Whenever you are sitting on top, there are always people that would love to take you down a notch.
Perhaps no Real Salt Lake player felt more that way than newcomer Jack Stewart, the second-year player that RSL recently acquired in a trade with the Chicago Fire. For him, Real's come-from-behind win over D.C. United tasted like sweet revenge.
"It's definitely a good feeling," Stewart said. "I can't stand D.C. I mean, I love the guys, they are great guys, but you just have to hate the good teams."
Stewart was not the only RSL player feeling good after the 2-1 victory which Real earned when Jeff Cunningham buried a pair of penalty kicks, one in the 90th minute and another in the last minute of stoppage time.
"The man upstairs was on our side tonight," Cunningham said. "We deserved to win."
Midfielder Chris Klein said the victory showed just how good RSL can be.
"I felt like we had some juice left," Klein said. "It ended up to prove true in the end, we had our legs. For us to play four and five games in less than two weeks and for us to still have our legs says a lot about the heart of this team."
Even the coaches were in a jovial mood after the game.
"All I know is, if Jeff made the penalty kick that put us up 2-1, [assistant coach] Peter Mellor said he would tell nothing but truths for the rest of the week," coach John Ellinger said.
After the victory, the team seemed re-energized, ready to tackle the rest of the regular season and perhaps fight its way into the playoffs.
"At the midpoint of the season, we kind of made a goal for the team," Ellinger said. "Whether it was realistic or not, we were 3-9-4 at the midpoint, and we meant to go 9-3-4 the rest of the way."
Since Real's 16th game of the season, a 2-0 loss at The Home Depot Center against the Galaxy, RSL has gone 2-1-1. Last Saturday's victory vaulted Real into a tie for last place in the Western Conference; now, they and the Galaxy are tied with 5-10-5 records and 20 points.
"We talked yesterday about, let's catch L.A., and we've done that," Klein said after RSL's win against United. "Now, we're a game behind Chivas because we play them the last game of the season. We're six points out of a playoff spot. I don't want to say that's easy to make up, but it's practical to make up and that's what this team is shooting for."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
