Listening to Real Salt Lake's players and coaches after Monday's match against the Colorado Rapids, one could hear disappointment and frustration in their voices.
They had pegged this game as a chance to win their first match of the season, to beat the rivals that had shown them up in a questionable post-game celebration last year, and to bounce back from last week's forgettable experience against Chivas. But instead, a pair of goals in quick succession late in the second half gave the Rapids the 2-0 victory.
There was one emotion absent in the team's post-game comments: anger.
"I would be really angry if they outworked us tonight, and that didn't happen," defender Eddie Pope said. "It's frustrating not coming away with the result, but you have to keep plugging away. You can't hang your heads and not give the same effort next time."
Real might have worked harder, but the Rapids made the most of their chances. In the 71st minute, RSL defender Danny Torres got turned around while trying to flag down a ball and keep the Rapids' Roberto Brown away from it. Brown took advantage of the miscue, and buried the ball in the net with a shot that goalkeeper Chris Seitz had no chance at.
The Rapids took full advantage of their next look four minutes later. Seitz was called for handling a back pass from Real's Jack Stewart, giving Colorado an indirect free kick inside the penalty area. Some players argued the ball was deflected to Seitz off a Colorado player, but it made no difference in the end as Kyle Beckerman knocked the ball in off the rebound of Herculez Gomez's shot, making the score 2-0.
"I certainly felt that we didn't play bad enough to lose," Real coach John Ellinger said. "We make two mistakes, and they punish us for it, and they go out of here with a 2-0 win. I felt the guys put the effort in, no question about it, we just have to quit making mistakes."
More than that: Real must find a way to score again. RSL has not scored a goal in Major League Soccer play since the beginning of the season, a stretch now of three games.
"We had some good looks at the goal," midfielder Chris Klein said. "At the end of the day, that's what you've have to do on offense is capitalize on the other team's mistakes, and we didn't do a very good job at that."
Midfielder Carey Talley suggested Real need to be more patient.
"Everybody wants to make a great pass, everybody wants to make a great run and be the hero, but sometimes have a little patience out there," Talley said. "I'd love to try and put a through ball every time I get the ball, but it's not going to happen. You're not going to dribble through five guys; you have to know your roles."
Real are now 0-2-2 in league play. Thus far, the quick start to the season the team was counting on has not materialized. Though downhearted, the team was far from giving up.
"We realize from our experience last year that you can't give points away early, and giving points away is only going to come back to haunt you in the end," Klein said. "It is early, we are only four games in to an early season, so there is some reason to keep our heads high, but at the same time, I thought that the majority of the game, we carried the game."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
