In the second game of a four-game road trip, Real Salt Lake fell 4-3 to Houston Dynamo on Saturday night. After being down 4-1 after an hour of play, RSL's late rally fell just short of tying the defending MLS Cup champions.
"I think the one thing we can take away from this game and feel good about is that our players showed a lot of character," Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis said. "Going down 4-1 and then coming back to get themselves back into that game with the chance to draw it at the end, I think that speaks volumes about the character of this group."
Before the final half hour of play, Real Salt Lake had trouble controlling the ball and putting pressure on Houston's defense, especially in the first half.
"There were just too many technical breakdowns in the first half; we gave the ball away too easily," Kreis said. "Against a team like Houston, they're going to punish you. I thought we gave away too many silly free kicks and corner kicks, and they're going to punish you on those, too."
"We weren't keeping the ball the way we can," added midfielder Kyle Beckerman, "so that was killing us. When we would keep the ball, we would get some good chances, and when we didn't they were making us pay. It's just something we could do better on next time."
Most of the trouble appeared to be on the defensive end. Houston forward Nate Jaqua notched a hat trick in the match, and scored each of his goals from inside the penalty area and without a RSL defender within touching distance.
"I couldn't speak too knowledgeably about [defense], so I tend not to," Kreis said, "but there have got to be questions about why there are guys running completely free in the six-yard box on our goal."
The defensive struggles were partly forgotten, however, after the RSL offense came to life in the second half with goals from midfielder Carey Talley and forward Kyle Brown.
"That's something we've really been focused on -- how we're going to score more goals," Kreis said. "We realize that we haven't scored enough over the first three-quarters of the season, so we have been trying to figure out how we're going to get players forward and how we're going to get them forward quickly."
Brown's goal in the 83rd minute put his team within one goal, and was his first in MLS play.
"It felt good to finally get my first goal," Brown said. "It's been over a year and a half, so it felt good. It gave us a chance late to tie the game, and you can't ask for much more. I just wish we could've gotten another one."
"We've seen that his level keeps increasing and increasing," Kreis said of Brown. "Whether it's in a training session or in a game, we think he's coming along really well. His experience is paying dividends."
Brown entered the game in the 60th minute as a substitute for forward Alecko Eskandarian, and was one of three second-half substitutions made by Kreis.
"In these conditions, I think you have to rely on substitutes coming in and making a difference," Kreis said. "All the guys that came in tonight, I think did that."
Kreis also said that he expects all of his players to be ready to play on any day, in any match.
"You've got to be ready on any day to go out and play and try to get a win for the team," Brown said. "We're all working our butts off trying to get a few wins and trying to get everybody going together."
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
