By his own admission, since taking over as Real Salt Lake head coach, Jason Kreis hasn't been too concerned with results.

It seems an odd approach for someone whose boss reminded everyone that Major League Soccer is a "results-oriented business" at Kreis' introductory press conference last month.

That was then, when Kreis' focus was on strengthening the foundation during a monthlong road trip. The result was a respectable 0-1-3 road swing, but now it's time to take the next step.

"I think it's transition time. We have done the right amount of work, defensively we have done the right amount of organization, we have done the right amount of mental toughness," said Kreis. "The team has done extremely well with all of that, so now it's beginning to become time to look for wins."

So there you have it, with nine of 30 regular-season games in the bag, Real Salt Lake is finally ready to win its first game. It's not as if Kreis has been discouraging his players from winning, but rather his only focus has been on shoring up the defense.

That's why Kreis views the first month in his new profession as a success.

"I was preaching we need to be solid defensively on the road, and we did that," said Kreis.

Even though it wasn't always pretty, RSL's road trip included scoreless draws at Chicago and New England, a 1-1 draw at Colorado in which the Rapids' lone goal was an own goal and a 2-1 loss to Dallas.

The two most recent games were the scoreless stalemates, but Kreis refuses to bemoan the fact his team didn't win despite recording the shutout.

"I've only got one hand in that scenario, I was only concerned with my defense, there was no other hand for me," said Kreis. "I wasn't concerned about lack of offensive punch in those games. It wasn't what I was preaching to the team."

That focus has shifted. In preparation for Thursday's nationally televised match against visiting FC Dallas, Kreis is paying more attention to the most dismal attack in MLS in training this week. In nine games, RSL has scored a league-worst seven goals. Los Angeles and Columbus aren't far behind with eight and nine goals scored, respectively, a far cry from the production of teams like New York (21 goals) and Kansas City (19 goals).

Assuming RSL can simply flip the switch and be a dangerous attacking team again, now is the opportune time. Three of Real's next four matches are at Rice-Eccles Stadium, while its only away match is at the Galaxy this Sunday, a team void of numerous key players — including Landon Donovan — because of the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup.

NEARING FULL STRENGTH: A week off from league play last week has helped Real's banged-up defense. According to Kreis, Jean-Martial Kipre (groin) is close to 100 percent, Willis Forko (hamstring) is doing much better this week and Danny Torres (hamstring) will be in consideration for Thursday's lineup.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com