Real Salt Lake vs. CD Saprissa - CONCACAF Champions League Semi-final preview (part 2)
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-Salt-Lake-c40339
If the team’s performance in the 2010 MLS season is given a glance, observers will notice that RSL made it to the playoffs after a successful regular season. Although they lost the Western Conference semi-finals to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Dallas-c39095 on a close aggregate of 3—2,
the team’s performance during the whole season was impressive. Real were second in both the Western Conference and overall standings following http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Los-Angeles-Galaxy-c39818, who were ranked first.
Jason Kreis made sure the team remains dominant in the Champions League and his boys did not disappoint. Aces like Fabian Espindola and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Saborío-c5302 have been brilliant with the team in the league matches. Both had their share of goals in the race for
the continental title. Playmaker Andy Williams has been quite satisfactory in the pool matches and especially in the quarter-final fixtures. Despite the first leg against the Crew ending in a draw, the player’s knack of distributing the ball and facilitating
the rest of the squad in the run of play has been brilliant. He scored the last RSL goal in the league on 1st of March at Rio Tinto. This performance has made Williams Kreis’ first choice in the starting eleven.
Saborio and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Morales-c18076 will be the key to RSL’s win in Tuesdays tie. Morales has been performing brilliantly since the start of this year. Saborio has scored seven goals in the league and Morales is not far behind with a tally of four.
CD Saprissa
The Costa Rican team has not enjoyed the same honour and winning streak in the Primera División de http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Costa-Rica-c2877 as RSL. However, the Champions League front has not been the same for Alvarez as he managed to redeem the clubs dignity by qualifying for the semi-finals.
They did not make it on luck alone. His boys showed a knack for scoring in their continental stint.
Although the team lacks a consistent goal scorer in the roster, Jairo Arrieto has been relatively good in the whole stretch. He scored three goals in the league against Marathon both in the home and away ties and against Seattle Sounders in the last pool
match that took the team to the quarter-finals.
However, in addition to Arrieto, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Armando-Alonso-c6548 will be players worth watching as they have regained their composure in the current year. Alonso scored in both the quarter-final legs to take the team to the semi-finals.
Despite being a strong side in the semi-finals, RSL will be missing the services of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-Wingert-c9037 who hurt his left ankle in Sunday’s training session.
Following will be the respective line-ups for Kreis and Alvarez
Real Salt Lake
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabián-Espíndola-c13100, Álvaro Saborío
CD Saprissa
Victor Bolivar, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jairo-Arrieta-c17581, Allan Alemán
Prediction
Real Salt Lake have not lost a single match at Rio Tinto and they will fight hard to continue the streak. In addition to the advantage of home venue, Saprissa’s home ground puts a lot of pressure on the American team, therefore RSL will try to take a lead
of at least two goals just in case they don’t bag the away leg. The predicted score for the Tuesday match is 3—1 in favour of RSL.
Tags: