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Hours before Saturday¹s game between Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew, RSL owner Dave Checketts said he thought the bounces were bound to go Real Salt Lake's way soon.
But not soon enough for a frustrated John Ellinger.
Or for his team, which extended its winless streak to an MLS-record 18 games with a 1-0 loss to the Crew in front of 15,804 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Or for those fans who are left wondering, again, if RSL will ever break out of the extended slump.
³It¹s 18,² said Ellinger, who earlier in the week all but guaranteed his team would get a victory Saturday. ³It gets old.²
Worst of it was, RSL was better than the Crew for nearly the whole game. They outshot Columbus 11-4 and the Crew had just two shots on goal.
³There was one team out there that should¹ve won, and that was us,² defender Carey Talley said.
Real Salt Lake¹s defense was, for the most part, effective, even with a pair of first-time starters in the back.
³We don¹t make one or two mistakes in the back, they don¹t have any sniffs on goal,² Talley said. ³I don¹t think any team can say that.²
It was the first starts of the year for defenders Willis Forko and Nelson Akwari. Forko filled in for injured defender Daniel Torres on the left, and used his speed to keep his side in good order. Akwari started in place of Chris Brown on the right, and there were few problems there also.
Except the breakdown on the goal, which came from the right, but ultimately a streaking Jason Garey converted from the middle of the field.
Garey, a rookie, took a through ball from defender Ezra Hendrickson and quickly slid it past goalkeeper Scott Garlick in the 70th minute of play. Even Ellinger said later that he looked up and, next thing he knew, the ball was in the net.
The goal was Garey¹s first in Major
League Soccer.
³It¹s 89 minutes and 50 seconds of concentration,² Talley said.
Offensively, Real Salt Lake struggled to finish what appeared to be good touches.
RSL played without its top scorer, forward Jason Kreis, who was serving a one-game suspension after he received a red card last weekend against Los Angeles.
Saturday¹s loss seemed to pile on top of what had already been a trying week for the second-year team. Before the game, Checketts answered questions about the setback Real Salt Lake suffered earlier this week when Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon called off the county¹s expected financial contribution to a proposed stadium in Sandy. There were also front office maneuverings, and now, the team loses two of its best players to World Cup duty.
Defender Eddie Pope will report to U.S. national team camp this week, while midfielder Douglas Sequeira joins the Costa Rican national team, in advance of the June tournament.
Crew 1, RSL 0
* With a 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew, Real Salt Lake's winless streak stretched to an MLS-record 18 games.
* It was the last game in at least a month and a half for World Cup-bound RSLers Eddie Pope and Douglas Sequeira.
* RSL outshot the Crew 11-4, but failed to convert any of its many opportunities. Top scorer Jason Kreis served a one-game suspension and did not play. |