Real Salt Lake: Crew win in playoffs rematch

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It looks as if Real Salt Lake will have to rely on some Rio Tinto Stadium magic once again in 2010.

RSL had hoped to become less dependent on such home dominance this season, but after a rough opening month of the season that's probably no longer realistic.

In falling to Columbus 1-0 on a rainy Saturday night at Crew Stadium, Real Salt Lake has now dropped three straight road games and finds itself with a 1-3-1 record five games into the season.

Four of those fives matches have been on the road, but at the beginning of the season the players said they welcomed the opportunity to duplicate their road playoff success from a year ago.

At times they have, including during stretches of Saturday's loss, but Real Salt Lake doesn't have much to show for it.

"We're a good team — we know we're a good team and I think that's important that we know that. It's early in the season, and we don't want to say this in June, but there's a lot of games to be played," said Nick Rimando. "The soccer's there, the points just aren't."

Fortunately for RSL, it won't need to worry about road results for a while. It returns home Saturday to face Toronto FC, the first of three straight and seven of nine at home.

"We have a challenge in front of us — it's certainly not going to be easy," said RSL coach Jason Kreis, who reminded his team afterward that Columbus won the Supporters Shield last year for finishing with the best regular season record despite an 0-2-3 start.

Amid a continuous rain and a slick playing surface, not surprisingly the game's lone goal came from the penalty spot. Guillermo Barros Schelotto converted a penalty kick in the 38th minute to put the Crew in front 1-0 after Robbie Rogers was tripped up in the box by Robbie Russell.

It was the third penalty surrendered by Real Salt Lake this season.

"This is the second game probably this year where I'd say some decisions are going against us," said Kreis. "Whether they're the right decisions or not, there's a lot of decisions that are having to be made in these games, and I'm hoping it will shake out over the season. A bounce or two goes our way."

Real Salt Lake enjoyed the better of the possession throughout the first half, but neither team could get much going offensively with one shot on goal apiece.