1. Winning the midfield battle:
The midfield on a soccer pitch: a place where crunching tackles are commonplace, simple distribution is a must and maintaining your composure is the difference between a win and a loss. This notion will be put to the test tonight as Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman and the Quakes Fatai Alashe go toe-to-toe in the middle of the park. Beckerman, an eight-time MLS All-Star and a U.S. international, is arguably the most disciplined, hard-nosed midfielder in the league. Alashe, a rookie starter for San Jose, has caught the imagination of Quakes fans in this first two months after displaying promising early season form.
Back on April 5, both teams played a contested battle between the boxes. What we learned from that match? Alashe is not afraid of going up against one of the best in the league. Keep an eye on the battle between the two U.S. internationals in tonight’s fixture.
2. Getting off to a fast start:
Coming out to a flying start against Real Salt Lake will be key to San Jose’s success tonight at Rio Tinto. Against New York, the Quakes finished with a flurry of chances in the game’s final stanza. They were dynamic, dangerous and had New York on their heels. The problem: it didn’t come earlier in the match. Behind the likes of Innocent, MPG and Wondo, San Jose will look to keep Real Salt Lake on their toes from the game’s first whistle. Also, look for Sanna Nyassi to be instrumental in any quick starts for the club. Nyassi had one of his most promising games in the first meeting, getting to the endline and serving in dangerous balls on a number of occasions.
3. Feed Wondolowski:
Where hasn’t Chris Wondolowski scored? Wondo, a 13-year MLS veteran, has 96 career goals to his name going into Friday’s match. For one of the most prolific goal scorers in MLS history, statistics show he enjoys his time against Real Salt Lake. Since 2012, Wondolowski has scored six goals and tallied two assists against RSL in his career, the most in each category against any MLS team. For a guy who is known for scoring, that’s a promising sight for the San Jose faithful. Though leading the team in scoring, Wondolowski has been playing more of a holding role this season, bouncing off of the back line into the midfield to help create for others. Look for Wondolowski to continue to create while sniffing for any goal scoring opportunities that come his way.
