From Deseret News archives:
Real Salt Lake: Players try to keep D.C. victory in perspective
Afterward in the locker room, though, the players were handling the win with much more self-restraint.
"We want to make sure we don't let our highs get too high and our lows get too low. We need to use this to propel us," said RSL defender Chris Wingert.
He added that while winning is contagious and obviously the goal, sometimes there's more focus and concentration in practices after a loss compared to a win.
"We need to make sure we don't do that this week," said Wingert.
With midfielder Dema Kovalenko around, a letdown seems highly unlikely. More so than perhaps any player on the roster, it boggles Kovalenko's mind how RSL won only six games last year, and his personal goal is to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's why he's not reading too much into last Saturday's win over his old team.
"They're one of the best teams in the league, and we did well, but it's just one game. This week's going to be a very good test for us," said Kovalenko, whose team makes its lone trip to Toronto FC this Saturday.
Coach Jason Kreis put his team through an intense practice Tuesday and plans to do so the rest of the week to guard against the dreaded letdown against the worst team in MLS in 2007.
It's a new season, however, and Toronto is feeling good about itself after last week's win at the Los Angeles Galaxy. It was just the fourth win by a visiting team in three weeks of MLS play, with home teams now owning a 13-4-4 record.
"The hardest thing to do is win on the road," said Real defender Nat Borchers. "I think you can pick up a lot of points at home during the season, but you make the playoffs and you make your big wins on the road, so it's important for us not to get overconfident."
So while the players downplay Salt Lake's most recent win, it's unrealistic to expect fans to follow suit. For a franchise that posted a 5-22-5 record in 2005, 10-13-9 in 2006 and 6-15-9 in 2007, victories by no means have been regular occurrences, so fans justifiably are going to bask in the glory of any four-goal win regardless of the opponent.
ENDLINES: Real Salt Lake rookie midfielder Alex Nimo is in the midst of a five-day training camp in Portugal with the U.S. Under-20 National Team. The team was slated to play Northern Ireland on Tuesday, Cape Verde Islands today and then Portugal on Friday. Nimo is one of six MLS players on the 21-man roster.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com
