Playoffs

This year, when we made the playoffs, there was no doubt we earned it - number two in the western conference, and overall. However, this was not the year to make it passed round one. I have to be completely honest, I don't ever like to lose, but it's especially hard to lose when the reffing is bad and it feels like the calls were against us - I know I sound like a disgruntled fan. The good news is, since we tied the game our home unbeaten streak is still in tact, the bad news was we needed to win by two to keep going. It was a sad way to end the season, but it has to end sometime, I suppose. On the plus size, Real did get some recognition - three players in the top XI (Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, and Javier Morales), Newcomer of the Year (Alvaro Saborio), and Defender of the Year (Jamison Olave).
Andy Williams gets downed in a play.
Kyle Beckerman goes up for the ball against David Ferreira (who got MVP).
Doesn't look like Williams is having such a great game.
Saborio up for the ball.
Fabian Espindola and Tony Beltran get into the game.
Ned Grabavoy up for the ball.
Borchers tries to get the ball past Hartman (if Rimando couldn't get goalkeeper of the year, I think it should have gone to him).

So ended the season and it was time to get ready for the expansion draft and worry about who we can keep and who we are going to lose - truthfully, I think we came out better than we started, which seems to be the general consensus. We lost two players in the draft and another in a trade after (Robbie Findley, who said he isn't going to come back anyway, David Horst, who didn't play any for us, and Alex Nimo, who said he didn't want to play anywhere except for Portland). We also gained Arturo Alvarez starting the draft from San Jose and then Portland and then ending with us. Then, we were able to keep Saborio as he became our first dependent player and then they are still working on a deal for Paulo Jr.