Saprissa's objective all game was to disrupt RSL's possession-oriented attack by playing very physical. It committed 20 fouls, and ex-RSL player Douglas Sequeira accounted for six of them and one of Saprissa's five yellow cards.
Real Salt Lake's players never let the tactic get under their skins.
"What I am very pleased with our is our reactions tonight. Some of the fouls that happened out there away from the ball could've easily seen reactions from our players that could've picked up yellow cards for retaliations," said Kreis.
Real Salt Lake committed just nine fouls and nobody was shown a yellow card.
On a night when just about everything went right for RSL, it wasn't all good news as Jamison Olave was forced to exit the game at the half with a strained right hamstring.
It seems highly unlikely he'll be available this Saturday when RSL opens the MLS regular season at San Jose.
e-mail: jedward@desnews.com
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James Edward is a sports writer at the Deseret News, serving as the prep editor and Real Salt Lake beat writer. A graduate of the University of Utah in 1998, he has been a full-time sports writer of the Deseret News since more ..
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Superior win! Lagerway/Kreis are quietly and masterfully charting an exciting new world of US soccer. It is funny to hear the national focus on Arena, Donovon and Beckham when it really should be on the RSL brain trust and their mighty yet muted More..
What a great night of soccer. It was chilly, but not cold, and the atmosphere in the stadium was great! I would have liked to have taken a 3-0 lead to Costa Rica, but I think we can grind out a tie down there. I watched the replay on the CONCACAF More..
Great Win! Hopefully Real will bring home some CONCACAF Hardware!