making his MLS and Galaxy debut -- knocked a long ball over the top and Edson Buddle steamed onto it, ripping a shot from right on the edge of the area past the dive of Nick Rimando for his goal with the Galaxy, in his first game with the club.
• A day after his 37th birthday, Cobi Jones hit for the eventual game-winner, side-footing home a Kyle Martino cross from the left flank from close range to make it 3-1 in the 65th minute. Eight minutes later RSL pulled a goal back when Brown scored his second of the game, heading home a Freddy Adu corner at the back post, but it wasn't enough.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis made four changes to the team that was stunned again by a stoppage-time game-winner by FC Dallas, four days previous. Daniel Torres and Ritchie Kotschau came back into the back four, replacing Jack Stewart and Willis Forko. Andy Williams came into a central midfield role for Chirs Lancos, and Chris Brown made his first start of the year, in place of Freddy Adu.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-1-3-2): Nick Rimando - Jean-Martial Kipre, Eddie Pope (Jack Stewart 46), Daniel Torres (Freddy Adu 60), Ritchie Kotschau - Atiba Harris - Chris Klein, Andy Williams, Mehdi Ballouchy (Jamie Watson 80) - Alecko Eskandarian, Chris Brown. Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Kyle Brown, Chris Lancos, Chris Seitz
• "Just what we did with the ball, I feel it was our best night, our best game of the year to be honest. I felt we created a lot of chances. We had players getting forward and probably should have put some more away," Kreis said. "I'm pleased. I really can't say too much bad about what happened tonight. Obviously there are a couple of bad defensive plays in the first half but that's going to happen and I think my team responded."
TEAM NEWS
• Kreis watched the game from the press box at The Home Depot Center after being sent off late in RSL's 1-0 loss to FC Dallas three days earlier.
• "It was strange but it was also kind of good to be honest," Kreis said. "It gives you a very good angle to see things. You can identify things pretty quickly as long as there is a good line of communication, which there was. They allowed me to have a radio between myself and (assistant coach) Brian Johnson. ... It was actually a pretty decent system. I might use it again."
• Chris Brown was given his first start of the season and contributed a pair of goals. "It was nice to get the start. I'm not too happy about the way the game went," Brown said. "It was probably the best game we played so far this year but a couple of mistakes hurt us."
• Yet even that came with a down note. Brown injured his hamstring on a breakaway late in the match and said he might miss the United match. "Just going by how I feel right now I'm probably shooting for July 4," Brown said. "Who knows? I heal pretty fast but this one I felt it pop pretty good."
• Once again, Real were left looking for a first victory on the season, their league record now 11 games without a victory to open the season. They will also now be without Freddy Adu and Chris Seitz, with the U.S. under-20 national team for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
• "We played a game on Thursday, and we have some guys that are leaving. We shook it up a little bit. Chris Brown came in and scored a very nice two goals. We've got guys who can play, and guys that deserve an opportunity on our team," Chris Klein said. "We are just a few plays on either end in games from winning a game. That might sound like a comment from a guy that hasn't won a game this season, but that's where we are at. We're pretty honest with ourselves. We are going to find the positives in most things we do. Like I said, the only game that I can't see any positives in was the game that we played out here against Chivas, so for whatever that is we're moving in the right direction."
• Then on Thursday, Klein was dealt to the Los Angeles Galaxy for striker Robbie Findley and midfielder Nathan Sturgis. Findley should be available for the D.C. match, while Sturgis is with the U.S. U-20 national team for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Findley has scored twice so far this season, while Generation adidas player Sturgis can be used either as a left back or a defensive midfielder.
• "Trading a veteran with the attributes and professionalism of a Chris Klein is never an easy thing to do, but making this deal allows us to bring in a pair of young players that are ready to step in and contribute right away," said Real Salt Lake technical director/director of soccer operations John Ellinger.
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United continued to roll on after opening the season with three defeats, extending their undefeated run to seven matches with a 3-1 victory against the Chicago Fire at RFK Stadium last Saturday night. United now have 17 points from 10 matches, two points behind the third-place New England Revolution and just four behind the pace-setting New York Red Bulls.
LAST MATCH
• United had won four of their last five while unbeaten since opening the season with three consecutive losses, while the Fire had won just once since the start of May.
• The Black-and-Red took advantage of some real errors to take a commanding lead by early in the second half. In just the sixth minute, Fred drove in a low cross from the left that Fire 'keeper Matt Pickens was unable to control on the short hop, and Rod Dyachenko blasted it into the goal from almost on the line for the simplest of finishes for his first professional goal.
• In the 25th minute, Luciano Emilio was kept onside on a ball played over the Fire line by Christian Gomez, and as Pickens raced off his line, the Brazilian lobbed the ball over the 'keeper's head for his second goal in as many games. Then just after the break, Emilio added to his haul, Pickens again spilling a shot from Gomez and Emilio bundling it over the line with his body (51).
• The Fire pulled a goal back three minutes when a pass was filtered through for Jerson Monteiro, and after side-stepping Facundo Erpen, the Angolan-born rookie finished inside the left-hand post for his first professional goal.
• United head coach Tom Soehn made two changes to the team that defeated the New York Red Bulls 4-2 at home the previous Sunday. Bobby Boswell was suspended, so Devon McTavish took his place in central defense, and Jaime Moreno was off with the Bolivian national team for Copa America preparations, so Rod Dyachenko made his first start of the season in attack.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Troy Perkins - Bryan Namoff, Facundo Erpen, Devon McTavish, Joshua Gros - Fred, Brian Carroll (Clyde Simms 71), Ben Olsen (Nicholas Addlery 83) - Christian Gomez (Justin Moose 66) - Rod Dyachenko, Luciano Emilio. Substitutes Not Used: Marc Burch, Kasali Yinka Casal, Guy-Roland Kpene, Jay Nolly
• They were bunkering in - they played with one forward and had everybody else behind the ball. To get teams out of that you have to score and our guys went after them pretty good, pressured them and created some good quality chances early in the game," Soehn said.
TEAM NEWS
• Before the game, Soehn two major lineup decisions were the focus of all the pre-match talk. Up front, he gave the start to Dyachenko, who had been hampered by injury through the early part of the season, and then scored a goal within the first six minutes. Dyachenko made nine appearances in his rookie season, including in each of the final seven matches, starting four.
• "He's made a lot of progress. He didn't come into the season fit, [because] he had an injury which kept him out a while - but he worked really hard to get back and I always want to reward the guys who work hard and I think he's earned his shot with Jaime's [Moreno] absence and he did pretty well with it," Soehn said.
• The goal was also Dyachenko's first as a professional, after not contributed a goal or an assist in 2006. "He obviously was in the right place at the right time for his goal, he made some things happen and at other times he could still have found the openings a bit faster, but that comes with experience and any chance we get to get some young guys the experience goes a long way for later on in the season," Soehn said.
• In addition, Soehn put in Devon McTavish at center back in place of the suspended Bobby Boswell. McTavish had made two starts earlier in the season, both in a wide midfield role. "He did very well, he had a couple moments on the ball where he turned it over in bad spots but for the most part he created a goal and stepped in the right times; he did very well," Soehn said.
• Said McTavish: "I've been playing some reserve games [at center back], so it wasn't like I was blind back there. I was pretty familiar with it and the whole back line helped me out. Everyone was talking, Troy [Perkins] especially."
• Christian Gomez laid on Emilio's goal, and it was his shot that was spilled that Emilio nipped in to trundle over the line.
• "We were fortunate enough to get that early goal, which helped for the remainder of the game," said D.C.'s playmaker. "The margin could have been wider than 3-1, but I think as a whole the team played very well. ... Tonight, Tommy told me to come back and play a little deeper, to play it out wide, and to play my normal game. This helped to set up the attack."
• The victory extended United's unbeaten streak to seven games, matching the longest in MLS this season (New England Revolution, April 14-May 19). The Black-and-Red now enter a stretch of four matches in 22 days that features three far-flung road trips.
• "I think you can see the chemistry starting to click," said defender Bryan Namoff. "You see players with a lot more confidence in each other and I think we're learning each other's runs a bit more. You're seeing a lot more combination play and that's what we've been looking for."
• On Wednesday, United announced the signing of forward Mira Mupier. Originally discovered by the club in an invitation-only tryout in January, Mupier played four years at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte from 2001-2004. He also played with Ajax USA in the Premier Development League and with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL First Division in 2005, making 11 appearances with a goal and an assist.
