Playing with 10 men, down a goal and their playoff lives on the line, Real Salt Lake scored two unanswered goals to overcome FC Dallas in one of the biggest wins in club history at a brisk Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night.
A few times earlier this season RSL have been in tight situations and failed to get a result. One of the most glaring was the last time Dallas was in Salt Lake, back in July. It looked as though the match would end in a scoreless draw until Abe Thompson gave the Hoops the victory with the very last kick of the game.
Forced into a must-win situation in order to make the playoffs Real Salt Lake were determined not to fall again.
"We didn't have a choice tonight," said Chris Klein. "We talked about it at halftime and we had no choice but to win this game."
RSL fell into a hole early on after a fourth minute tap-in from Carlos Ruiz. But Salt Lake answered when Andy Williams delicately chipped Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala almost 10 minutes later.
Then just before the break Ruiz struck again for the Hoops. Making matters even worse, RSL Lake midfieler Carey Talley was sent off in the 33rd minute for sweeping Ronnie O'Brien's legs out from behind.
Jason Kreis said that the positive attitude at halftime was vital to the turnaround.
"The attitude in the locker room at halftime was fantastic," said Kreis. "We knew this would be a tough situation from the beginning so now it's a little tougher."
Klein, who started the comeback with a low, skimming shot inside the far post in the 62nd minute, agreed with Kreis. He said that as a team they had two choices at halftime -- they could either focus on all their bad breaks from the first half or they could go out get get the game back.
"We could sit in here and feel sorry for ourselves about what happened: the red card, being down a goal, and what we thought was offsides, but didn't do us any good," said Klein.
"We had to come in here and put those things aside and get the job done. This team did an amazing job."
The final Salt Lake goal was the result of some masterful combination play. Klein led Atiba Harris into space with a perfect ball. Harris whipped a line drive in front of the Dallas goal where Kreis threw himself forward to get a foot onto the cross and touch it in.
"It's been a while since I felt the back of the net," said Kreis. "Obviously, to score it against my old team in that fashion to win the game is pretty special for me."
It was the seventh tally this season for the RSL front man, who led the team in goals in 2005. But Kreis has found other ways to contribute to Salt Lake's winning ways.
"I feel like I may not have scored as many goals as I would have liked this year and have done a lot of other work for this team and put myself out on the field in a lot of different spots to help this team," he said. "So, maybe this year hasn't been as much goal scoring.
"To have that come in that fashion - sort of to be rewarded for all that work - right now, it feels really good."
As the first player to sign with Salt Lake, Kreis has had a participatory role in the team's entire history. Who better to provide perspective on where Saturday's result stood among all the other RSL games?
"I'd like to downplay it, but I can't," said Kreis. "I'd say, yeah it is [the biggest win in club history]. It's the most emotional. It shows that this team has so much heart. We believe in each other."
RSL head coach John Ellinger noted the progression of his players and attributes their coming together as the cause of getting the result in the midst of a playoff push.
"From April until now we've come so far, emotionally it is hard to describe," said Ellinger. "In the end there is no question that we were all on the same page. To get three points and being down a man and still in the race and going into Dallas. Psychologically we accomplished a lot tonight. If we can beat these guys with a man down we can beat them at their place."
Heading into Frisco to take on the Hoops next week one last time in league play is a daunting task, but given the current frame of mind RSL is in, Klein feels it's still possible to come away with a win.
"One thing is for sure, RSL isn't going away," said Klein.
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
