Real Salt Lake has a score to settle with FC Dallas

LEHI — Real Salt Lake's only loss since April was a mid-July setback at FC Dallas.

It remains a sore spot amongst the coaching staff with the way the loss played out.

Riding a franchise record 10-game unbeaten streak, coach Jason Kreis opted to tweak the tactics and abandon the club's base 4-4-2 formation in favor of a defensive 4-5-1 approach. With the game still scoreless in the second half and RSL on track to get the result it was after, Kreis switched his team back to the 4-4-2 formation in the final 20 minutes.

Confusion followed, and RSL conceded two goals in losing 2-0.

Kreis was the first question his own decisions.

"If I had it to do over again, I'd stick with the 4-4-2 and we'd be real arrogant about things and we'd just say 'We're going to play the way we do, and if we lose a game it's because somebody beat us at our game,' " said Kreis.

RSL hasn't lost since and has set a new franchise record with a 12-game unbeaten streak. Kreis doesn't plan on extending it by being defensive against FC Dallas in the rematch at Rio Tinto Stadium this Saturday.

"We probably won't play too defensively at home," said Kreis, whose team is in the midst of a league-record, 24-game home unbeaten streak.

FC Dallas is riding an impressive streak of its own, a 19-game overall unbeaten streak.

RARE SIGH OF RELIEF: Following its well-documented 14-game, 56-day odyssey, Real Salt Lake didn't exactly have it easy last week with a game two time zones away against New York.

Concerned that his team might be getting mentally and physically exhausted, Kreis gave his team a rare day off on Tuesday.

"We've been traveling so much, all those Delta flights, the delays, the trips to the East coast, to Canada, Panama, Mexico, it all added up," said defender Nat Borchers. "We were ready for a day off."

Nick Rimando said he is confident that getting back into a normal routine will help the team get ready for the MLS playoffs.

"We've said for a long time we need to be very mindful what we're doing on the training pitch, or maybe as it turns out off the training pitch, by giving them the right amount of rest and making sure that we're getting recuperated both mentally and physically for what's the most important stretch of the season," said Kreis.