Real Salt Lake still scoreless, winless on road

CARSON, Calif. — Real Salt Lake tried something different Saturday night in hopes of its first road breakthrough of the season. Against the best team in MLS, the visitors came out and utilized a much more conservative approach.

In the end — even though it made for a much more competitive match than RSL's previous three road outings — the result was the same.

It took a while for Chivas USA to break down RSL's defensive posture, but it eventually did early in the second half and that was all the Goats needed in a 1-0 victory at the Home Depot Center.

The loss dropped RSL to 3-4-1 on the season, with all four losses coming on the road, where it is still searching for its first goal of the season. Chivas, meanwhile, improved to 7-1-1 on the season and is now 12 points clear of Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference standings.

"It's disappointing not to get the result we wanted, but that's how we need to play on the road, that's the right road mentality," said RSL coach Jason Kreis. "And we still created enough chances to walk away with some points. So we need to take that and say that is our base, we need to build from that."

By using a more conservative 4-5-1 formation, RSL was essentially conceding the bulk of the possession to Chivas. By keeping things tight defensively, however, RSL hoped to keep the score close and perhaps sneak in a counter-attack goal at some point during the match.

Chances were few for Real Salt Lake with its defensive first-half posture, but they were there. It was awarded a free kick on two occasions in dangerous areas around the penalty area, with its most promising moment resulting in a fantastic scoring opportunity for Will Johnson. His close-range shot, however, was blocked by Chivas forward Justin Braun who'd dropped back to defend the free kick.

RSL's conservative approach afforded Chivas plenty of possession throughout the first half, but only one of its 12 first-half shots was on goal as the visitors dealt with the pressure well.

Clint Mathis said it was encouraging to come into the locker room at halftime with the score tied, the first time that has happened all season on the road.

"The way that Chivas is playing and getting the results, they're playing well and have a lot of confidence, and I thought we did a good job in limiting the number of chances compared to what we normally do on the road," said Mathis.