After missing out on a couple of points earlier this week, Real Salt Lake mean to make amends Saturday at The Home Depot Center against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The challenge, however, is in Landon Donovan.
Real Salt Lake earned the first victory on the road in team history earlier this season with a 3-0 win against the Galaxy in Carson, Calif on May 13. That Galaxy team, however, was struggling to find its way after the departure of both Donovan and Chris Albright to World Cup play in Germany.
The addition of Donovan significantly changes the outlook of the match between the bottom two teams in Major League Soccer's Western Conference. History has shown that when he scores against Real, the Galaxy win.
"I think the world of Landon, he's a special player," Real coach John Ellinger said. "But why does he always have to be special against us. Go and be special against somebody else."
Ellinger said Eddie Pope, also recently returned from World Cup play, will be a key player in shutting down Donovan.
"If you are able to shut him down you do yourself a huge favor in trying to beat that team," Pope said. "It's something we obviously need to focus on."
Tactically, Real plan on defending Donovan as a team, rather than one-on-one.
"You just have to concentrate on him and not let him turn with the ball and start making those long runs," Pope said. "That's where he's most effective, that's what he's good at, so you have to concentrate on him and make him play away from the goal."
Daniel Torres should start the game next to Pope at central defense.
"We can not play one-on-one against him," Torres said. "He's a skillful player, and he's quick. That would be the most stupid mistake."
Outside defender Kevin Novak has started every game since Donovan and Pope left for World Cup play. The second-year professional is confident Real can handle Landon.
"Obviously it's going to be tough," Novak said. "Everybody knows he's a great player, but we've shown we can stop great players."
Real team captain Jason Kreis noted the Galaxy also have Albright back on the field.
"It's not all just Landon," Kreis said. "Chris gives them some attacking options from some different positions which is nice to have. But Landon is a special player."
Along with Real's other main attacking threats, Kreis is searching for a way to put goals in the net. In the last five games, Real have scored only two goals. Their offensive production is down from their mid-May to early-June streak that saw them score 10 goals in four games.
"For me, you deal with it by not worrying about it," Kreis said. "It's a question of relaxing around the goal, and relaxing with the final pass. You can't just worry about the final touch, you have to worry about the second to half touch."
Kreis seemed confident the goals will begin coming again.
"The good news is, I think we're playing very good soccer in the first two-thirds of the field, so we just need to do that in the last little bit," Kreis said.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
