Real Salt Lake likely feels like they can breathe again, having earned the club's first victory since mid-April. And while the 1-0 victory against the Chinese national team will not count in the Major League Soccer standings, where RSL most needs a win, a win like Thursday's at Rice-Eccles Stadium is bound to boost the team's morale.
"It feels great," Real goalkeeper Chris Seitz said. "It's good for our team in general; we've been playing 0-0 draws on the road, and that's great for us, any time you can get points on the road is great, but coming home and winning for our fans is an awesome feeling."
Seitz certainly has a lot to feel good about. China took 16 shots in the game, twice as many as Real took. China also put eight shots on goal, compared to RSL's one, but Seitz and the defensive unit in front of him still earned the clean sheet.
"[Seitz] was outstanding," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "Another goalkeeper that has come up extremely big for us. He made a couple of unbelievable saves for me. I noticed in the second half how good his judgement was, with all the long balls coming at him, he was always johnny-on-the-spot there, being in the right place."
Alecko Eskandarian scored the game's only goal, a one-touch shot from inside the goal area that bounded past China goalkeeper Yang Jun and inside the right post. Chris Lancos and Chris Brown set it up -- Lancos played it across the penalty area from the right sideline to where Brown was waiting inside the six-yard box. A quick deflection followed to Eskandarian, and Real had the lead.
"I feel good for him," Kreis said. "I know how that is, to want to score so badly, and I'm quite certain that he did. For him to get that tucked away under his belt I think was a big thing for us tonight."
Eskandarian was not about to take all the credit for the goal.
"I want to score every game that I play, but it's a team effort. I can't just say I'm going to score on my own, it's got to be a team thing," Eskandarian said. "I've got to finish those, or else I shouldn't be on the field."
Eskandarian was one of Kreis' seven substitutions in the second half. The teams had agreed upon a limit of 11 substitutions for the match, giving the bulk of RSL's bench players an opportunity to show their worth. Only four of RSL's starters had played the first minute of a league game this year, so when Kreis put in Eskandarian, Freddy Adu, Lancos, and Kenny Cutler all at once in the 64th minute, the level of play increased.
"I've always felt that when you are struggling a bit, when your team is feeling the pressure to do well, it can be the other guys that lift up the group in games like these," Kreis said. "It can be these other guys that come out and have a great game, and the mentality of the entire squad, all 28, goes straight up to the roof. It also shows the rest of the squad that the guy behind me can get the job done too."
While RSL is pleased to have a win against a national team, one with a bit of English Premier League talent mixed in, the team will not feel truly out of its winless slump in league games until they win an MLS game.
"It's not a league win yet," Kreis said. "We feel positive about it, we have to feel very positive and confident about what we put in tonight and to walk away with a result, but we're still after that first three points in the league."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
