SALT LAKE CITY - Encouraged by their recent results against international competition, Real Salt Lake began Saturday's game against the New England Revolution with a lot of hope.
Billing the match as the beginning of a new season, coach Jason Kreis passed wristbands around to all the players and Real Salt Lake staffers before the game. On the wristbands, the words "I believe" and the numbers 0-0-0 were written, signifying that Real was starting over, and to forget the first half of the season.
But, just like they had so many other times this year, Real came up short as New England earned a 2-1 victory. While Kreis, and many other players, insist the team is getting better, the coach said a few things still are lacking.
"We just weren't sharp," Kreis said. "There were too many easy giveaways with the ball in the first half. It's a team that has wanted to take chances, obviously, and I thought we got into a little too much long ball in the first half and didn't take advantage of what we thought was going to be a numerical advantage in the midfield."
Also lacking, a player to replace Freddy Adu, who was in Portugal reportedly finalizing a deal with Benfica that will give the young star of the United States under-20 national team his lifelong dream of playing in Europe.
With Adu and his salary off the books, Real are in good position to continue revamping its roster.
"It gives us a tremendous opportunity to have money to spend, a roster spot to use, to bring in another talented piece of this puzzle we are trying to create," Kreis said.
While Real continues to refine itself as a team, New England's long-established system was working to earn a goal in the 39th minute.
Jeff Larentowicz lifted a ball to the top of the box, and Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan once again showed their uncanny ability to combine. Twellman headed it to the right side of the area for Noonan, who faked left and shot right to score the first goal of the game.
Things began to worse for Real when Andy Williams was shown a red card in the 67th minute for going through the back of Andy Dorman's legs on a challenge. A goal down, and a man down, RSL started to get worried.
"It's a difficult prospect, and Andy was really starting to come into the game; it took him long enough, but he was starting to come into it," Kreis said. "We really thought the team was playing well in the second half, and the momentum was really running our way, so we really would have loved to see that not happen."
But it was Real who were able to pull level after Kyle Beckerman made a late run into the box and had his feet knocked out from underneath him. On the resulting penalty kick, Carey Talley lined up from the spot and perfectly placed the ball inside the left post to make it 1-1.
But it would not last. In the 82nd minute, Pat Noonan drew a foul at the top of Real's penalty area while being marked by Talley. The Revolution were given a free kick, and Jeff Larentowicz hammered the ball past the wall from 20 yards out and off the back support inside the left post.
Talley disagreed with the call. After the match, Kreis had a very quiet conversation on the field with referee Michael Kennedy.
"It would be better if the men who are playing on the field, who are in the uniforms, decide the outcome of the game," Talley said.
Still, Kreis and many RSL players believe they can take some positives out of Saturday's game.
"I thought we knocked the ball around pretty well," forward Chris Brown said. "There were times we played the long ball a little too much, but when we did knock it around, I thought we did pretty well. There's definitely some encouraging things to take out of it."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
