Real Salt Lake had plenty of missed chances

It's human nature to wonder what could've been, and for Real Salt Lake, there are three specific "what ifs" that continue to haunt the club this season.

There are three matches in particular that, if just one had unfolded differently, RSL's hopes for making the playoffs would be vastly improved. Instead, those hopes are now bleak at best.

Real Salt Lake officially lost control of its playoff destiny with a loss in Toronto last weekend, but unofficially lost control with a series of ties earlier this summer. Now, to have any hope of securing one of the remaining MLS wildcard berths, RSL must beat Colorado this Saturday and have a slew of unlikely scenarios go its way.

It's only fitting Colorado is in town for the regular-season finale, because the rival Rapids were their foe on one of those three fateful evenings this summer.

Back on June 6, Real Salt Lake looked poised for a 1-0 win over their rivals when Yura Movsisyan put his team in front in the 79th minute at Rio Tinto Stadium. Three minutes later, however, Robbie Russell was sent off with his second yellow card and, in the 88th minute, the Rapids equalized to earn a 1-1 tie.

It was the second time in a month Real Salt Lake gave away points at home.

A month earlier, the L.A. Galaxy scored a pair of stoppage-time goals to earn a wild 2-2 draw.

The Galaxy tied the game at 1-1 early in stoppage time on a Landon Donovan penalty kick, but RSL quickly regained the lead on a Will Johnson penalty a minute later. Astonishingly, though, the RSL defense again squandered the lead as Mike Magee scored just before the final whistle.

"When you lead the game twice and walk away with a draw, you're going to be disappointed," said RSL coach Jason Kreis following the match. "Probably the most disappointing thing for me is how we played in about the last 10 or 12 minutes; we just didn't quite figure it out. We just dropped all the way into the box and allowed them to serve it into us, and as you saw, bounces have a funny way of going against you when you do that."

It wouldn't be the last time a late equalizer cost Real Salt Lake some critical points, either.

Houston's Brian Ching scored an 89th-minute equalizer on June 20 against visiting Real Salt Lake to salvage a 1-1 draw. RSL was minutes from probably its most impressive road victory in franchise history, but the fatigue of only playing with 10 men for the final 32 minutes finally took its toll.

With his team leading 1-0 following a first-half goal, Jamison Olave needlessly tried to block a Houston throw-in which resulted in his second yellow card of the match.

RSL was playing well enough that it likely would've won with Olave on the field. Instead, it was another missed opportunity.

Had it hung on for a win in any of those three matches earlier this summer, Real Salt Lake would be sitting on 39 points along with other playoff hopefuls D.C. United, New England, FC Dallas and Toronto FC. Instead, it only has 37 points and likely needs a miracle to make the MLS playoffs now.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com