Slow starts plaguing Real Salt Lake

Head coach Kreis unhappy, despite five game unbeaten streak

By John Coon / MLSnet.com Staff

"I was really displeased with our effort and our lack of commitment," said head coach Jason Kreis. (Getty)

SANDY, Utah -- Slow starts have plagued Real Salt Lake through much of the season. That penchant for stumbling out of the blocks at the beginning of a match finally caught up to RSL against San Jose.

It didn't matter that RSL attacked the Earthquakes with energy and zeal in the later stages of the second half. A lackadaisical approach in the first half did much to set in motion an eventual 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday night.

Although Real extended their unbeaten streak to five games, head coach Jason Kreis classified this latest result as a complete failure based on what he saw and did not see from his team.

"I was really displeased with our effort and our lack of commitment," Kreis said. "All the (good) things we've been doing for a long spell were absent in the first half. I just didn't think that the right amount of energy or the right amount of intensity or the right amount of defensive focus."

Before halftime, RSL demonstrated a distinct inability to make passes to the right spots or get a good first touch on balls that had the potential to go somewhere.

The Claret-and-Cobalt rang up just two shots on frame during the first 45 minutes and four shots total in the first half. It wasted a fine defensive effort where RSL held San Jose to zero shots on goal in the same span.

"We had perfect control of that game," defender Robbie Russell said. "We just couldn't put the ball away."

An inability to finish came back to haunt the Utah side in the 63rd minute when Arturo Alvarez put the Earthquakes 1-0. Pablo Campos found a streaking Alvarez with a return pass on a give-and-go at the top of the area and Alvarez threaded through the Real defense then knocked the ball perfectly between Rimando and the right post to put San Jose ahead.

But RSL managed to salvage a home point a minute into stoppage time when Chris Leitch coughed up an own goal. Leitch attempted to knock the ball away from Morales at the edge of the penalty area and clear it away. Instead, he rolled it past Cannon and the ball bounced inside the post and into his own net.

Claiming a draw instead of suffering a loss left little satisfaction for RSL. A consensus in the locker room was that they had essentially given away three points by letting the Earthquakes hang around too long.

"We just have to put away teams in the first half," forward Yura Movsisyan said. "When we get our chances and we don't put them away, it's going to cost us. It was a disappointment for myself and for the team."

It was evident that RSL missed the presence and playmaking abilities of Will Johnson and Kyle Beckerman in the midfield at times. But Real weren't about to use their absence as an excuse not to get things done.

"We brought good players on," midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. "There was good players that didn't even come into the game. So, at the end day, we had good enough players to get the job done."

It definitely didn't help matters that the team was forced to play a man down the final 20 minutes of the match when Fabian Espindola was sent off with a red card in the 77th minute for retaliating against Brandon McDonald after he had tackled Espindola.

Kreis has made no secret of his displeasure about earlier red cards earned by RSL players this season. He painted Espindola's ejection as a selfish act in a game where his team was already struggling to make good things happen.

"These decisions are costing us points," Kreis said. "These are personal decisions. They're putting themselves before the team, and it's costing the team."

For RSL, getting a draw against San Jose continues a disturbing trend the team has shown this season. Even as it posts impressive results against top-tier MLS competition, it finds new ways to struggle against league opponents on the lower end of the conference tables.

Kreis wants a change to the mentality going into these types of games. Movsisyan agrees that the team was far from being prepared mentally to jump on the Earthquakes when they needed to do it.

"We knew what San Jose brings," Movsisyan said. "We know they're a team that fights. I don't think it was a matter of us underestimating them. It was a matter of us not being sharp enough in the first half."

RSL will play Club America, a Mexican Primera Division side, in a friendly next weekend before returning to MLS action on July 18.

John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com.