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SANDY — After a long road to the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup this season, Real Salt Lake fell 1-0 to Major League Soccer Eastern Conference opponent D.C. United Tuesday night in the Open Cup final.
It was a result that is eerily familiar to the Salt Lake club as it has been down a similar road two previous times.
“I don’t know what the mood is with the players, I haven’t spoke to them yet,” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told the media following the match. “We haven’t even been back to the locker room because we stood out there to watch the third team celebrate with a trophy on our field. If I had to guess, I would guess that they are as disappointment and gutted as I am.”
D.C. United secured the U.S. Open Cup victory in the 45th minute off a goal from midfielder Lewis Neal, sending RSL into halftime down a goal.
It was a situation that Kreis said he didn’t think seemed to affect his roster negatively at the half.
“The guys had a lot of positive things to say and a lot of belief still,” said Kreis. “For me it was a situation where it was time to choose. I feel like we have gotten ourselves into games where we’ve allowed the first goal and then we hang our heads a bit and I really wanted to abort that, I really wanted players to abort that.
“I feel like that was the very first dangerous chance that D.C. United had in the 45th minute and it’s extremely unfortunate that it ends up in the back of our goal. So my mood was all positive, all confidence, all about belief going forward. And I think the guys game out in the second half and you saw the energy early on, we were right on them again, but for one reason or another couldn’t bump the ball over the end line.”
The D.C. based club has struggled much of the season in MLS play, which made the loss even harder for the Salt Lake club.
“It’s tough,” said RSL defender Carlos Salcedo. “They are not doing that well in the league and they come here and did the same thing that San Jose did. I think it’s kind of frustrating when you check the possession, when you check the chances, when you check the whole game — you’re going to notice they only had one chance and they put it away.”
The victory gave D.C. United a berth into the 2014-1015 CONCACAF Champions League and a $250,000 cash prize. The Open Cup title is the third the D.C. side has seen. D.C. United won the 2008 and 1996 U.S. Open Cup titles as well.
With a short turnaround to return to MLS play and finish out the regular season, Kreis says he won’t be the one with the answers this time around, but he will look elsewhere.
“There’s some points where coaches have a lot of answers and I think there is some points where coaches look to the players for answers and this will be a moment where I’m going to look to the player for answers,” said Kreis.
They'll be answers his roster will have to search for in order to drive through to the end of the season and push to win the Supporters' Shield and the MLS Cup.
“This game is devastating,” said RSL defender Tony Beltran. “Let's be honest, this is devastating. We had a huge opportunity to get back in Champions League, to win a trophy for this club and now it’s gone. Still there are two trophies to play for and as hard as it is to put this game aside, we’ll do that.”
The Claret and Cobalt will return to MLS play this weekend as it hosts Western Conference opponent F.C Dallas Oct. 5. Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kiraterry.
