SALT LAKE CITY - One slight mistake, one momentary lapse, one split-second decision, and Real Salt Lake's season-opening victory was snatched away.
The home team held a one-goal lead from the 51st minute, but in the final minute of stoppage time, FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz tied the game 2-2 by taking advantage of an opportunity that should never have developed.
As a ball from Clarence Goodson lofted toward the goal area, Real goalkeeper Nick Rimando called for it. But a pair of defenders also went for the ball, and in the confusion Ruiz found the goal. It was a crushing end to a game that had the 18,678 fans on hand believing that RSL could win its first season opener in team history.
Still, team captain Jason Kreis did not feel downhearted.
"It's about mentality; if the team has a strong enough mentality, which I think we do, there's no reason for us to hang our heads about that game," Kreis said. "Yeah, we made a mistake, but it's the first game of the year, and there are going to be mistakes. We played a lot of good soccer, a lot of good soccer, for 65-70 minutes of this game, and we've got to take that away from this game."
Real coach John Ellinger also looked at the broader perspective.
"It's one of those things," Ellinger said. "It is the first game, and I can't get too fired up about it; there are 29-plus [games] to go. But, we have to close the game out. We missed the playoffs last year by two points, and we just gave two points away."
Dallas scored the first goal of the game when Kenny Cooper knocked it in with a narrow-angle shot from the right after an assist from the top of the box from Ruiz in the 19th minute. But Real tied it up 10 minutes later when Chris Klein lofted the ball from the right over to Jeff Cunningham, who was waiting in ideal position for a shot from straightaway. His goal made the score 1-1.
"Jeff did a good job of putting himself between two defenders," Klein said. "It was a classy finish. It was a good way for us to bounce back after giving up the first goal, and then to give them the second goal late, it was just disappointing."
Cunningham gave Real the lead in the 51st minute by shooting home a ball that bounced his way after Kreis' shot from the top of the box was deflected to the right. For the next 40-plus minutes, Real seemed on the verge of earning three points.
But things already were swinging the other way. Defender Eddie Pope had taken a shot in the hip in the 46th minute, and midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy also was struggling with an injury. Ellinger replaced Pope with Nik Besagno in the 61st minute, and Ballouchy with Kenny Cutler in the 79th.
"Losing those two hurt us at crucial times, as far as keeping the ball and keeping our composure," Ellinger said. And at the most crucial moment of the game, Ruiz came up big.
"If you leave him alone for 10 seconds, no longer how long the game goes, he can make you pay, and you've always got to know where he is on the field," Ellinger said.
Now, Real is just looking forward to next week's match against Columbus.
"Yeah, we can get a little bit better, but if we take care of some small things, we're going to win a lot of games and we're going to play a lot of good soccer," Kreis said. "This team feels 100 percent different from the past two years. It feels like we have confidence, and we should. We've got some special players, and they can do some special things."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
