The first 45 minutes were a snoozefest. Disjointed play, not much attacking by either team, misplaced pass after misplaced pass. It was almost as though both RSL and San Jose were missing key players due to international duty (Spoiler alert: They were).
But at halftime, the team had a discussion about how San Jose’s man-to-man defense was affecting it. And the scheme did have an observable effect. One of them was the ball having to be played back to Nick Rimando on several occasions in order to relieve pressure and find attackers up the field.
Almost as soon as the second half started, however, RSL looked like a different team.