From Deseret News archives:
Blank-o: RSL blanked as red-hot Blanco sparks Fire
Conversely, those who showed up to hopefully see Real Salt Lake start a little winning streak — dream on. Blanco would have none of that.
The Mexican National Team icon, who joined the Fire last month, scored on a fantastic first-half goal and assisted on another in the second half as Chicago continued its resurgence with an impressive 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in front of 18,913 fans.
"There were definitely a lot of Mexicans here, that's for sure. It was the first time I heard our own crowd booing us. With that said, there was a lot of energy in the crowd," said Real striker Alecko Eskandarian.
RSL fed off that energy early on, but it couldn't sustain it past the half-hour mark, and Chicago capitalized.
In reality, it was a result that probably sealed Real's 2007 fate, and the players seemed resigned to that fact as they mulled around the locker room afterward.
"We just have to keep grinding it out, keep working hard and trying to get as many points as we can," said Eskandarian. "That's all we can do, show up to work every day, try and give it our best, try and improve and get as many points as possible the rest of the season."
Unlike previous losses, there was no hint of a positive spin on this one as the club fell to 2-10-6 on the season.
With 12 games remaining, RSL is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but considering that it needs 10 more wins to perhaps sniff the postseason, it's probably time to start building toward 2008.
The loss was even more discouraging considering the build-up to the match.
RSL was well-rested following a two-week break, and Saturday's result was exactly what the club talked all week about avoiding. With a more fortuitous bounce in the 17th minute, it might've played out that way.
Following an excellent through ball from Jean-Martial Kipre, and an even better cross by Kyle Beckerman, Robbie Findley lunged at the cross despite being blanketed in the box by a Chicago defender, only to see his shot ricochet off the post. Had Findley's shot bounced in instead of redirecting out of harms way, it would've marked just the third game this year Real scored first — and the team is 2-0 in those two games.
"I'm just not going to talk about wouldas, shouldas and couldas, at the end of the day we just weren't good enough," said Real coach Jason Kreis.
"My initial impressesion, we just weren't quite good enough," said Kreis. "Our passing wasn't good enough, our final pass wasn't good enough, people had shots on goal, those weren't quite enough. Our soccer tonight wasn't quite good enough."
