Entering the night, FC Dallas knew it could only be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss at Real Salt Lake in conjunction with Kansas City and New York each winning their respective league matches. Both Eastern Conference teams sealed their wins right about halftime of Saturday's RSL match, putting even more pressure on Dallas.

That's what made Johnson's goal in the 54th minute so devastating.

"We've had prior occasions where we've been a man up and I've been in these press conferences and I've talked about how our team didn't figure it out tactically to expose them, and tonight they did," said Kreis. "So we've learned."

FC Dallas actually had a few quality scoring chances to tie things up in the final 15 minutes, but RSL was able to hang on and second-half substitute Robbie Findley finally iced the game with an 86th minute goal on Morales' second assist of the game.

"It's phenomenal," said Mathis. "A lot of people have doubted this organization from the get-go. I was on that team that first year when nothing went well and we were pretty much the laughing stock of the league."

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