Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

Real Salt Lake beat Seattle Sounders tonight. A 2-1 victory at home. That’s a scoreline, the home side winning 2-1, that’s happened seven times between these two sides before tonight. History has a strange way of repeating itself. I don’t know what it is about these two teams, but

This was perhaps a slightly weird one: RSL were forced once again to play a slew of youngsters, including 17-year-old Luca Moisa and 18-year-old Aiden Hezarkhani, for a second consecutive game. If it happens again, I think I might have to stop saying they were ‘forced’ into it, because my word, these two players are proving their worth. Let’s start there.

Luca Moisa and Aiden Hezarkhani

Aiden Hezarkhani scored Real Salt Lake’s opener, and what a goal it was. His first-time shot was tremendous and thundering. His timing was excellent, and the pass from Juanma Sanabria, on for his first start, was perfect. It looped over into the space where Hezarkhani was running, beating out the Seattle defensive line with shocking ease.

Luca Moisa played an important role in the opener too, stepping in front of Cristian Roldan to win back possession with RSL in a perfect attacking outlay. That’s tried-and-true Cristian Roldan, who has been an incredibly reliable player for Seattle. Moisa just pops up ahead of him, and he immediately splays the ball to Sanabria. The awareness to win the ball, then the awareness to make that pass — all of that belies his age and experience. I’m seriously impressed with Moisa.

I’m also impressed with Hezarkhani, of course. I do think it’s moderately easier for a young winger to break in to a team than a young central midfielder, and it just makes Moisa’s performances all the more impressive. At this point, I’d much rather see Moisa than Pablo Ruiz starting. Given we have no sense yet as to when Emeka Eneli might return (Jason Kreis slightly dodged the question in a KSL interview), it may be that a 17-year-old has rightly won the spot. Will he return to the bench when Stijn Spierings is ready to start? Perhaps, and that will likely be the right choice given his age, but Moisa is just doing everything right.

Ari Piol

I’ve expressed my doubts about Piol’s ability, but I’m going to leave that to one side tonight. His goal he scored was well-taken, and he had some good defensive headers. His play aside, it’s hard not to feel for him after what appeared to be a non-contact injury after jumping for a header. He came down awkwardly, apparently injuring his achilles tendon, and it was gutting to see him sobbing on the sideline after coming off.

A word, too, for newcomer Morgan Guilavogui, whose role as a relatively-elder-statesman on the team seems firmly in place. He stayed with Piol for a lengthy period during his treatment, offering support to the forward. A nice touch.

Juanma Sanabria and Zavier Gozo on the wings

My skepticism about Zavier Gozo at right wing back remains (and with Ari Piol set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, it may be a moot point), but it was put slightly at ease tonight. Gozo’s average positioning was much better, and he was able to get into the attack much more easily. In fact, his average position sort of mirrors Juanma Sanabria, who was very good on the night.