SALT LAKE CITY - So far, Real Salt Lake's season is going according to plan.
At the beginning of the season, Real Salt Lake were altogether a new team. With the addition of so many new players during the offseason, including Carey Talley, Jeff Cunningham, Scott Garlick, Chris Klein and Douglas Sequeira, RSL had a long way to go before the team found some on-field chemistry.
The plan all along was to get through the early months, and then make a run at the playoffs in the second half of the season.
"We are getting into a roll where our starting lineup hasn't changed much, and I think we are 4-1-1 now in the second half of the season," Talley said. "That is what we had planned to do, and that's what we are doing."
RSL now are on a club-record three-game winning streak, a four-game point streak, and has scored 11 goals in its last four games. With 10 games left in the season, Real have begun its late-season push for the playoffs; the team will continue its crusade Saturday when it plays host to Houston Dynamo.
Last year, Real coach John Ellinger used a different starting lineup in nearly every game. In the last six games, things have been much more consistent. Seven players have started all six; Real has had only 15 different players in the starting lineup in that stretch.
"It's kind of weird, actually," Ellinger said. "It's something we're not used to, but that consistency has helped us. Sometimes, the guys don't play great every game, but at least when a guy is having an off day the other guys step up and play a little better, or the subs come in and give us a little boost, so that's been good."
The majority of RSL's goals this year have been scored late in the second half. To be sure, Real's fitness level plays a part. But Talley said there's more to it.
"We've got good fitness, but I think a lot of it is just believing in each other," Talley said. "For instance, on my goal (against Columbus on Wednesday) I firmly believed Jeff was going to beat the guy on the sideline, and I had to get into a good spot to be in. And he put the ball on my foot."
Real have not yet had any success against Dynamo. The two games between the teams, both in Houston, ended in 2-1 victories for Dynamo.
But this time, Real will be at home. It may prove to be an advantage, although RSL have actually had more success on the road than at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Four of Real's seven wins have been away from home.
"On the turf, we have to play a little bit smarter, so that's part of it on the technical side, but we have our crowd and its huge," Ellinger said. "We've done a good job the last few weeks of tuning out the away crowd and silencing them by scoring goals, so that's worked to our advantage."
Houston will not have Brian Ching or Eddie Robinson for the game, but Ellinger said Dynamo still presents a significant challenge. Talley said the teams' two games earlier this season were played evenly.
"The last two times that we played them, it was square," Talley said. "They got a goal with [Dwayne] De Rosario in the first game, kind of just breaking through on a few miscommunications, and we had a ball hit the post twice in one shot. It could have gone either way in both games."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
