Real Salt Lake has lost three straight games and will be deprived of four players because of international callups when it plays a rescheduled game against Vancouver Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET,Direct Kick). Plus, striker Fabian Espindola is suspended. However, there will be one important member present.
Playmaking midfielder Javier Morales willplay his third game since missing nearly five months with a broken leg, and in addition to reversing that losing streak and building some momentum for the playoffs, head coach JasonKreis cites the Morales factor as an important facet. “It’s another match that Javier can gain some match fitness and some soccer readiness,” said Kreis.
For Morales, halting therun of defeats takes center stage. RSL is in third place in the Western Conference, six points behind Seattle and five points ahead of FC Dallas. Unless some very bizarre things happen, itwill finish in its current position and play Seattle in a two-game playoff series. Thus, getting its game right is job one.
“We lost the last three matches, but we havethree matches left,” Morales said. “How well we play the next three matches depends where our confidence will be for the playoffs. Those three matches are very important for us. We have to improve thedetails. The last three games we lose because of different mistakes or different details in different games. So we have to figure that out.”