Real Salt Lake suffers emotionless setback in U.S. Open Cup

TUKWILA, Wash. — Three days after a record-setting victory at home, it was back to familiar road woes for Real Salt Lake.

Allowing two goals in a two-minute span in the first half, Real Salt Lake fell behind early and could never recover in a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders FC in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play-in game Tuesday night in front of 3,890 fans at the Starfire Sports Complex.

Seattle will play one last qualifier against the Colorado Rapids to get into the knockout-round tournament. Salt Lake is eliminated from the competition before qualifying for the third straight year.

"We're going to have to, as a staff, consider whether we ought to think about changing our mentality on the road," Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis said in an MLSnet.com story before the game.

The words rang true after Tuesday's match again for Kreis, who played about half of his starters from a franchise-best 6-0 win against the New England Revolution on Saturday.

Real Salt Lake is now 0-4 in U.S. Open Cup road games and winless in three road games this season. One month ago to the day, Salt Lake lost to the Sounders FC 2-0 in a Major League Soccer game at Qwest Field.

"Obviously, we are extremely disappointed with the result and the match," Kreis said. "Tonight's performance is a big letdown after Saturday's win back home.

"It's important for everyone to remember that it is still a young season, we have several games left to accomplish our goals. Tonight we played a lot of guys that hadn't had extensive minutes in their previous opportunities, and to be honest, tonight they didn't make the most of this opportunity.

"So now we have to wipe this one from our mind as soon as possible — it's over, and it is what it is," Kreis said. "We have another game Saturday in Colorado. It's a big rivalry, and it'll be a fantastic opportunity to get back on track."

Trailing 2-0 in the first half, 22-year-old midfielder Will Johnson pulled a goal back for Salt Lake in the 32nd minute when he finished a fantastic run down the left flank with a 15-yard shot past Sounders FC goalkeeper Chris Eylander to the near post.

After halftime, Johnson had a chance to tie the game in the 47th minute, but his close-range shot was saved by Eylander, last year's U.S. Open Cup player of the tournament

Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid called it a "big save" that changed momentum in the game.

Seattle took a 1-0 lead early in the game when awarded a penalty kick in the 24th minute after Real Salt Lake defender Tony Beltran fouled Sounders FC forward Roger Levesque in front of the goal. Sebastien Le Toux converted the spot kick past the diving Chris Seitz in goal.