The hits just keep on coming for Real Salt Lake. The club faces an uphill battle Saturday in their match against the New England Revolution in Foxborough, Mass.
RSL (0-3-5) visits the Eastern Conference power still frantically searching for their first victory.
Roster changes and coaching changes helped RSL to a draw with the Chicago Fire on Sunday. Jeff Cassar began his tenure as an RSL assistant coach in an effort to mix things up, while newly aquired forward, Alecko Eskadarian played in his first game for RSL.
“Jeff will add some new ideas, some fresh viewpoints,” head coach Jason Kreis said. “He will quickly become an absolute treasure to this staff and to this club.”
Eskandarian provided the spark RSL was hoping for by hustling nonstop and causing Chicago fits, something Kreis expects to rub off on the rest of the team.
“(Eskandarian) was chasing down lost causes and trying to get back and help defend. (He) a lot of good touches where he involved other players,” Kries said.
New England (5-2-2) enters the match on the heels of only its second loss of the season, falling 4-3 to the Kansas City Wizards on May 26. The match kicked off a four-game homestead at Gillette Stadium for the Revolution.
Electrifying forward Taylor Twellman is making a habit of scorching MLS defenses for New England this season and is currenty sits atop the league leaders in scoring with seven goals.
RSL plans to get some help slowing him down as they have added depth to their backline by signing veteran defender Ritchie Kotschau, Wednesday. The journeyman has notched 224 MLS games on his belt, and has an MLS Cup title to his credit which he earned in 1998 with the Chicago Fire.
More than anything, RSL hopes Kotschau will provide experience and guidance for younger players.
“There are few, if any, situations (Ritchie) has not been in,” RSL Technical Director John Ellinger said.
But you cannot win a match without scoring, a task that has tormented Kreis’s club this year. In eight games this season, RSL has scored only seven goals; a total Twellman has posted on his own.
The lack of offense and wins is not a problem unaddressed. Kreis is not shy to shake things up, swinging trades and signing newcomers feverishly in the initial weeks of his managerial post.
Regardless, the tale of the tape does not stack RSL up well against New England. But the winless club will again take to the pitch aspiring to change its fortune.
The match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. local time and can be heard on 700 AM or can be seen by DirectTV subscribers on channel 79.