The Columbus Crew took a 2-0 lead in the opening 25 minutes and never looked back for a 3-0 win that avenged a 2-0 loss to RSL in Rice-Eccles Stadium on July 12.
"We've got to take a couple of steps back quickly and sort things out defensively," RSL coach Jason Kreis said.
In the first match, the Crew were never able to gather themselves in the midfield because of constant pressure. In the rematch, Columbus had its way, going through the middle of the park and finding gaps behind the defense.
"This is another game where defensively I don't think we were quite there. We didn't have the energy or the commitment level that I've seen out of this group for a long time," Kreis said. "We started off that game like we had already played 45 minutes before the whistle blew. I was really disappointed in our guy's commitment level in the first half and against a team like Columbus, which is a very good team right now, they punished us."
RSL fell to 1-8-1 on the road and where it has been outscored 20-7.
"Every team goes through some tough times so this is it for us," captain Kyle Beckerman said. "We have to somehow get it together and find a result whatever way it comes. Pretty. Ugly. It doesn't matter. We've got to stick together and have to come out of it."
His words are foreboding since RSL plays four of the next six on the road.
"For a while I was saying our team was playing at a higher level on the road but with these last two road games it's hard to feel that way just because of the number of chances were giving away," said Kreis, alluding to the 4-3 loss at Houston on Aug. 16. "It's not even the number of goals were allowing. That game tonight could have been six or seven."
The Crew opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Guillermo Barros Schelotto was fouled to the left of the penalty area by defender Robbie Russell. Schelotto, 25 yards from goal, sent an arcing cross to the far post where defender Chad Marshall headed the ball past Nick Rimando.
Just 10 minutes later, Eddie Gaven got free in the right side of the box, cut back and was taken down by defender Nat Borchers. Schelotto calmly deposited his fourth penalty in as many tries this season.
"They had two set pieces. They really got us on our heels from the start," Beckerman said. "We never really seemed to get going and that set the tone for the game and we couldn't get out of it.
"They came out with good intensity that we didn't match. In the beginning they pushed us in, didn't let us out. It seemed to work to their advantage. They kept us in their half then the two set piece goals. Chad Marshall has been known to score off set pieces. He's very dangerous. He got a sniff tonight and put it away. On the PK, Eddie Gaven is a shifty player. He's a gifted player."
Real Salt Lake had five midfielders and only Kenny Deuchar up top but weren't able to contain the third-highest scoring team in the league. Brad Evans scored the third goal in the 55th minute after Gaven sent a service from the right flank.
"I thought we worked on (the formation) enough during the week but it seemed like some guys didn't know what they were supposed to do so it definitely hurt us because we weren't able to keep possession," Beckerman said. "We weren't able to get behind them. We expected to do better with that. It was more that we didn't keep the ball and we gave it away very cheaply and it hurt us."
He thought going into the match that his team was ready.
"We felt pretty confident coming in. We almost came back on Houston last week. We felt we scored some good goals. We can't really put our finger on it," he said. "Columbus had a good mentality to come at us and get on us right from the beginning and see if they could get an early goal, which they did. We were chasing the game after that."
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