CARSON, Calif. - Despite giving up three goals and failing to pick up their first win of the season, Real Salt Lake's players and coaches said they felt Sunday's performance against the Los Angeles Galaxy was their best of the season.
The Galaxy beat Real Salt Lake 3-2, though, and jumped three points in front of them in the Western Conference, leaving RSL alone at the bottom of the table.
A positive vibe from such a loss is all the team can hope for, though.
"Results aside, I feel like our team is growing and still moving in the right direction. Now that may sound kind of odd but that's what we have to believe at this point," RSL midfielder Chris Klein said. "We're not going to hang our heads because I thought we did actually pretty well today."
Chris Brown scored two goals in his first start of the season but even that came with a down note. Brown injured his hamstring on a breakaway late in the match and said he might miss Saturday's game against D.C. United.
"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."
Brown was dangerous for most of the match. After RSL defender Daniel Torres gave away a ball deep in RSL's end in the fourth minute, the visitors fell behind. Nate Jaqua pounced on the poor attempt and scored his first goal of the season after Torres cleared his first shot off the line, only to see it bang off the post back into the goalmouth.
But Brown equalized two minutes later when he dribbled past three Galaxy defenders and slammed a close-range shot past Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
The Galaxy scored the next two goals. Edson Buddle scored in the 25th minute when he beat RSL defender Ritchie Kotschau down the right flank and ripped an 18-yard shot past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Cobi Jones scored the eventual match-winner when he slipped a close-range shot past Rimando in the 65th minute.
Brown, though, pulled a goal back in the 73rd minute when he powered a header off a corner kick into the back of the net.
"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."
RSL coach Jason Kreis was suspended for the match because of a sending off he received in Thursday's 1-0 loss to FC Dallas. Kreis watched the game from the press box.
"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."
From afar, Kreis said the team looked dangerous.
"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."
To put forth that kind of effort and not get a victory is disconcerting, RSL midfielder Freddy Adu said.
"It's one of those things where you play well, we have a very good game offensively but we still lose the game," he said. "It's a heartbreaker. The good definitely outweighed the bad. We just had so many chances, more than we've had in any other game but we've just got to put them away."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
