Real Salt Lake rallies for big win over Earthquakes

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With the game slipping away and quite possibly its season hanging in the balance, Real Salt Lake fought back to record one of its biggest wins in franchise history.

Things were starting to look bleak for RSL when it fell behind just two minutes into the second half of its huge clash at San Jose. Real had already squandered an early 1-0 advantage and found itself on the verge of losing its third game in a row.

However, Yura Movsisyan and Javier Morales countered with goals that came within 10 minutes of each other midway through the second half, and Salt Lake emerged with a pulsating 3-2 win inside Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday.

"We knew coming in it would be a battle and we needed to come here and fight," said Movsisyan. "We showed a lot of character today and obviously, we put our chances away."

Much work remains for Real Salt Lake to complete its quest to make the MLS playoffs for the first time in franchise history, but Saturday's huge win critically important. The win allowed RSL to keep pace with its Western Conference rivals.

Through Saturday evening, Houston leads the Western Conference with 40 points; Chivas is in second with 36; and Colorado and Salt Lake are tied for third place with 34. Colorado holds a tie-breaker over Real, but if the playoffs began now RSL would claim a wild-card spot ahead of DC United.

Movsisyan, who opened the game's scoring in the third minute and later scored a hugely important equalizer, and Morales were both outstanding for Real throughout. And Morales produced a moment of magic to give RSL just its second road win of 2008.

Standing all by himself in the 59th minute, Morales confidently approached a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. His connection was pure, and the resulting picture-perfect shot flew just inside the upper-left corner of the goal to put RSL ahead, 3-2.

Real Salt Lake nearly doubled its advantage on a couple of occasions over the next 15 minutes, and the club did an outstanding job of killing off the game after that to snap San Jose's nine-game unbeaten streak.

Though RSL's defense was torn apart in conceding a pair of goals to star Darren Huckerby earlier in the game, it completely frustrated San Jose's attack over the final half hour to clinch the hugely important win.

"Tonight, I would say it wasn't the best soccer game, but it was always going to be a battle, and I'm glad to see our guys know how to battle," said coach Jason Kreis.

RSL now turns its attention to a road contest at New England next Saturday before returning home to open RSL Stadium with a pair of games against New York and FC Dallas. Salt Lake will then close the regular season on the road against arch-rival Colorado.

Before Saturday's contest, RSL coach Jason Kreis said he believed RSL would have to win at least once on the road and pick up maximum points from its two home games to have a chance to make the playoffs. After breaking through on the road, Real will aim to get something from the New England game before returning home for those two all-important home matches.