Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite Real Salt Lake's early goal Wednesday night against the Columbus Crew and holding the 1-0 lead for nearly 70 minutes, they weren't able to take the victory as the Crew over powered them late.
RSL has had quite the last month and a half with the loss of the CONCACAF Champions League final, a devastating injury to their playmaker Javier Morales, international duty absences and ending their MLS home winning streak of two years. Yet another item was added to the list while in Columbus.
Along with the loss to the Crew, another long stretch for RSL was broken.
RSL ended a stretch of 63 games where they hadn't allowed two goals after the 75th minute in over two years.
This is a moment right now in our season and in our club where the players have the answers and it's time for them to step forward.
–Jason Kreis
RSL Goalkeeper Nick Rimando told the press following the match that they played completely opposite the second half then they did the first half.
"I felt some guys didn't really put the effort in and when you don't put the effort in you don't get a result," said Rimando. "Today we didn't get a result because we didn't put the effort in. We pretty much let down a lot of people on the team."
RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis agreed that the energy in the second half was not the same.
"I think that apart from the first 15 minutes we didn't manage the game very well, tactically we didn't stay compact enough," said Kreis. "We got too stretched out, we lost the ball in really critically bad positions and when you do those things it causes you to defend for long stretches and I thought Columbus was unfortunate not to score in the first half. Because of that it really affected the energy we played with in the second half."
RSL now sits at 6-3-2 on the season and fourth in the Western Conference behind LA Galaxy (1), FC Dallas (2) and the Seattle Sounders FC (3).
RSL will get another chance for a road win this weekend as they remain on the road to face the Philadelphia Union on Saturday afternoon.
Following the match, Kreis told ESPN 700 that the key to shaking off the loss and being ready for Saturday is, "continuing to talk about making commitment plays."
"This is a moment right now in our season and in our club where the players have the answers and it's time for them to step forward," added Kreis.
Philadelphia could be a tough challenge for RSL, especially coming off one road loss already this week, as they sit in the number one spot in the Eastern Conference and hold a home winning streak this season.
The first touch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. EST.
Email: onlinesports@ksl.com
