Deciding factor: Staying with Garlick in goal is paying off for Real Salt Lake

Scott Garlick knew he'd messed up.

Staring up the Home Depot Center scoreboard, Garlick knew that both L.A. Galaxy goals were the direct result of his blunders — and he still had 40 minutes in the second half to pine over his mistakes while standing out there in no man's land.

They say goalkeepers are often the hero or the goat, and on that early July evening in Southern California, no one was mistaking Garlick for a hero.

That loss dropped Real Salt Lake's record to 3-9-4. With RSL sitting all alone in the MLS cellar, just about everyone around Major League Soccer began writing their Real obituaries for the 2006 season.

The doom-and-gloom attitude from media and fans alike was clearly premature. The team is 5-1-1 since the loss and has clawed its way back into the playoff picture.

Garlick was very close to watching it unfold on the bench.

After the Galaxy game, many wondered if Garlick's misplays warranted a benching.

In the first minute of the second half, Garlick enabled himself to get beat near post by Herculez Gomez. Four minutes later, Garlick got himself in trouble by being too fancy with the ball, and after his weak clearance attempt, L.A.'s Josh Gardner buried the 23-yard shot into the open net.

After the match, Real coach John Ellinger said, "We gave it away."

Was it bad enough that the coaching staff was ready to give away Garlick's starting spot? Almost.

"Sometimes even at that age and that experience, maybe you just need a little break to recharge the batteries, and we were very close to doing it," said RSL assistant coach Peter Mellor.

The coaching staff pondered the situation throughout the next week and, even though they never publicly talked about their decision, everyone just assumed that backup keeper Jay Nolly would be starting the club's next game at New England.

It never unfolded that way for two reasons.

First of all, Mellor, who is also Salt Lake's goalkeeper coach, loves Garlick's blue-collar approach to soccer.

"Scott, to me, is one of the best keepers with his daily training habits, his routine, his focus and his concentration," Mellor said. "I put him up there with a Brad Friedel."

The next week, Garlick owned up to mistakes and came back ready to work.