Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis often repeats the phrase, “Fortune favors the bold.” In an email he sent to season ticket holders earlier this year, he called it his personal credo. Most importantly, it is something that he believes, it is something Real Salt Lake believes and it is something that their jersey-front sponsor believes.
After watching Real Salt Lake capture the 2009 MLS Cup Championship, it’s hard not to believe it. There’s no doubt that both the coach and the team were bold this year—the attacking style of soccer that led Real Salt Lake to their league-dominating 423 shots easily qualifies as bold. The result? Going into the 2009 MLS Cup Final, they were termed the “team of destiny.”
Knowing Coach Kreis’s personal credo, a bold team having “destiny” or “fortune” on its side doesn’t sound like a coincidence. It sounds like a plan.
There are many ways to interpret boldness; but, at XanGo, we consider it a willingness, fueled by self-belief, to do things in new ways—a definition that Real Salt Lake typified this year in the way they brought home the 2009 MLS Cup.
Here’s some of what we appreciated from our soccer team this year:
Belief
All this team needed was an opportunity—no matter how slim—to succeed. On the last day of the season, and the last night of THRIVE ’09, when it appeared that their destiny was squarely in the hands of other teams, they came out with conviction. They believed. In the words of MLSnet.com contributor John Coon, “Amid all complicated scenarios that could guarantee Real Salt Lake a return trip to the MLS Cup Playoffs, one constant stood out. RSL needed to win their regular season finale against the Colorado Rapids or face elimination.”
The team’s belief that night resulted in a 3-0 win, a playoff berth and an opportunity to prove themselves further. Once in the playoffs, they immediately came up against the obstinate defending of the Columbus Crew, affording very few scoring opportunities. RSL was only allowed 2 shots on goal the entire match, yet Robbie Findley turned one of those into a goal to give them an advantage moving into the next round. In the second round they took care of their opportunities again, scoring 3 of 5 shots on goal.
Opponents quickly learned that, against Real Salt Lake, the last thing you wanted to give them was an opportunity. Real Salt Lake valued their opportunities and always believed that even the smallest opportunity was enough.
Duplication
Throughout the 2009 season, Real Salt Lake’s home form never really came into question. The simple fact was that Real Salt Lake performed like champions at Rio Tinto Stadium, regularly blowing away their competition, no matter who it was.
They undoubtedly had a recipe for success at home. The tricky part was duplicating that same success on the road. RSL struggled immensely with this during the regular season, but when the stakes were highest they were able to take their winning form on the road.
After winning only 2 games on the road during the 2009 season, Real Salt Lake were able to rattle off three in a row to win the MLS Cup, simply by applying the creativity and hard work that had shown them so much success at home.
Teamwork
It has become common knowledge that the locker room of Real Salt Lake features a sign that says THE TEAM IS THE STAR. This fact headlined the 2009 MLS Cup Final against the LA Galaxy—a team with two of the league’s brightest stars: David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
In the words of RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman, “We all know we have stars on this team, but we’ve all been buying into the team as a star. Nobody’s treated differently. You’re going to play offense and you’re going to play defense no matter who you are.”
Coach Kreis also commented that, “this season we’ve seen more contributions from more players than I think we saw last season. For me that’s the perfect setup. That’s the way a team should be. Everybody should feel like they contribute and everybody should be ready to contribute when they’re called upon.”
Now Real has proven that it’s teams that win titles, not individuals.
Perspective
Perhaps most impressively, Real Salt Lake did not confine themselves to the small sampling of 2009 when working on their accomplishments. For instance, they were not just happy to make the playoffs, because they had done that before. “We’ve been here,” midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “We’re one year older and more experienced. We know we can get past the first round—we’ve done it.”
Even though they were the underdogs based on one season, they saw things differently based on a longer team life. “If you looked at our celebration after the game against Columbus, we weren’t running on the field or jumping up for joy,” veteran midfielder Andy Williams said. “We did that last year and went to the conference final and came up short. Everybody is pretty much focused on what’s going to happen this weekend and once we get that win we can celebrate and then start focusing on the MLS Cup.”
In short, the goals of Real Salt Lake were bigger than the terms that outsiders set. Based on belief, confidence and hard work, Real Salt Lake knew what they wanted—and they went out and grabbed it.
Cinderella Season: Fortune Favors the Bold
Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis often repeats the phrase, “Fortune favors the bold.” In an email he sent to season ticket holders earlier this year, he called it his personal credo. Most importantly, it is something that he believes, it is something Real Salt Lake believes and it is something that their jersey-front sponsor believes.
After watching Real Salt Lake capture the 2009 MLS Cup Championship, it’s hard not to believe it. There’s no doubt that both the coach and the team were bold this year—the attacking style of soccer that led Real Salt Lake to their league-dominating 423 shots easily qualifies as bold. The result? Going into the 2009 MLS Cup Final, they were termed the “team of destiny.”
Knowing Coach Kreis’s personal credo, a bold team having “destiny” or “fortune” on its side doesn’t sound like a coincidence. It sounds like a plan.
There are many ways to interpret boldness; but, at XanGo, we consider it a willingness, fueled by self-belief, to do things in new ways—a definition that Real Salt Lake typified this year in the way they brought home the 2009 MLS Cup.
Here’s some of what we appreciated from our soccer team this year:
Belief
All this team needed was an opportunity—no matter how slim—to succeed. On the last day of the season, and the last night of THRIVE ’09, when it appeared that their destiny was squarely in the hands of other teams, they came out with conviction. They believed. In the words of MLSnet.com contributor John Coon, “Amid all complicated scenarios that could guarantee Real Salt Lake a return trip to the MLS Cup Playoffs, one constant stood out. RSL needed to win their regular season finale against the Colorado Rapids or face elimination.”
The team’s belief that night resulted in a 3-0 win, a playoff berth and an opportunity to prove themselves further. Once in the playoffs, they immediately came up against the obstinate defending of the Columbus Crew, affording very few scoring opportunities. RSL was only allowed 2 shots on goal the entire match, yet Robbie Findley turned one of those into a goal to give them an advantage moving into the next round. In the second round they took care of their opportunities again, scoring 3 of 5 shots on goal.
Opponents quickly learned that, against Real Salt Lake, the last thing you wanted to give them was an opportunity. Real Salt Lake valued their opportunities and always believed that even the smallest opportunity was enough.
Duplication
Throughout the 2009 season, Real Salt Lake’s home form never really came into question. The simple fact was that Real Salt Lake performed like champions at Rio Tinto Stadium, regularly blowing away their competition, no matter who it was.
They undoubtedly had a recipe for success at home. The tricky part was duplicating that same success on the road. RSL struggled immensely with this during the regular season, but when the stakes were highest they were able to take their winning form on the road.
After winning only 2 games on the road during the 2009 season, Real Salt Lake were able to rattle off three in a row to win the MLS Cup, simply by applying the creativity and hard work that had shown them so much success at home.
Teamwork
It has become common knowledge that the locker room of Real Salt Lake features a sign that says THE TEAM IS THE STAR. This fact headlined the 2009 MLS Cup Final against the LA Galaxy—a team with two of the league’s brightest stars: David Beckham and Landon Donovan.
In the words of RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman, “We all know we have stars on this team, but we’ve all been buying into the team as a star. Nobody’s treated differently. You’re going to play offense and you’re going to play defense no matter who you are.”
Coach Kreis also commented that, “this season we’ve seen more contributions from more players than I think we saw last season. For me that’s the perfect setup. That’s the way a team should be. Everybody should feel like they contribute and everybody should be ready to contribute when they’re called upon.”
Now Real has proven that it’s teams that win titles, not individuals.
Perspective
Perhaps most impressively, Real Salt Lake did not confine themselves to the small sampling of 2009 when working on their accomplishments. For instance, they were not just happy to make the playoffs, because they had done that before. “We’ve been here,” midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “We’re one year older and more experienced. We know we can get past the first round—we’ve done it.”
Even though they were the underdogs based on one season, they saw things differently based on a longer team life. “If you looked at our celebration after the game against Columbus, we weren’t running on the field or jumping up for joy,” veteran midfielder Andy Williams said. “We did that last year and went to the conference final and came up short. Everybody is pretty much focused on what’s going to happen this weekend and once we get that win we can celebrate and then start focusing on the MLS Cup.”
In short, the goals of Real Salt Lake were bigger than the terms that outsiders set. Based on belief, confidence and hard work, Real Salt Lake knew what they wanted—and they went out and grabbed it.