendly against Peru today.  Alvaro Saborio was called up to his Costa Rican National Team in its friendly against Jamaica on Sunday.  The New York Red Bulls (NYRB) have a handful of players out for todays matchup.  The most widely famous one is Designated Player (DP) Rafael Marquez, who was called up to his Mexican National Team in its friendly against Ecuador tonight.  Dane Richards was called up to his Jamaican National Team to play against Saborio's Costa Rican team on Sunday.  Roy Miller is playing along side Sabo on Costa Rican's National Side against Jamaica.  Bouna Coundoul was called up to the Senegal National Team to play a friendly against the DR Congo today.  Juan Agudelo was called up to the US U-20 National Team.

I just realized that my first RSL game ever was against the NYRB in the 2008 Western Conference Championship which RSL lost 1-0.  So, in the last two years, Real Salt Lake has gotten to the MLS Semi-finals, just one match from the 2008 MLS Cup Finals and last year as everyone knows, they won the 2009 MLS Cup.  Not a bad two year span there.  Let's see where RSL ends up at the end of this year. 

On to the game...

At '15 mark..

At '4 mark, Espindola gets a breakaway from Beckerman and shoots the ball into the goal. This is Espindola's sixth (6) goal of the seeson and assits from Beckerman (3) and Morales (7).  Henry hits a shot from 23m out that Rimando muffs but recovers and saves.  RSL has taken the lead and they have slowed the pace of the game to some degree and are controlling the tempo of the game.

At '30 mark...

At '18 mark, NYRB Tchani gets a Yellow Card. Morales and Espindola play at such a high motor that I have a hard time believing that they will be able to finish this game.  Espindola is all over the field right now.  The Argentine, Espindola, heads the ball into the NYRB goalie at '24 mark.  RSL's midfielders are controlling the ball so well that the NYRB have only had the ball four times on our side of the pitch.  Argentine Morales barely misses to the right of the goal from a set piece 30m out. 

Continue reading this post »

Okay, here we go Soapboxers.  It seems every game we play from here on out is considered the biggest game of the year.  This game can defintiely be considered the biggest game of the year...thus far! 

Real Salt Lake is hosting the streaking New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium at 7:00 pm MST on Saturday.  This will be such a huge game for both clubs. 

RSL will be attempting to tie the MLS home unbeaten record at 22, which is held by the Columbus Crew.  They have not lost at Rio Tinto since the early days of May 2009!  Think about that for a minute.  In over a little more than a year, Real Salt Lake has taken their opponents to the woodshed and never looked back.  I will admit there have been a few "squeaker" games bunched in there.  But, all in all, RSL has been doing what they were supposed to do when this stadium was built in Sandy, Utah.  That is...Defend Their Home Field!!!!

I don't ever like talking about streaks because if anyone knows me, I am a very superstitious individual.  Even when I was playing sports in high school and college, I had a certain routine everyday in practice and game day.  Such as, the order I put my gear on; left sock, left shoe, right sock, right shoe, and so on.

But, I am going out on a limb and staring Mr. Superstition right in the face and saying that we (RSL) are too good to lose this game at home on Saturday evening and this is our destiny to fall into a first place tie with the L.A. Galaxy in the Western Conference Standings (43 pts) and be right on the edge of taking this season's lead for the Supporter's Shield.

However, NY has been playing great as of late.  They have won three (3) of their last four (4) games and Designated Player (DP) Thierry Henry bagged his first goal of what I believe will be many more to come in the game against the 'Quakes last weekend.  

Both teams will be playing without some crucial 'ballers this weekend.  NYRB's will be playing without their fine midfielders DP Rafa Marquez and Dane Richards, goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, and defender Roy Miller; while RSL will be playing without midfielder Will Johnson and Striker Alvaro Sabario.  All six (6) have been called up to their respective national teams for the next set of FIFA International friendlies set to take place between Sept. 3-7.

It should be an exciting game this weekend.  And if you know me, there is no reward for giving my predicition of the match but I'm going to give it to you anyway.  RSL is excited that they are finally back home after a long 2-week road trip that took them all over the upper half of the Western Hemisphere. They will come out strong and tough against a formidable Red Bull side but that will not stop MLS's top goal scoring juggernaut in placing three (3) goals on the scoreboard and another 20,000+ Burger King breakfast sandwiches in the bellies of RSL's faithful. 

Real Salt Lake 3, New York Red Bulls 1

What do the Soapboxers think...let me hear your thoughts???? 

Here are Major League Soccer's team payrolls for this season, in chart that Jeremiah at Sounder at Heart put together.

                                                   Total             Median          <$100K

When you take a look at the current payrolls for Major League Soccer's 16 teams you will see a huge difference in pay from #1 to #16.  In most major league sports, the team who spends the most is usually the team who wins the most.  In the MLS, that is not always the case. 

Look for instance at the New York Red Bulls.  They are tops among everyone else in payroll but they sit at #2 in the Eastern Conference and #5 overall with 31 points in 20 games.  But, do you think that they have been playing better since the Henry/Marquez jump?  The Red Bulls record was 8-6-2 before signing their two other Designated Players (DPs) and they have gone 1-1-2 in MLS play since then.

Now let's take a quick look at Real Salt Lake!  The Executives in RSL's office have done significantly more with less.  They are the second lowest payroll in the league and they are currently #2 in the Western Conference and MLS overall with 39 points in 21 games.

Just think about this for a minute...

RSL is leading the league in almost every category to include least amount of dollars spent on players.  That is a unbelievable figure!

Let me hear everyone's thoughts on payrolls in the MLS!

I'm off my soapbox for now!

Here are the starting line-ups for the CONCACAF Champions League Group A Stage game between Real Salt Lake and Arabe Unido.

Real Salt Lake (MLS Cup 2009 Champions)

Starters:
Nick Riimando, Robbie Russell, Jamison Olave, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson, Robbie Findley, Alvaro Saborio 

Bench:
Kyle Reynish, Jean Alexandre, Tony Beltran, Pablo Campos, Fabian Espindola, Nelson Gonzalez, Ned Grabavoy

Jason Kreis - Coach

Arabe Unido (2009/10 Panamanian Champions)

Starters:
Jose Calderon, Nahil Carroll, Rolan De La Cruz, Eric Davis, Armando Cooper, Luis Jaramillo, Andres Santamaria,    Fidel Caesar, Mario Sergio Angulo, Jose Justavino, Victor Mendieta

Bench:
Jose Marin, Reynaldo Anderson, Pual Roderick, Manuel Mosquera, Ismael Menal, Publio Rodriguez, Oscar Londono

Richard Parra - Coach

Defending MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake faces Panamanian titlist Arabe Unido tonight in the first of six Group A games in the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League slate, the fourth of RSL's 14-game, 56-day odyssey between August 7 and October 2.  During this run, RSL is 1-0-2 so far in MLS play.

RSL has dropped just one of its last 16 MLS games going 10-1-5 and outscoring opponents 29-8 since May 1, the lone loss coming at Dallas on July 17.

While RSL has posted a 7-4-3 mark against visiting International teams, outscoring them 19-16, this is the first time in the team's 6-year history that more than pride (money, hardware, tec.) is on the line.

On to the game...

At '15 mark...

RSL's Johnson had two (2) great shots on goal at the '11 mark.  A lot of aggressive action by RSL in the first 15 minutes.  But on a counter attack Arabe Unido's Cooper scores on a deflection off of defender Borchers at the '16 mark, which places the Panamanian Champions up 1-0.

more after the jump:

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I'm sure there are some of you out there who keep asking...what is CONCACAF Champions League? 

Well, I'm going to go through a quick down and dirty on what it is...

In simple terms, the Champions League is for professional clubs what the World Cup is for countries.  Top cubs from every country meet in regional tournaments, such as the CONCACAF and EUFA (European) Champions Leagues, to decide a regional titlist, with those winners meeting at the FIFA Club World Cup (Japan is next year's destination, for which RSL is eligible) to see which club is the best in the world.

Yes, the entire world.

For our region, Real Salt Lake plays in the CONCACAF Champions League.  A total of 24 teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean duke it out in the three stages-Preliminary Round (late July/early August, 2010), the Group Stage (mid-August to late October, 2010), and the Championship Round (late February to early April, 2011)-to see who moves on to Japan in 2011.  Due to winning MLS Cup 2009, RSL skips straight to the 16-team Group Stage.

There you have it in a nutshell.  RSL is playing host in the Group A Stage round against the 2009/10 Panamanian Champions, Arabe Unido, at Rio Tinto tonight.  Come out and support our team.

The game started off rough for Real Sakt Lake.  Kansas City Wizards had many missed opportunities in the first 25 minutes of the game and seriously dominated Real.  It didn't look like RSL was going to show up for this match, especially when Kei Kamara headed the ball into the back of the net at the '21 mark.  But, RSL came alive after that score and started playing with the intensity that we see from them regularly.  Robbie Findley turned it up and started pressing towards the goal and scored with a header at the '33 mark. 

Real Salt Lake needs to keep the intensity and put Kansas City away early in the 2nd half.  If you don't remember a couple weeks ago RSL put five (5) goals on KC at Rio Tinto.

On to the 2nd half...

Hello Soapboxers!  I've been away for the past week on business but now that I am back I want to get everyone's insight on the upcoming USMNT match against Brazil on Tuesday evening. 

My real question to you all is the story headline itself.  Will Coach Bradley start Buddle?  Heck, the real question should be...will he even play him? 

I wrote an article earlier this year pertaining to this very aspect on my personal blog site. 

Onto my thoughts...before the beginning of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Edson Buddle placed two balls in goal in the final warm-up game against the Australian National Team in South Africa. During World Cup play, Buddle saw very little action against England, I believe no action against Slovenia and didn't even step on the pitch in probably the most important game in USMNT history; which was against North Africa's Algeria.

Need I mention, that he is the MLS league-leader in goals scored (12) , game winning goals (5), shots (67) and shots on goal (30) for the season.  Also, his partner, Landon Donovan, on the Galaxy is the league-leader in assists (11).  They have been playing together all season and they no each other better than their wives know them. 

It should be an easy decision for Coach Bradley this Tuesday night.  Play the hottest American forward in the world against one of the best teams in the world.  If Bradley doesn't start Buddle, let's at least hope he plays him.

What do the Soapboxers think?

Here are the starting lineups for the game between Real Salt Lake and D.C. United tonight:

D.C. United (3-11-3, 12 pts)

23  Troy Perkins GK, 18 Devon McTavish DEF, 2   Julius James DEF, 8   Carey Talley DEF - Captain, 4   Mark Bunch DEF, 14 Andy Najar MID, 27 Branko Boskovic MID, 19 Clyde Simms MID, 25 Santino Quaranta MID, 9  Danny Allsopp FWD, 21 Pablo Hernandez  FWD

Bench: 28 Bill Hamid, 7  Adam Cristman, 20 Stephen King, 99 Jaime Moreno, 6  Kurt Morsink, 13 Chris Pontius, 15 Barry Rice

Curt Onalfo-Coach

Real Salt Lake (9-4-4, 31 pts)

18 Nick Rimando GK, 3  Robbie Russell DEF, 6  Nat Borchers DEF, 4  Jamison Olave DEF, 17 Chris Wingert  DEF,  20 Ned Grabavoy MID, 5  Kyle Beckerman MID - Captain, 11 Javier Morales MID, 8  Will Johnson MID, 10 Robbie Findley FWD, 15 Alvaro Saborio FWD

Bench: 1  Tim Melia, 12 Jean Alexandre, 2  Tony Beltran, 19 Pablo Campos, 7  Fabian Espindola, 22 Nelson Gonzalez, 77 Andy Williams

Jason Kreis - Coach

D.C. United makes the trek to face Real Salt Lake in Utah tonight, a place where they haven't won in four years.  Real still sits in second place in the Western Conference, pegged back into a 1-1 draw by Chivas USA last weekend.  United are winless in five (5) games in league play, their last MLS competition a 2-1 loss to the LA Galaxy at home.  It's the second meeting of the season between the teams, having played to a scoreles draw on June 5 in Washington, D.C.

Looks like Coach Kreis is going with a ball controlling lineup tonight in his regular 4-4-2 set.  This is the second game back for RSL's Captain, Kyle Beckerman, who "wrecked" his ankle over two (2) months ago.  He played 60 minutes last weekend against Chivas USA and performed admirable.

RSL is looking for nothing less than 3 points tonight against an underperforming squad in the United.  Look for Kreis to push the ball up the pitch with complete ball-control by his Midfielders, hoping to find Findley or Saborio breaking free and scoring goals.

On to the game...

At '15 mark..

The game started with some shotty passing in the middle of the field for RSL and DC United trying to control the ball as much as possible.  The only shot at the moment came by defender Chris Wingert from 20m out, which was easily stopped by GK Troy Perkins.  At '14 mark, RSL's Saborio scores his 8th goal of the season with an assist from Grabavoy, putting RSL ahead by 0-1!

More after the jump:

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Okay Soapboxers...I watched the MLS All-star game last night and knowing Denz he watched the Sounders game.

So, I will give you my "two cents" on the game.  Just look at the title of this post!  Yes, that is it!  Man U beat down the MLS All-stars.  I have to give the All-stars some credit where credit is due.  They did turn up the intenstiy after going down 0-2 at the '12 mark  The only problem I saw with the MLS squad was that they really weren't in sync with each other...granted this was the first time that they had played together.

I know one thing, Man U is the real deal!  They are such a great and efficient attacking team.  What is scary is that they didn't play four of their top players because of the World Cup layover.

We all knew that the All-Stars would have there hands full with this Man U team, but it really did look like Man U was too much for them. 

If you weren't sitting down at the start of this game then you would have missed the first score for Man U.  Italian-born Frederico Macheda scored off of a lazy pass from New England's Alston to our very own Olave within the first 25 seconds of the match! 

And at the '12 mark, 18-year-old Macheda scored again with a header off a corner kick, which made the score 0-2.  The MLS All-Stars had a great opportunity near the end of the first half when Juan Pablo Angel's blast was saved by Van der Sar.  And at half, Manchester United was up 0-2.

The second half started off well for the All-Stars with Houston's very own Brian Ching scoring on a header off a set piece at the '64 mark.  It wouldn't last long with Man U countering and scoring two more goals within nine (9) minutes.  The third goal hit the back of the net by Darron Gibson who perfectly placed the ball in the upper left corner of the goal and Tom Cleverley's unbelievable ball handling score for the fourth goal of the match.  Cleverley's goal was so fantastic that words cannot describe it.

More after the jump

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Now fellow Soapboxers, I've been "chompin' at the bit" to write something concerning the goal keepers in Major League Soccer.  I understand that the MLS is rated something like the 88th best futbol league in the world, but I just don't see it!  Our league is very competitive and on top of that...I think we have some of the finest goal keepers in the world today.  I know how people think that all the top goal keepers are in the other futbol leagues throughout the world, but that is not the case here.

We have a couple of GKs who I think are ready to take it to the next "proverbial" level!  I will give you Soapboxers some insight on the three or four GKs that I think are above and beyond the rest in MLS.  I would love to hear your insight and opinions concerning these particular GKs and if you have a different GK you love...let us know!

These GKs have been placed in alphabetical order so as not to release to you in the beginning who I think is the best GK in MLS:

Kevin Hartman, FC Dallas:  Hartman has played in 11 games this season and all 990 minutes in net.  He has saved 32 of 39 shots on goal and given up only 7 goals; which constitutes a 0.64 goals against average (GAA).  He has five (5) shutouts on the season and his record this year is 6-1-4.  I have to admit I have only seen the RSL game when he played in net.

William Hesmer, Columbus Crew:  Hesmer has played in 16 games this season and all 1440 minutes in net.  He has saved 51 of 64 shots on goal and given up 13 goals; which constitutes a 0.81 GAA.  He has seven (7) shutouts for the season and his record this year is 9-3-4.  I have to admit that I have only seen maybe two of his 16 games this year.

Donovan Ricketts, L.A. Galaxy:  Ricketts has played in 17 games this season and all 1530 minutes in net.  He has saved 48 of 58 shots on goal and only given up an amazing 10 goals; which constitutes a league leading 0.59 GAA.  He also has a league leading nine (9) shutouts for the season and his record is 12-2-3.  I watched the ESPN MLS Game of the Week on Wednesday and saw him give up 20% of his goals (2) on the year against a formidable San Jose Earthquake squad.

Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake:  Rimando has played in 16 games this season and all 1440 minutes in net.  He has saved 47 of 60 shots on goal and only given up 13 goals; which consitutes a 0.81 GAA.  He has seven (7) shutouts for the season and his record is 9-4-3.  I have seen nearly every game of Rimando's season and he has played very, very well.

After the jump I discuss with you all who I think is the top GK in MLS.

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Hello RSL Soapbox fans!  I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the Soapbox.  My name is Milo and I will be assisting Denz with stories, reports and updates on our favorite major league franchise...Real Salt Lake!

To let everyone know a little about me:

I have been an avid fan of MLS's Real Salt Lake futbol team ever since I arrived in Utah in 2007.  I have been blogging off and on for the past five years.  I am excited to be combining the two things that I love into one.  Look for me blogging regularly on RSL Soapbox with my buddy Denz.  He has given me this great opportunity to share with everyone my love, insight, opinion and passion on the greatest franchise in major league sports...Real Salt Lake!

Now let's get pumped up for RSL's game of the week on Saturday night against Chivas USA at Rio Tinto Stadium. 
Everyone get there early to cheer on our Real Salt Lake team to victory.