Slumping RSL to host streaking Dynamo

There's really no way to sugarcoat the scenario facing Real Salt Lake tonight.

One-win RSL is the worst team in MLS, and when it hosts the streaking Houston Dynamo tonight at 7, it will be an enormous underdog. It could be the biggest mismatch of any MLS game all season.

Not surprisingly, coach Jason Kreis doesn't see it that way.

"To be honest, every team on paper thinks they're better than us. We have a different feeling in the locker room ... we can't control how everyone else feels," said Kreis.

Even though Real midfielder Kyle Beckerman agrees with his coach and believes the team is better than its record, he admits talk is cheap.

"We can say we're going to win games, and we're playing good, but until we start winning, it doesn't matter," he said. "It's all about results — the last game we felt we played pretty good, but we didn't win."

Picking up a win against the league's best team seems like a very tall order.

After getting off to a sluggish start this season with a 2-5-1 record, Houston is in the midst of an 11-game unbeaten run that includes a stretch where it shut out seven straight opponents. Factoring in the Dynamo's 1-0-2 record thus far in the inaugural SuperLiga tournament, and its record in the past 14 matches is 10-0-4.

"Tomorrow's going to be a big, big test for us for sure, but I still believe in us," said RSL keeper Nick Rimando. "One of these games it's going to start, and we're going to get on that roll, and hopefully it's tomorrow."

Against the Dynamo, that seems highly unlikely, for several reasons.

First and foremost, as evidenced by the past two months, Houston simply doesn't lose.

Second, RSL will be without suspended midfielder Andy Williams, who must sit out the match after receiving a red card last week against New England. His absence leaves a significant creative void in Real's midfield.

"We don't really have somebody that we feel is ready to step into his role," said Kreis. "It's going to cause us to change our shape a bit."

Even though Kreis wouldn't discuss his line-up plans following Friday's training session, several candidates to return to the starting line-up include Atiba Harris and Chris Lancos.