The Real Real Deal

Filed in archive US Soccer on August 14, 2006

Real Madrid beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 in Utah Saturday night, with goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robinho. I've already made the obligatory Real/Fake joke, and certainly won't be repeating it here, but Madrid's vist to Rice Eccles stadium and Salt Lake's faux Spanish national team jerseys really did highlight the tacky bizarreness of that franchise branding decision. I can now officially confirm that Real Salt Lake is the silliest team name in US Soccer (the Rochester Raging Rhinos can relax).

As for the game, Salt Lake put up a pretty good fight, marred only by Atiba Harris being sent off for a horror tackle on Sergio Ramos (the sort of tackle that may or may not have awakened Peter Nowak's inner racist a few months back). Harris was only on the field for thirteen minutes. Something to tell the grandkids though.

For Madrid, Ruud van Nistelrooy (who, like David Beckham, suddenly has a little extra spare time around international weekends) looked decent. He scored Madrid's pen after Cassano was brought down in the box, and later gave a nifty assist to Robinho, sending the Brazilian through with the type of clever backheel I'd forgotten he was capable of. Robinho also had a good night, dribbling like the ball was glued to his foot. He's great to watch, so fingers crossed he gets plenty playing time in La Liga this year.