LA Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake Preview: What to Watch For Saturday

4. Intensity

Following the match last Friday against the Portland Timbers, Bruce Arena talked about the lack of intensity/urgency at the beginning part of the match. Yes, they had good attacking intent, but there was nothing that really troubled Donovan Ricketts. Expect the boys to come out with more ferocity and tenacity early in the first half and to continue it throughout the entire 90 minutes.

3.  RSL Confidence

After finally breaking their five game winless streak, Real Salt Lake will go into Saturday’s match at the StubHub Center with a load of confidence as they defeated the New England Revolution by a score of 2-1. Salt Lake attacked the Revs all night long as they were forced to fend off the onslaught.

Despite all of their menacing attacks forward, Real scored both goals from off of the penalty, even though it seemed like they were in the Revs defensive third of the pitch all match, and it shows, as they had a little over 60% of the possession. Real Salt Lake will also have confidence going into this match knowing that they have not lost to the Galaxy all season long.

2. Kyle Beckerman / Javier Morales

Kyle Beckerman came back from international duty this past weekend and this RSL side was more disciplined and more lethal going forward than they were without him. He provides their back four with a sort of confidence that they lacked in previous matches. They know that when worst comes to worst, Kyle Beckerman will be distribution will be vital out of the back. If he can orchestrate the play going forward, the Galaxy will find trouble if they are not concentrating during all parts of the match.

Javier Morales really benefited with Beckerman’s return. Morales was able to make darting runs forward causing the Revs back four to be disjointed most of the match. He used his creativity and vision to find space around the pitch to test the oppositions’ goalkeeper. This will be on display in fruition this Saturday as they look to pepper Jaime Pinedo early and often.

1. Clinical Finishing

Last Saturday against Portland, the boys had some good ideas going around the box and had some decent looks on target, however, most of the efforts were either weak or were gathered easily by Donovan Ricketts. Of course Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane were involved heavily in the attacks and look for them to continue on their way against Real Salt Lake as they look to gain the three points and climb further up in the standings.