making his MLS debut -- inside the far post. It was the league-leading 16th goal of the season for Cunningham, but Real could get no closer.
RSL head coach John Ellinger made just one change to the team that defeated FC Dallas the weekend before in the match in Utah. Carey Talley was suspended after being sent off in that match, with Douglas Sequeira coming into central midfield in his place.
Here's Ellinger's team (4-4-2): Scott Garlick - Kevin Novak (Jamie Watson 71), Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart, Willis Forko - Chris Klein, Mehdi Ballouchy (Jafet Soto 46), Douglas Sequeira, Andy Williams - Jeff Cunningham (Chris Brown 82), Jason Kreis. [Substitutes Not Used: Nelson Akwari, Nikolas Besagno, Kenny Cutler, Jay Nolly]
"The bottom line is we dug a hole and at this stage in the season, we have to play for 90 minutes," said Ellinger. "We can't just play for 45 minutes."TEAM NEWS
After being overrun in the opening 45 minutes, Real did fight back and get a quick goal in the second half. While they could not grab an equalizer, the performance was better in the second half.
"We play better when we play with urgency," Ellinger said. "We play better when we put the other team under pressure. That's how we came back in the second half."
Said goalscorer Jeff Cunningham: "Dallas came out with a lot of intensity. In the first 20 minutes, we weren't able to absorb their pressure and gave up two goals. We fought our way back, got a goal early in the second half and I felt like we ran out of time. I felt like we had another goal in us."
Ellinger wasn't pleased with his team's midfield play in the first half. "I thought we were playing too slow, one of the things we talked about yesterday was playing through the midfield quick and getting it out wide," he said. "It just seemed we were too casual in the midfield."
A key was the absence of Carey Talley, suspended after being sent off in the match against FC Dallas in Utah the week before. "In all honesty, we missed Carey, there's no way around it," said Eddie Pope. "We missed him in the midfield tonight, his calmness, the way he stabilizes us, his determination and grit, we missed all of that tonight."
For Cunningham, it was his league-leading 16th goal of the campaign. Never before in MLS history has a player won the Golden Boot and not had his team reach the MLS Cup Playoffs.
"We showed good character to fight back. We had a chance to walk away with a point, but it didn't happen. I am disappointed because the things we discussed before the game were what we allowed to happen - not marking their players and not letting them earn three points," Cunningham said.
He was forced off late in the match when he felt a twinge in his hamstring. He first felt the injury when he fired a shot over the bar, then felt it again when trying to run into the area. "I kind of aggravated it fully (the second time)," said Cunningham. "I couldn't push it. I couldn't go any more."
