Stoppage time cursed for RSL

Talk about a bizarre case of deja vu.

In Real Salt Lake's season opener two months ago against FC Dallas, it let a win slip away by surrendering a goal two-and-half minutes into stoppage time. In Thursday's rematch at Rice-Eccles Stadium, RSL allowed Dallas to once again sneak in a late goal, which ironically enough occurred two-and-half minutes into stoppage time.

That late goal by Dominic Oduro in Thursday's national-televised match enabled FC Dallas to steal a 1-0 victory in front of 16,278 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"Slip up at the end, that kills us," RSL midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy said. "It's probably the second or third game we've given up a late goal and that's not good."

It's actually the third time in the past two years FC Dallas tallied a stoppage time goal at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In July of last year, Dallas earned a similar 1-0 result as Abe Thompson recorded a 93rd minute goal.

"It's heartbreaking for them, and it's fantastic for us, that's just the way the game goes," FC Dallas defender Clarence Goodson said. "You keep playing until the very end and you hope good things will happen."

The loss dropped winless RSL to 0-4-6 on the season, but it doesn't have long to bemoan its misfortunes. The club returns to action this Sunday when it travels to Los Angeles to take on the Galaxy, who are co-tenants with Real in the Major League Soccer basement.

"I don't think we have the option to put our heads down, we keep our chins up and look forward to the next game, and that's Sunday," Ballouchy said.

That optimism still doesn't diminish the fact that Real was less than a minute away from securing its third straight 0-0 draw. This time the slip-up came as Oduro took advantage of a one-on-one situation by dribbling by stumbling Real Salt Lake defender Jack Stewart and burying the game-winning goal just inside the far post.

It was exactly the type of counter attack goal that RSL was in danger of surrendering when they committed more bodies to the attack. RSL coach Jason Kreis can live with that, assuming the team learns from the misery.

"I believe that they've done what I've asked them to at the end of the game, which was to push for the win. We were at home, felt the onus to win, we're always going to and obviously do because of our situation," said Kreis, who wasn't even on the bench to witness the game-winning goal after getting ejected in the 89th minute.

Kreis was ejected for his reaction to a no-call by referee Ricardo Salazar on what appeared to be a foul on Atiba Harris just outside the penalty area. After the match, Salazar said he ejected Kreis for "irresponsible behavior," which means Kreis will not be on the bench for Sunday's match.