Monday's Dish: Revenge

Real Salt Lake's Mehdi Ballouchy is a skilled, creative player who is smooth on the ball, yet I'd love to see him display a bit more grit, frankly.

It's that extra bit of fire and willingness to get "stuck in" that can elevate a player's game to the next level.

So I was glad to hear, when I talked to him about which team he'd like to defeat more than any other, a bit of a vendetta on his part for one team in particular. Those are the situations that motivate extra effort.

"Our little rivalry is Colorado. The players, the teams, the coaches, the fans – we don’t like each other. They’re a good match for us. I have a personal thing with them. Last year, we had a match with them in Salt Lake City. I got hit and went down. They didn’t kick the ball out and they ended up scoring on that play. They didn’t respect the game, or us. I’m looking forward to playing Colorado and beating Colorado."

I love rivalry games.

In a rare MLS Monday game, Real faces the Colorado Rapids tonight.

It's also going to be notable for the MLS debut of Chris Seitz in goal. Though he's the youngest goalkeeper to start for RSL (he's barely twenty) the youngest starting goalkeeper in MLS history was Tim Howard at 19.

The youngest MLS goalkeeper ever? Come on readers, send in the answer, this one was infamous.