Tie, tie again: Struggling Real Salt Lake winless but not hopeless

Yes, Real Salt Lake is still winless.

Sorry to pile on the agony for the passionate supporters, but Jazz fever consumed Utah's sports community the past month, and it's only fair to provide a quick update on the 2007 season.

In case you hadn't heard, John Ellinger is out as head coach, Jason Kreis is in after retiring, and eight games into the season RSL is still winless at 0-3-5.

Even though it's undeniably a form of sugarcoating, Kreis insists the situation isn't as bad as it seems. Sure, the absence of a win is a bit disconcerting, but those five draws have kept Real Salt Lake very much afloat in a league where more than half the teams have three losses themselves.

"At the end of the day, the message is still very clear to my players, and hopefully it's clear to you all: We're focused on improving. We aren't so much concerned with results," said Kreis, whose team faces the Revolution in New England this Saturday. "If we do the hard work now, the results will come, and when they do because we've done the hard work we'll get many, many results."

With 22 games left in the season, and assuming Kreis' remedy actually pans out, there's obviously still plenty of time for Real Salt Lake to turn its season around.

With that in mind, the team believes last week's scoreless draw at Chicago was a solid result that's buoyed confidence heading into New England.

"Down the road, we'll look back on the ties, and be like, 'Wow, we got points out of these games where in the past we definitely wouldn't have got points out of the games,"' said RSL defender Eddie Pope.

In the four games since Kreis took over Real's coaching reins, his team has three ties and one loss. It's not overly impressive, but considering that three of those four games have been away from Rice-Eccles Stadium, it's not all that bad, either.

"It's difficult to win on the road, and to get a draw on the road has to be viewed as a success," said Kreis.

That's a big reason why RSL would be content with another tie this weekend at New England, one of Major League Soccer's elite teams two months into the season.

A win would obviously be more beneficial, but Kreis just isn't letting his players get too wrapped up in results in a league where results are paramount. He's trying to establish a quality foundation, the type of which most clubs took care of in the preseason.

RSL midfielder Chris Klein believes progress is being made, and he believes a win is just around the corner.

"The first one's always the toughest," Klein said. "It's taken us a long time to get it, but at the same time we have five ties, which seems a little ridiculous, but I think it speaks to the fact we're almost there."

RSL on the air

Real Salt Lake (0-3-5) at New England (5-2-2)

Saturday, 5:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium

TV: HDNet Radio: AM700

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com