For a few tense moments, Real Salt Lake looked like it might relive its stoppage time nightmares against FC Dallas.
It was Dallas who came into Rice-Eccles Stadium a year ago and forced a 2-2 tie after scoring a goal in the 92nd minute. On Saturday night, the setting seemed eerily similar. RSL clung to a 2-1 lead and spent most of the time added on facing down a barrage of Hoops players in the box trying to punch in one last goal.
"Dallas came at us," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "They brought everything at us. They pushed numbers and they were coming for the draw."
History did not repeat itself in 2008. RSL held onto its lead and took away a 2-1 victory, claiming three points for only the second time this season.
Beckerman produced the go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute. He corralled a lob from fellow midfielder Andy Williams and poked the ball past FCD goalkeeper Dario Sala. Once Beckerman started his run through the center of the FCD defense, he knew Williams would be able to find him for the easy goal.
"Andy, that's what he does," Beckerman said. "He can put in that final pass for anybody. That's what he does and I knew it was coming. So I made the run and he put it on a plate for me and luckily I put it in."
RSL struck first in the 25th minute after cashing in on a defensive lapse by Dallas. Following a long pass downfield, Sala tried to clear the ball out, but his attempt instead ricocheted off Andre Rocha and then Drew Moor in rapid succession.
Javier Morales had no trouble corralling the bouncing ball when it fell to him and he threaded it between Moor and Rocha into the empty goal for a 1-0 RSL lead.
But Kenny Cooper answered for the Hoops in the 56th minute. Andre Rocha lofted the ball down along the right sideline and Cooper beat Borchers in a footrace to the ball.
In one swift motion, Cooper turned and fired. With Rimando stationed at the near post, the ball sailed over him, off the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the back of the net.
Aside from that one spectacular goal, however, Cooper could not find his rhythm against RSL.
"We made the players aware of who the dangerous players for Dallas were and I thought they did a pretty good job of being aware of those guys," RSL coach Jason Kreis said.
RSL opened the game with an atypical 3-5-2 formation, sliding Beltran and Chris Wingert from the backline to wide midfield roles. Kreis said the team did it as a way to prepare for a similar formation they expected to see from Dallas.
When Dallas threw a different look at RSL, going with a 3-4-3, the club made adjustments on the fly, subbing in veteran midfielders Andy Williams and Kenny Cutler to better match the personnel the Hoops put on the field.
Even with a victory, Kreis felt far from satisfied. He considered it to be a lesser effort for the RSL side in a lot of ways because they did not manage the tempo or control possession for long stretches.
"Honestly, I think that's probably one of the worst games we've played this season in my opinion," Kreis said. "In some ways, maybe that's a good thing because maybe we need to learn how to win ugly. I would say tonight was case in point for that. We won ugly."
RSL will take ugly wins, especially when Dallas seemed so close to conjuring up another tie in added time like it did so effectively in 2007.
Ricardinho, who came on as a 77th-minute substitute, somehow found acres of space in front of the RSL goal and fired a shot, which looked to be a gateway to another tie. But Nat Borchers blocked his shot attempt and the ball bounced harmlessly out of bounds.
It was not the only shot Dallas tried to force in during those last desperate minutes but, fortunately, no others got any closer.
"They were pumping some balls in the box and they happened to fall to guys," Wingert said. "We got to do a little better job of staying with our man. But, at the same time, we did a good job of blocking shots and clearing balls.
John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
