Ahead of tonight's match (7:30 p.m. CT) against Real Salt Lake, SportingKC.com caught up with RSL broadcaster Brian Dunseth to preview the match at Children's Mercy Park.
What's been the key for RSL to get two road results early this season while receiving red cards in both matches?
It's a team that shows style and substance. Players fit this formation perfectly. With the talking point surrounding the red cards and being down a man 60 minutes in Orlando and 60 minutes in Portland, that's psychologically says a lot for this group, even when putting themselves in that position. They have the mental strength to hold on and gather valuable points on the road.
With several RSL players unavailable due to suspensions, how will this change their approach to Saturday's match?
I don't think it will change the way they play at all, a 4-3-2-1. I think the first change you'll see will be Justen Glad (in place of Olave). He's a strong prospect for the future similar to Erik Palmer-Brown for Sporting KC. Justen enjoyed a strong preseason. The fascinating question is who plays along Sunny (Sunday Stephen Obayan). I think over the past three years you would say the automatic choice would be Luke Mulholland. With Luke recovering from injury, he played for Real Monarchs (RSL's USL side) this past weekend, and the guy playing alongside him, John Stertzer, was the Man of the Match. It causes a little bit of a lineup headache of is it Stertzer or Mulholland. The other option is Jordan Allen alongside Sunny. Allen was the U.S. U-20 international who played in Javier Morales' spot against Seattle and was very good. You have three options to play alongside Sunny and three options in that (Juan Manuel) Burrito Martinez spot. You can play Jordan Allen, Olmes Garcia, or you can make an adjustment with Movsisyan on the right and Devon Sandoval up top. For Jeff Cassar, it will depend if he wants to dig in a little bit and keep the game in front of you or go out and take the game to Sporting KC and get some speed and athleticism on the field from the start.
What are your thoughts on Sporting KC's perfect start to the season (3-0-0)?
I've been very impressed. From the outside looking in, to see how this team has grinded out results and turned Children's Mercy Park into a fortress and making it incredibly difficult to generate scoring opportunities. It doesn't surprise me to see this group and this team at the top of the table and undefeated at this point of the season. With the identity and philosophy that the coaching staff has, even with turnover, there's always going to be that baseline understanding of expectation and competition. I think it's been a master stroke early in the season to see how this team has played and chances they continue to generate and defensively how they put this team tactically and how difficult it is to break them down in the final third.
What will you be looking for in the first 15-20 minutes of this match?
First, what the changes are to the starting XI for Real Salt Lake because that will kind of tip the hat towards the way the RSL coaching staff is looking at starting the game. I would pay attention to the names in the starting XI. How does Real Salt Lake, without that recovery speed of Jamison Olave, deal with the speed and athleticism of Dom Dwyer up top. How do the outside backs deal with wide service and closing down space early. What does the battle in the midfield look like and does Real Salt Lake establish a semblance of early possession to force Sporting KC off the front foot a bit. I would say offensively for Real Salt Lake it's not just about chances generated but winning that second ball and keeping the pressure near the final third. I think would you start to see with this formation, it' starts to look very similar historically to what Sporting KC has done under Peter Vermes. When the ball turns over, can you immediately recover in that recover that final third and midfield third to limit the amount of space that you have to take with possession in breaking down the opponent. Essentially just creating havoc in that final third and not allowing Sporting KC to clear their lines. If they can do things like that, I think Real Salt Lake could make it difficult for Sporting KC but nonetheless it's going to be a tremendous challenge for RSL, with the quality of players missing, to walk away with points at a difficult venue to play in.
