As Sporting KC faces Real Salt Lake in a rematch of MLS Cup 2013, I caught up with RSL broadcaster Brian Dunseth to preview Saturday's match. The match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. CT with live coverage available on 38 The Spot, SKCTV, Sports Radio 810 WHB, and La Grande 1340 AM.
Jonathon Feyerherm: What are your thoughts on Real Salt Lake season up to this point and their form heading into Saturday's match?
Brian Duneth It's been a positive start considering they changed their formation. It was a turbulent offseason for them in terms of losing Borchers, Wingert, Grabavoy, Velazquez, Findley, and Salcedo. All guys who played significant roles and significant minutes for the group, but I think with that it provided an opportunity for Jeff Cassar to change to a 4-3-3 formation. It has allowed the likes of Olmes Garcia, Jaoa Plata, and Sebastian Jaime to get on the field, which was a real struggle in the diamond. And then getting Luis Gil in probably his most comfortable central midfield position while not having to sacrifice Javier Morales or Kyle Beckerman. They got faster in the back with the addition of Demar Phillips, the Jamaican international, who is still kind of dealing with a little bit of a hamstring issue. Abdoulie Mansally has probably been the most consistent form he's ever been in his career in these first several games. And anytime you've got Jamison Olave, with his kind of recovery speed, it affords Chris Schuler and Olave to to be a little bit more physical, take a litle bit more more risks higher up the field knowing they can recover using that speed and athleticism. I think these two teams has always had a genuine dislike for each other on the field. They're both very unapologetic for their defensive styles and crunching tackles. I'm definitely looking at two players, Kyle Beckerman and Roger Espinoza to rekindle that fiery on the field competition.
JF: What do you think of Sporting KC's current form (two consecutive victories)?
BD: The big thing for me when I see what Sporting Kansas City has done this year is plugging in some guys who were kind of role players last year that are now getting more minutes. Jimmy Medranda comes to mind. Servando Carrasco has been playing recently in that holding role in front of the backline. Jalil Anibaba has been starting at right back. They are figuring out who will start on the left side with either Marcel de Jong or Seth Sinovic. Luis Marin is in goal and it's going to take some time for him to settle. He's shown the qualities that Peter Vermes talked about when he joined the club but I think at times he's made some jugdment calls that have been the wrong decision in the run of play. Sporting KC is a team that you've got to play whistle to whistle. You've got to be ready for a battle. You've got to make sure that if you're an opponent, especially going to Sporting Park, that you don't allow any of the players to get under your skin. You've got to realize that the crowd is a huge, huge factor. It's loud, boisterous, and the momentum swing can happen in a split second if you aren't careful. There's always going to be that mentality for any team that players under Peter Vermes that we're going to battle, we're going to possess, we're going to create chances, and we're going to play until the final whistle. That's what we saw at home against Philadelphia.
JF: What are you expecting to see from Saturday's match?
BD: I would expect Sporting Kansas City to jump out early on Real Salt Lake. They'll press high, condense the space, and start with a few tough tackles in the midfield to try and establish that dominance. I would imagine if I was Peter Vermes I would love to see someone get stuck in on Javier Morales early and set the tone. I would imagine the main talking point for Sporting KC would be to not concede the same way they did against Philadelphia and put themselves in a hole. It's an opportunity for Real Salt Lake's young players to continue to find their feet. A big question is with Luis Gil coming back from international duty with the U-23s, he was on the bench at San Jose and Luke Mulholland once against proved he's more than capable as filling in that midfield spot, does Luis Gil get the start does Cassar go with Luke Mulholland. Ultimately, it comes down to who gets that opening goal and who makes the critical mistakes in the game that punishes their team.
JF: After a month into the season, what are your thoughts on the Western Conference?
BD: You can look at the Western Conference and there's no team that's an easy three points. There's not a Chivas USA. San Jose is the only team with three losses and Real Salt Lake is the only team undefeated. There's just a lot of teams, Colorado, Portland, Seattle, Dallas, Vancouver who are just sitting in one loss. For me, the difference in the Western Conference is going to come down to who can win their games at home and who can take maximum points against Eastern Conference opponents, whether that be at home or on the road. I think with the Eastern Conference teams so weak that's going to be the main difference maker in terms of who gets the top spot in the West and who misses out on that last playoff spot.
