Real Salt Lake playoff hopes dimmed in Dallas

FRISCO, Texas — Real Salt Lake's playoff hopes likely came to an end Saturday night in Texas, but perhaps it's only fitting.

RSL has been unbelievably inconsistent throughout the 2009 season, and Saturday night's 3-0 loss at Pizza Hut Park was no different. In a virtual must-win situation, the team again lacked the urgency necessary as sloppy defending again led to a 2-0 deficit in the opening 10 minutes.

This time there would be no remarkable rally, not in a city Real Salt Lake has never earned a point in five years.

"First couple minutes we spent the entire time in their half of the field, creating chances and half chances and the very first time they go down the field on us and get in our penalty box they score," said RSL coach Jason Kreis. "Extremely disappointed that it seemed so easy for them to get their in the first place."

They shouldn't really be surprised. Real Salt Lake usually plays well against upper-echelon teams but lays eggs against non-contenders. FC Dallas is one of those non-playoffs teams, but you never would've known it in the opening 10 minutes Saturday night.

Jeff Cunningham scored his 14th goal of the season just five minutes into the match on a clever volley, and five minutes later David Ferreira doubled the advantage on a wonderful through ball from Dave van den Bergh.

The loss dropped RSL's record to 9-11-7 this season, including a 2-4-1 record against the bottom four teams in MLS.

Mathematically, Real Salt Lake still has hopes for a playoff berth, but it might take a mini miracle. It likely needs nine more points to secure a playoff berth, and the only way to pull that off is by winning its final three matches of the season. For a team with one three-game winning streak in franchise history, it's a very unlikely scenario.

Kreis isn't giving up and he hopes his players don't either.

"At the moment it's hard not to feel disappointed, but I'm never defeated. If there's points on the table to get us in (to the playoffs) then I'm fighting for them," said Kreis. "I'll only have players on my team that fight for it as well, so we're going to be watching reactions."

The shocking thing about Saturday's loss was the way it unfolded. Last weekend RSL fell behind 2-0 in the opening five minutes and eventually lost to Houston 3-2. Despite a team meeting earlier this week to address the team's troubles, poor defending in key moments again led to another quick 2-0 deficit.