D.C. United kicks down Real

Real Salt Lake is a very beleaguered club right now, and D.C. United was more than happy to expose those deficiencies Wednesday night.

In coach Peter Nowak's two years at the D.C. helm, his team has garnered a reputation as the hardest-working team in the league, and they never apologize for kicking an opponent when it's down.

RSL has now been the unfortunate recipient of a D.C. thumping twice this year.

Teen icon Freddy Adu recorded a goal and an assist just two minutes apart in the second half as D.C. trounced RSL 3-1 in front of 14,306 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

It was the second time this year D.C. exposed RSL's many weaknesses — the first being a 5-1 victory at RFK Stadium back in late August.

With just two matches remaining, Salt Lake is now dangerously close to equalizing the longest losing streak in MLS history. RSL's last win was a 2-1 victory over Chivas USA on Aug. 6. Wednesday's loss was the expansion club's 10th straight, and with two more losses it would tie the MetroStars' 12-game skid in 1999.

RSL's next game is Saturday at league-leading San Jose, followed by next Wednesday's regular-season final against Colorado at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"I think we're all down about the fact we've lost 10 straight when we feel there are at least five or six of those games that we could've won just as easily," said RSL coach John Ellinger.

If Salt Lake can string a 90-minute effort together in one of those final two matches, it might be able to cancel its seemingly inevitable reservation in the MLS record books.

For the third straight game Wednesday, it was a tale of two halves for Real.

Aside for a 29th-minute goal by Bobby Boswell, who flicked a cross by Christian Gomez past RSL keeper D.J. Countess, Salt Lake more than held its own against D.C United in the first half.

In fact, RSL actually outshot D.C. 7-3 in the first.

"I thought the first half, it definitely wasn't a fair result," said Ellinger. "I thought we created enough dangerous chances that we should've got a goal or two. They really only got one chance, and as usual it goes in. Same old story."

Throughout its 10-game skid, RSL has squandered many chances, and Wednesday was no different.