http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cruz-Azul-c38869 3-1 but eventually lost 5-4 in a very competitive match. The club was named Real Salt Lake as an inspiration from Spanish giants Real Madrid and taking
some historical connections from the Spanish royal family for reference. The imitation turned out to be the sincerest form of flattery and the new admirer (RSL) got Madrid’s attention. And a partnership agreement was signed between the two sides that promised
a lot but never really deserved much. It was written in the agreement that the two teams would play annually in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 and in U.S.A but it never happened as much as it was expected initially. There were plans of setting up a youth academy in Salt Lake City
with Madrid giants funding for the whole set-up but that never happened. The formation of such an academy would have been very welcoming in a league that is so much constrained by salary caps.
But, Real Salt lake has done pretty well on its’ own and stuck to what it knows about the game. Their start in MLS was never a fairytale and it prompted the side to fire their first coach and replaced him with Jason Kreis who was a former player for the
Utah side. As a player, Jason Kreis was the first player to be drafted by Real Salt Lake and he also was the first scorer for the Utah side and went on to become the first ever player to reach 100 MLS games. When he was made a manager, Kreis became the youngest
coach in the history of MLS and last season, set another record of being the youngest coach to win the MLS Cup. But the long road to this was pretty bumpy and in his second season, Kreis introduced the policy of ‘the team is the star’ and it instilled belief
and much needed confidence in the team as RSL reached the playoffs before eventually losing out to LA Galaxy in the semis in 2008. But Real Salt Lake improved on this in 2009 and qualified for the play-offs in the last place and still went on to win the MLS
Cup for the first time after defeating L.A Galaxy on penalties. The success of Real Salt Lake has been built on improvement in every aspect of the side. They have a very strong goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nick-Rimando-c27720, and the best centre back partnership of last season in
Jamison Olave and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nat-Borchers-c27368 making for a great defensive line.
The midfield pairing of captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Saborío-c5302. So far, RSL have not taken the choice of a designated player like LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls to bring in
a European star. General Manager Gareth Lagerwey also questioned the presence of designated players in many teams and argues that they unbalance a squad and thinks that the wealthy European stars lack commitment and just want to end their careers in one final
big payment. He claims that the reason behind RSL’s success is the mixture of experienced and young players whose commitment can never be questioned and such a mixture will help the team to shine on continental level aswell.
Young players like Paulo http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 Schuler are giving an impression of a bright future ahead for the Utah club. Some of the more experienced players have been left behind in order to give these youngsters
some experience and if Real Salt Lake go on to win the game against the Panaman side, it would give them a great chance to loosen Mexico’s strong and formidable grip in the Champions League.
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