Real Salt Lake looking to regain pre-World Cup form

SANDY — In the month leading up to the World Cup break, Real Salt Lake was often dazzling — both in terms of how it played and the results it gained.

In the month since MLS took 2 1/2 weeks off to pause for the planet's biggest sporting event, however, it's been a different story.

While RSL has gone 2-1-2 in five league games during that span — a respectable record — it hasn't yet been able to get back to playing as well as it had been.

And as far as RSL coach Jason Kreis is concerned, that isn't good enough.

"What we've been saying since the preseason is that we're measuring ourselves against ourselves," said Kreis. "We're no longer in the business (where) just being better than our opponent is good enough. We're after a higher level than that.

"If we take that at hand and evaluate our last five games, I would say that it hasn't been as good as it could have been and should have been."

Finding ways to get back to the high level that Kreis demands from his players is of preeminence when RSL hosts D.C. United at 7 p.m. Saturday inside the normally comfy confines of Rio Tinto Stadium, where RSL hasn't lost a league match in 19 games.

According to Kreis, the difference between being OK and being great is in the details.

"I think we need a little bit more of everything from everybody," said RSL's boss when asked what his club needs to do to return to a higher level. "I think we need a little bit more passion and discipline in our defending — where we want to defend, who we want to defend — and we need a little bit more enthusiasm and confidence in our attack.

"I think that's across the board with all of our players. When I talk about attacking, I'm never talking about the forwards; I'm talking about all the players. When I talk about defending, I'm never talking about the backline only; I'm talking about all of our players.

"So for me, it's just a little bit more of every facet of the game."

That message seems to especially resonate when you consider that, after Saturday night, RSL will play three of its next four league matches away from Rio Tinto Stadium and will begin play in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Heading into all those games, RSL needs to up its game and reassert its dominance at Rio Tinto Stadium, where the club has uncharacteristically dropped points in two of its last three home matches.