Real Salt Lake: Puzzling team looking for consistency

SANDY — Few teams in Major League Soccer are as enigmatic as Real Salt Lake. For a team that fancies itself a playoff-caliber team, those inconsistencies are proving otherwise.

The latest example is the way RSL followed up its four-goal outburst against FC Dallas with a shutout loss on the road against Chicago despite creating 16 shots.

The biggest inconsistency is RSL's performance against good teams and bad teams. Against the four worst teams in MLS, its record is 1-3-1. Against the rest of the league, that record is 5-5-4. The only encouraging thing about such a disturbing trend is Real Salt Lake's schedule over the next six weeks includes five games against some of the league's best teams.

It starts tonight at Rio Tinto Stadium against visiting Seattle (7-4-8), the second-place team in the West with 29 points. Sixth-place Real Salt Lake (6-8-5) trails Seattle by six points but more importantly sits four points out of a playoff spot with a third of the season remaining.

"We know we have to make up some points coming up here; we were unable to get any last weekend," said RSL striker Robbie Findley. "I think we dominated most of the game, but we've got to be able to get these next couple wins at home."

Following tonight's 7 o'clock match, West-leading Houston comes to town next week. A pair of victories would vault Real Salt Lake back into the playoff chase. Anything less would be status quo for a team hovering below .500 on the season.

According to coach Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake's predicament isn't far off from most in the parity-driven league.

"I don't think the gap between any teams in this league are big. The points may show you otherwise, but I think the talent and abilities, whether one team's going to win or not, I think the gaps are extremely small in this league," said Kreis.

To have any hope of climbing back into the playoffs, Real Salt Lake must break away from that trend immediately. By most estimates, 43 points is the magic number to finish in the top eight in MLS and secure a playoff berth. For a team with only 23 points through 19 games, the odds of suddenly turning things around and earning 20 points over the final 11 matches seem daunting.

"We're not putting our heads down, we're going to keep on battling. It's not over, we can still get in the playoffs," said Findley. "We have the same mentality, but we've got to be able to pull off some wins."

RSL's players frequently talk about wanting to duplicate last year's late-season push to the playoffs, but that won't be nearly good enough. RSL's record over the final 11 games last year was 3-4-4, which if duplicated over the final 11 games of the 2009 season would leave the club seven points shy of a playoff berth.

RSL will be without Yura Movsisyan against Seattle as he nurses a bruised shoulder he picked up early in last week's game.

"The mood is good, we know we can still make the playoffs. It's just a matter of getting it done and scoring some goals. It's not going to help by me being out, but we've got good enough players who can step in and do the job," said Movsisyan.

Seattle and its four all-stars who called Rio Tinto Stadium home just over a week ago are hoping for a similar bounce-back performance. Playing most of last week's match at San Jose shorthanded because of a red card, the Sounders were embarrassed 4-0 by the league's second-worst team.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com