Real needs to win games

I've been accused more than once of being a slow learner, and maybe they're right. I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to learn how to send an e-mail.

I still don't know how to set the time on my DVD/VCR.

But the one thing I truly doubt I'll ever understand is how a team goes months without winning a soccer game and still thinks that's not necessarily bad news. Playing without winning seems to me like looking in a bakery window without buying.

Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Real Salt Lake's winless streak continued with a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas. That puts RSL's league record at 0-4-6.

"My guys are waiting for something to go right for them," said coach Jason Kreis.

Would that include something other than a loss or tie?

Frankly, RSL's history has never been one of success. The wins come around as often as Halley's Comet. First season in Utah, Real went six games before logging its first win. It won only five matches all season. Last year, RSL improved to nine wins but twice went on six-game winless streaks. It won just one of its final seven attempts.

Along the way, the mantra has usually been that this is no time to panic. The team is improving, you still get points for ties, the coaching staff is looking at the big picture, etc. But what the big picture actually shows is that there has never been a champion, in any sport, that won a title without winning games.

Kreis, who replaced the fired John Ellinger, has been fairly patient until now, noting that his team's six ties means it can play well enough to win. Problem is that even though tying isn't losing, it isn't winning, either. Hence, RSL is in last place, having not won a league game in nine months.

But after losing on Thursday, Kreis seemed to be wondering if yet another tie would have been OK.

"Maybe we should have just put the game on lockdown and gone for the draw, just for the mental sake," he said, after RSL gave up the stoppage time goal.

When Kreis became coach last month, there was a wave of optimism. But alas, RSL is still the same old Real — a group of guys still willing to settle for kissing their sister. Yet lately, the urgency seems to have increased. Kreis spoke of a need for the team to relax and stop pressing so hard that it creates its own problems.

"Obviously, my team has frustrations," he said.