No matter the competition, Real Salt Lake just can't seem to find the right mix on the road.
RSL's struggles away from Rice-Eccles Stadium continued Tuesday night in a 2-0 loss to the Columbus Crew in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play-in match at Crew Stadium. Real still has not won a match on the road since the start of the 2008 MLS season, and with Tuesday's loss was eliminated from Open Cup play.
"We are in a bit of a road slump," RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said after the game. "We just can't find answers right now. The fight is there, the right attitude is there. We will keep working at it and hopefully it will come around soon."
Head coach Jason Kreis saw reason for encouragement from his side, pointing specifically to the way Salt Lake responded following midfielder Dema Kovalenko's red card early in the second half. Kovalenko got into a scuffle with the Crew's Emmanuel Ekpo, ultimately throwing the ball in Ekpo's face following an exchange of shoves and words.
"From our standpoint, we have to try and look at some of the positives from the match," Kreis said after the game. "It could be space or it could just be a little bit about attitude," Kreis said of his team. "They realized they were going to have to work a little harder and show for each other a little bit more."
Goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who shined in the second half in the face of constant Columbus pressure, is also not ready to worry about RSL's long-term outlook just yet in the face of their road struggles.
"Absolutely, we will put this behind us," Rimando said. "We will add up all the plusses [of this match] and pretty soon we will get a full game and some victories on the road."
As it seems, the near future is not cutting any slack for RSL. They will catch a flight out of Ohio tomorrow to head back home for this Saturday's match with San Jose.
"We are only going to have basically one training session before this weekend...right now all our guys are focusing on Saturday," commented Kreis on the unforgiving schedule.
Rimando, along with his teammates, knows the importance of every game in conference play.
"Every game we go in to win, especially for the confidence [that winning brings]. Every point you get gives you confidence for the next game."
Ryan Bergeman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
