Injuries making life tough for Real Salt Lake

FRISCO, Texas — Add Carey Talley and Willis Forko to the list of Real Salt Lake's wounded, and possibly Jeff Cunningham as well.

That's bad news for a team with a reserve game today in Dallas, a U.S. Open Cup match in Colorado on Wednesday and then a league game in Chicago on Sunday.

"We're thin, there's no question about it," said Real coach Jason Kreis.

Talley joined midfielders Kenny Cutler and Steven Curfman on RSL's walking wounded list after suffering a lower right leg contusion in the second minute following a collision with Carlos Ruiz. He was replaced by Chris Lancos eight minutes later.

Up until that point, Talley had played every minute of RSL's six games this year, whereas Lancos' only appearance was in the second half the 4-0 loss against Chivas USA.

Kreis said Lancos played very well filling in on short notice, and Lancos admits feeling pretty comfortable out there.

"Catching up with the speed of the game took about three or four minutes, but after I made my first run I settled down and was fine," said Lancos.

Forko joined Talley on the bench after halftime, a substitution necessitated by Forko's lingering hamstring strain. He clearly wasn't able to keep up with the pace of Dallas forward Dominic Oduro in the first half, and Kreis opted to insert RSL newcomer Jean-Martial Kipre into the lineup for his second appearance with the team.

As for a Cunningham, Kreis replaced the striker in the 62nd minute when he noticed a slight hobble in his step but doubted it was too serious.

About the only good thing to come out of Sunday's match with FC Dallas is that Andy Williams is back at full strength.

Williams, who sprained his ankle on a nasty foul at Chivas USA on April 21, replaced Cunningham and helped created a couple of decent scoring opportunities.

THE HOUSE THAT KREIS BUILT: Kreis spent the first nine years of his MLS career in Dallas, and in many respects he believes he played a major role in eventual construction and completion of Pizza Hut Park in 2005.

"The last two years that I was here I was going to city council meetings and doing all the politicking necessary to make this place happen," said Kreis.

In a perfect world, Kreis would've picked up his first career coaching victory in the Dallas suburb soccer specific stadium on Sunday, but it just didn't happen that way, thanks to Chris Gbandi — his former teammate, and Forko's cousin.

Kreis played two years with Gbandi in Dallas before being traded to Real Salt Lake.

GIVING IT AWAY EARLY: When Arturo Alvarez buried the game's first goal Sunday in the 26th minute, it marked the fifth straight game RSL allowed the game's first goal and sixth overall. In fact, the only time it didn't surrender the first goal during a 0-0 draw with Columbus on April 14.

THEN THERE WAS ONE: Entering the weekend, Real Salt Lake was tied with D.C. United and Los Angeles for the worst record in MLS with four points.

D.C. added three points on Saturday while the Galaxy added a point on Sunday, relegating RSL as the lone tenant in the MLS cellar.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com