it was a win-win day."
Salt Lake played a strong game against Madrid, particularly in the first half when it held possession with a conservative strategy and crisp passing.
Salt Lake even put the ball on frame enough times to make Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas a little nervous. The black spot on an otherwise well-played first half was a penalty kick goal for Madrid, scored by Ruud van Nistelrooy in the 45th minute. Madrid was awarded the penalty kick after Salt Lake defender Willis Forko pulled down Antonio Cassano from behind inside the top of the penalty area.
"The first half was fantastic," Ellinger said. "Even with the whatever-it-was that allowed Ruud to make his goal, but for us, it was a great day."
Madrid made five substitutions at halftime; no doubt, coach Fabio Capello was experimenting with his lineup and giving as many players as possible a chance to improve their fitness. Goalkeeper Diego Lopez entered the game for Casillas, David Beckham came in for Cicinho, Robinho came in for Raul, Ruben de la Red came in for Pablo Garcia and Baptista came in for Cassano.
The substitutions improved Madrid's attack; the visitors clearly became more aggressive in the second half. But nothing hurt Salt Lake's chances at a win more than Atiba Harris' cleats-up, sliding tackle from behind on Sergio Ramos. Harris was sent off with a red card; Salt Lake's performance clearly was hurt by the call.
"It's going to [hurt]," Salt Lake forward Jason Kreis said. "Down a goal and down a man to Real Madrid, you're going to be in for a long night."
The stat sheet confirmed it. In the second half, Madrid took eight shots on goal; Salt Lake managed only one.
"We put a lot of guys out there that put a whole hell of a lot into the game on Wednesday night, so I could tell the legs were going," Kreis said.
Madrid put the game out of reach in the 64th minute when van Nistelrooy back-heeled a pass to Robinho, who beat the defenders with his speed before beating Salt Lake goalkeeper Jay Nolly with a right-to-left shot.
With the experience of a match against Real Madrid, the renewed promise of a stadium of their own and a two-game win streak in Major League Soccer play to build on, Real Salt Lake is ready for a run at the MLS Cup Playoffs.
"We went into the locker room, and everyone was happy about the performance," Salt Lake forward Jeff Cunningham said. "We need to take the negatives from this game and try to improve on them. I feel like we need to play a lot better, and that we're capable of playing a lot better."
Unlike the games that make a difference in the league standings, Salt Lake came away from this loss with renewed confidence.
"We held our own for a little bit," Cunningham said. "Confidence-wise, we're walking away knowing that we played well against one of the top football clubs in the world."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
