and thus are in the thick of their conference races -- come together when Real Salt Lake play host to the Columbus Crew. Real are still unbeaten at home on the season, one of two teams still left in MLS, sitting just a point out of first place in the Western Conference as the round commenced. The Crew have the second-best record in not only the Eastern Conference, but also the league, having rebounded from a long shutout run with a real glut of goals and a four-game unbeaten streak.
REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. SAR (bench): Craig Lowry; JAR (opposite): Fabio Tovar; 4th: Richard Heron MLS Career: 77 games; FC/gm: 27.3; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 16; pens: 26
INJURY REPORT: REAL SALT LAKE - OUT: FW Fabian Espíndola (L MCL sprain), MF Brennan Tennelle (L adductor strain); DOUBTFUL: MF Nathan Sturgis (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: MF Dema Kovalenko (R cervical strain) ... COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: DF Gino Padula (L hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: MF Eddie Gaven (L ankle sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: RSL: Chris Wingert (through July 12); Jason Kreis (head coach; through July 19)
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: RSL: Kenny Deuchar ... CLB: Frankie Hejduk
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: RSL: Kyle Beckerman, Jamison Olave ... CLB: Adam Moffat, Danny O'Rourke
HEAD-TO-HEAD ALL-TIME (6 meetings): Real Salt Lake 1 win, 3 goals ... Crew 4 wins, 8 goals ... Ties 1 AT SALT LAKE CITY (3 meetings): Real Salt Lake 0 wins, 1 goal ... Crew 2 wins, 3 goals ... Ties 1
• This is the first of two meetings this season between the clubs, the only one at Rice-Eccles Stadium. They will meet at Crew Stadium on Aug. 23.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/14: RSL 0, CLB 0
7/7: CLB 2, RSL 0 (Barros Schelotto 76; Gaven 80)
• A year ago, the Crew won the season series, winning the Crew Stadium fixture 2-0 after the teams played to a scoreless draw on the Wasatch Front.
• After the Crew won the first three meetings all-time, RSL had their lone success in the series, a 2-1 win on Black & Gold Boulevard on Aug. 16, 2006.
• Coaches record: Jason Kreis vs. CLB: P1 W0 L1 D0 ... Sigi Schmid v RSL: P4 W2 L1 D1
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake once again missed out on a chance to move atop the West, reaching a home scoreless draw against the Houston Dynamo on MLS Primetime Thursday. RSL now has 20 points from 16 matches, level with the Dynamo, both teams a point back from Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy to start the round.
LAST MATCH
• Real Salt Lake were back home after seeing their club-record five-game unbeaten streak put to a disheartening end the week before, while the Dynamo had followed back-to-back wins with a loss and two draws in league play.
• Real nearly took the lead in the 24th minute when Kyle Beckerman took a pass from Robbie Findley after corraling a long pass ahead of Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad. Beckerman's shot went through Onstad's legs -- but Bobby Boswell was perfectly on the line to clear.
• The Dynamo piled on the pressure over the final quarter of the match and nearly snatched the winner, but Tony Beltran -- whose own goal sent RSL to defeat the week before -- headed Dwayne De Rosario's close-range header off the line. Real finished a man down after Chris Wingert was sent off in second-half stoppage time.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to Real Salt Lake the previous weekend. Ian Joy came back in at fullback for Tony Beltran, while Kenny Cutler replaced the suspended Dema Kovalenko.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-3-1-2): Nick Rimando - Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Ian Joy (Yura Movsisyan 82) - Andy Williams (Tony Beltran 64), Kenny Cutler, Kyle Beckerman - Javier Morales - Kenny Deuchar (Tino Nunez 73), Robbie Findley. Substitutes Not Used: Matias Mantilla, Alex Nimo, Kevin Reiman, Chris Seitz
• "I think our guys played a fantastic game; they created a lot of chances in the second half. You just have to figure that one of those is going to hit somebody's butt and go in or something," Kreis said. "We just need a bounce to go our way, a little bit of luck."
TEAM NEWS
• As the weekend turned out, with a victory against the Dynamo, RSL would have moved into first place for the first time ever. They now begin the round one point behind Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy, but will be at least two out of first by kickoff Saturday, after those clubs meet Thursday in the SuperClasico.
• "I think it would've meant a lot. I think it would've meant a lot to the guys, it would've meant a lot to me, it would've meant a lot to the whole organization because it was a chance to make some history here," Kreis said. "So I'm very disappointed, but I also feel like that chance is going to come again."
• The match seemed to be there for the taking for RSL. Real had plenty of chances to put the ball in the net with 16 shots. But RSL could not an inability to finish around the net, as just three shots found their way on target.
• "That's where we've been struggling a little bit the past few games is getting that last touch on the ball and putting it in the net," Findley said. "But we got to keep doing what we're doing. They'll eventually fall." Said Beckerman: "This year, in all our ties we've been the better team. We just haven't been able to get that final touch."
• On Wednesday, RSL took on Santos Laguna, falling 4-1 to the Mexican Primera Division side at Rice-Eccles Stadium. An own goal in the 13th minute and an Oribe Peralta strike in the 34th put Santos two goals up at halftime, and even though Alex Nimo pulled a goal back for RSL in the 69th, goals 10 minutes apart from Gregorio Torres (74) and Andony Hernandez (84) put Santos on cruise control.
• Here's RSL's team: Chris Seitz, Dustin Kirby (Tony Beltran 46), David Horst, Matias Mantilla (Nat Borchers 62), Chris Wingert, Alex Nimo, Dema Kovalenko (Ian Joy 61), Javier Morales (Andy Williams 46), Kyle Beckerman (Kevin Reiman 46), Yura Movsisyan (Kenny Deuchar 61), Tino Nunez (Kenny Cutler 46)
• "We had to focus on this game as a training exercise to prepare us for Saturday night. In the end, we could look at this as a positive thing and that it was a statement to us - if our good players don't come out and show up and give a real strong effort, they're going to get their butts kicked," Kreis said. "We're not good enough yet to go into games and relax and think we're going to go out and have some fun and knock the ball around and be successful."
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew came back to snatch a 2-2 home draw with the Chicago Fire at Crew Stadium, solidifying their hold on second place in the Eastern Conference. The Crew now have 27 points from 15 games, six fewer than MLS overall leaders New England Revolution, and five ahead of third-place D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• The Crew were riding a three-game unbeaten streak in which they had scored eight goals, while the Fire had seen their league winless run reach four games.
• The Fire hadn't scored in 333 minutes of league play coming into the game, but that streak ended quickly. In the eighth minute, Cuauhtemoc Blanco caught out the Columbus offside trap with a ball played over the top that Justin Mapp ran onto. Mapp's first-time blast came back off the base of the left post, but Chris Rolfe followed up and hooked home the rebound with a side volley.
• Then in the 25th minute, the Fire doubled their lead. A flowing move from their own half concluded when Gonzalo Segares overlapped on the left and drove in a low ball that Calen Carr slid it to deflect home for his second goal of the year.
• But the Crew began their fightback just 11 minutes later. Guillermo Barros Schelotto stripped Fire defender Bakary Soumare on the left side of the area and clipped a cross into the area that Emmanuel Ekpo knocked home at the near post for his second goal in as many games.
• Under withering pressure, Columbus finally hit for the equalizer three minutes from the end. Again Schelotto was the instigator, serving a cross into the goalmouth mix that Steven Lenhart saw fall right to his feet, and he bundled a shot through and off a crowd for his second late equalizer in three weeks.
• With Sigi Schmid away at his daughter's wedding, Crew assistant coach Robert Warzycha took the reins, and made no changes to the team that defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-1 at home the previous Saturday.
• Here's Warzycha's team (4-1-3-1-1): William Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Andy Iro (Steven Lenhart 77), Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke - Brian Carroll - Emmanuel Ekpo (Jason Garey 91+), Brad Evans (Stefani Miglioranzi 79), Robbie Rogers - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Ryan Junge, Duncan Oughton, Jed Zayner
TEAM NEWS
• It was the second time in three weeks the Crew came back from two goals down to secure a draw; they did it twice at the LA Galaxy before finishing at 3-3. It was the third time Columbus came back to get a result; down a goal to San Jose on May 10, they scored three goals in 10 minutes for an eventual 3-2 win.
• "We knew we were going to come back, we just felt like we were, and sure enough we did, and we could have even gotten a third. The first 20 minutes killed us and then we were having to chase the game a bit, but saying that, we chased it pretty good," Frankie Hejduk said. "We got the two goals back and we created a lot of chances."
• Once again, it was Lenhart who grabbed the late equalizer, just as he had done against the Galaxy for the Crew's third goal.
• "I think what he does is that he comes in and he's going to battle in the box and he gives us another body that gets in the box with the same kind of intensity, that I do, so it gives us a second runner that's trying to get in on the end of things and trying to find his way to get in on the end of crosses, and he did a fantastic job again today," said Alejandro Moreno.
• Said Warzycha: "I think since he cut his hair, he's scoring some goals. He's a good player to have on the bench for you. Especially being down 2-1, you are looking for somebody who is going to score a goal."
• Saturday's 2-2 comeback tie against visiting Chicago marked the third consecutive season that the Crew have drawn in its 15th match. Last season, the Crew had 19 points at the midway juncture (4-4-7) but earned only 18 the rest of the way to finish at 37, three points out of the MLS Cup Playoffs. In 2006, when the league played 32 games, the Crew stood at 17 points (4-6-5) through 15 games, only to collect 16 more (4-9-4) in the final 17.
• On Wednesday, the Crew knocked off Independiente of Argentina 2-1 at Crew Stadium. Robbie Rogers and Jason Garey scored goals four minutes apart midway through the second half, and the Crew withstood a late marker from Pablo Vitti to hold on for the win.
• Andy Gruenebaum (Kenny Schoeni 46), Jed Zayner, Andy Iro (Ezra Hendrickson 65), Danny O'Rourke (Ryan Miller 46), Ryan Junge (Robbie Rogers 46), Emmanuel Ekpo (Andrew Peterson 23), Stefani Miglioranzi (Ricardo Pierre-Louis 46), Duncan Oughton, Cory Elenio (Devin McKenney 88), Jason Garey, Steven Lenhart (George Josten 46).
• "Some guys had good moments. It was good for Jason Garey to get a goal; good for Ricardo to be involved in that goal. Robbie getting a goal again was good. There were some positive things out there," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "... We got out of it what we needed to get. Guys who needed 45 minutes got it; guys who needed more minutes as well. We rested guys and got a positive result. As I've always said, winning begets winning."
