and a first of the season.
• There were no goals, but each goalkeeper was called upon to make seven saves. Both were called upon to make some game-savers in the final minutes.
• Fire 'keeper Matt Pickens stopped Jamie Watson and Andy Williams in a brief flurry in the 89th minute, then RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando put a stamp on the match with a great one-handed stop from a close-range blast by Chad Barrett deep into added time.
• Kreis made two changes to the team that lost 2-1 at FC Dallas the previous Sunday. Chris Lancos reprised his holding midfield role for the injured Carey Talley, while Jean-Martial Kipré made his first career MLS start, coming in for Daniel Torres.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Jack Stewart, Willis Forko (Jamie Watson 88), Eddie Pope, Jean-Martial Kipre - Chris Lancos - Chris Klein, Mehdi Ballouchy, Freddy Adu (Andy Williams 59) - Alecko Eskandarian, Atiba Harris (Chris Brown 68). Substitutes Not Used: Nikolas Besagno, Steven Curfman, Duke Hashimoto, Chris Seitz
• "I'm extremely proud of the guys, to be honest. We set out a game plan today to be more defensive and keep our team compact and organized and I think they executed that game plan," said Kreis.
TEAM NEWS
• While Kreis and RSL are still looking for a first victory on the season, the draw was a positive after the 2-1 loss at FC Dallas the weekend before.
• "Obviously to walk out of here with a good crowd at the game and a team that's wanting so badly to get a result like we are, to walk out of somebody else's field with a draw and a shutout is very important for these guys mentally and I'm quite pleased with it," Kreis said.
• Despite not having a chance to truly train with the club, forward Alecko Eskandarian was given a start alongside Atiba Harris in attack.
• "He was awesome. It was truly awesome. There will be people who will want to look at the stat sheet and see that he didn't score but he did many, many other things for me," Kreis said. "He was chasing down lost causes and trying to get back and help defend and have a lot of good touches where he involved other players. I was very pleased."
• Said Eskandarian: "It will take some time for sure. But I thought we linked up all right and soccer's soccer. No matter where you go, you're going to try to play the same way and get good combinations. It'll take time to get used to everyone's tendencies but I thought for the first game it was pretty good."
• It was Real's second shutout defensively of the season, the first since the scoreless draw with Columbus in the second game of the year (April 14).
• "I think we all have it in our heads that we want to get three points as the game was going forward, but we try to be defensive as we can so that let some gaps in the back and it was good that I was able to come up with some of the saves," said goalkeeper Nick Rimando. "Everybody in front of me was solid, all four backs were solid today."
• Said Kreis: "You've got to put the horse before the cart sometimes and for us that was about getting the defense right and getting our compact shape right and defending well. At some point wins are going to fall our way and if we've done all the necessary work to build a foundation, then we're going to get a lot of wins."
• On Tuesday, RSL added defender Ritchie Kotschau to their roster, claimed on waivers after he was released by Toronto FC. Kotschau has played in 224 career games for the Chicago Fire, Tampa Bay Mutiny, Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew, starting 202 and earning an MLS Cup title in 1998 with the expansion Fire. Kotschau started in 23 of the 26 games he played last season for Columbus, tallying one goal and two assists. He has 10 goals and 17 assists for his MLS career.
