Real Salt Lake looking to put brutal road woes behind them

CARSON, Calif. — Following yet another road loss at Colorado last weekend, Real Salt Lake midfielder Clint Mathis candidly asked reporters not to make too big a deal of the club's road struggles. Half-jokingly, he said it might alleviate some of the pressure on the road.

Mathis and his RSL teammates know, however, that until they figure things out away from Rio Tinto Stadium, they'll be a middle-of-the-road MLS club fighting for its playoff life all season just like last year.

As good as things have been at home for Real Salt Lake recently, its jaunts around the league have been a disaster with an 8-43-12 road record dating back to 2005, the worst mark in MLS during that stretch.

RSL's brutal expansion team, which went winless in 16 road matches back in 2005, doesn't help that record, but even last year's respectable team only won twice on the road.

"I know we're not the only team (who struggles on the road), we seem to be the only team everyone wants to talk about having troubles on the road, but just about every team in the league does," said RSL coach Jason Kreis, whose team is 0-3 on the road this year.

While it's true most teams struggle on the road, no team has struggled quite like Real Salt Lake the past five years.

Since 2005, RSL's eight road victories is five fewer than both Los Angeles and Colorado who have the next lowest total at 13. New England and Chicago, meanwhile, have 23 wins during that stretch.

In 63 road games since its inception, RSL's 36 road points pale in comparison to Colorado, which has the next fewest with 53. New England has amassed a league-best 90 away points during that same stretch.

RSL has a long way to go to silence the critics, and tonight is the perfect opportunity to take that first step with a visit to league-leading Chivas USA at 8:30 MST.

"We've just got to sort of forget about the dropped points in the last minute (Wednesday); we've got to focus on Chivas," said RSL midfielder Will Johnson. "They are the best team in our conference right now, which presents a good challenge for us, one that I think we're ready for. We've got to go there and fight and try and get something out of this game."