RSL vs. LA Galaxy: MLS Cup Championship Preview

Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman prepare for the game in Seattle (AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey)

Win or lose, Real Salt Lake will be playing their final game of the 2009 season this Sunday. Real Salt Lake will be squaring off with the Los Angeles Galaxy with the MLS Cup Championship on the line. RSL will be competing in the finals for the first time in club history while the Galaxy will be competing for the MLS Cup for the sixth time in club history.

Though RSL is a Western Conference club, MLS playoff rules resulted in RSL competing in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket during their journey to the finals. RSL started the playoffs by knocking off the Columbus Crew, the top team in MLS, in the first round 4-2 on aggregate. RSL won the home leg 1-0 after a late game Robbie Findley goal and won 3-2 on the road after Columbus scored two goals to begin the game. RSL clinched their spot in the final with a dramatic penalty kick victory over the Chicago Fire, after both teams failed to score in 120 minutes of play.

The L.A. Galaxy, the top seed in the west, began their playoff against rival Chivas USA and advanced 3-2 on aggregate after drawing the first game 2-2 and winning the second game 1-0. The Galaxy then defeated the Houston Dynamo to advance to the finals with a 2-0 victory, scoring two goals in extra time after finishing regulation scoreless in a game marked by two extended power outages.

Key Matchups

Speed vs. Size

Both RSL and the L.A. Galaxy are anchored in the center by big and powerful central defenders. The L.A. Galaxy are anchored by former U.S. National team defender Greg Berhalter who stands at 6’1” and the 6’5” MLS rookie of the year Omar Gonzalez. The center of RSL’s defense is equally imposing and anchored by 6’2” Nat Borchers and 6’3” Jamison Olave.

Contrarily the forwards for both teams rely more on speed and skill than size and power. For the playoffs RSL has been relying on speedy forward Robbie Findley to get behind the defense along with Yura Movsisyan who will be playing his final game for RSL before transferring to Europe in January. The Galaxy frontline will consist of 2009 MLS MVP Landon Donovan who arguably has the best combination of speed and skill in MLS and Edson Buddle, another player who relies on speed.

The key to the championship game will come down to which backline can better use their physicality to overwhelm the speedier forwards and which set of forwards can better use their speed to break down the slower central defenders. The side that can better neutralize the speedy forwards and force the forwards into a more physical game will have the best odds of walking away with the cup.

RSL vs. the Officials

No one in Major League Soccer is more dangerous with free kicks that L.A. Galaxy midfielder David Beckham. At the same time RSL’s midfield and defense plays a physical style that can lead to them to conceding free kicks. Whether the officials decide to call the game tight or give RSL a little more leeway to play a physical style will be key to the game. If the officials call the game tight, RSL could be in trouble with conceding too many free kicks to the dangerous Beckham.

Open Questions

Robbie Russell or Tony Beltran

Tony Beltran started most of the year for RSL as an outside defender and emerged as one of the better Real players during the regular season after only intermittent play during his rookie season in 2008. Beltran started the opening game of the playoffs versus Columbus before missing the second leg with an injury in which Robbie Russell earned the start. Head coach Jason Kreis again went with Russell in the next game versus the Fire when Beltran was available.

Russell at times struggled in the game against Chicago slipping and getting beat in a few instances but to his credit got stronger as the game went on. At this point in their careers Beltran will bring more speed and skill to the defense while Russell will bring more in size and power to the defense. Jason Kreis will have a call as to which attributes he would prefer on the field on Sunday.

Fabian Espindola or Yura Movsisyan

With Robbie Findley in good form the second forward spot will fall to either Fabian Espindola or Yura Movsisyan. For the first two playoff games Espindola got the start with Movsisyan coming in as the super sub. For the last game against the Chicago Fire the reverse was true with Movsisyan starting and Espindola coming in early in the second half.

Espindola is the more skillful of the players with the ball on his feet and is best equipped to beat a defender with a skill move in a one on one situation. Movsisyan is the faster and stronger of the two and is better at beating defenders with his speed and physicality. Kreis will need to decide whether to go with Movsisyan to start and try to use to two speedy forwards to start the game to break down the Galaxy defense or to start Espindola and have speed off the bench to use when the Galaxy defense begins to tire.

Prediction

The big question is how RSL will fair in their first appearance in a MLS Cup final? I see it likely that RSL will have a Rocky like ending to the season though I’m split as to how it will end. I can see reasons for both the Rocky I like ending where they are able to trade blows with the Apollo Creed like Landon Donovan and David Beckham before falling in a close decision and I can also see a Rocky II like ending where they are able to deliver a knockout blow at the end to win the championship. Forcing myself to make a final prediction, I lean towards the Rocky II like ending with Yura Movsisyan delivering the knockout blow in his final game with RSL with under ten minutes left to give RSL a one goal victory and the MLS Cup Championship.

Make sure to catch the championship game at 6:30 pm Mountain Time on ESPN

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