This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Sandy • Jeff Cassar's tune did not change three days after the season-opening 0-0 draw at Providence Park in downtown Portland. Real Salt Lake's head coach reiterated Tuesday his happiness with how RSL performed against the Timbers.

"That atmosphere, that turf, a home opener — I think you walk away with a 0-0 draw," he said. "For me? It's great. For our team? It's great. There were no negatives to take away from that game, whatsoever."

Nabbing a point in one of the toughest environments Major League Soccer has to offer is a plus. Sealing a shutout (RSL's fourth straight) in Portland is a plus, too. Yet RSL is still learning the intricacies of the formation change and weren't consistently a threat to score against the Timbers Saturday.

"When I re-watched the game, Portland never broke us down," Cassar said. "Their momentum came off of long balls and set plays and that can be tough to deal with. I thought our guys did a great job of dealing with that. It's not an easy place to play, the turf gets slick out there, the game is happening fast and at the end of the day, we weren't going to walk in there and dominate possession and win the game. We knew it was going to be a battle and we hunkered down and dealt with it. Listen, we have two games at home against them, OK? So, we look at it as a point gained on the road, and now, they've gotta come and try to get points against us in our house, which will be extremely tough."

"You have to have a little bit of a different mindset," added Cassar about being on the road. "For crying out loud, it was the first game of the year. It's not like we're in midseason form and the ball's zipping around and everything. We have to be a little bit patient, we have to look at the big picture and say we're doing some new things and it takes a little bit of time. But if the defense is nice and strong and the offense keeps getting better and better each time, we're going to be fine."

RSL conceded 11 corner kicks to the Timbers while earning none in the opener. The two different styles were contrasted by Portland playing balls over the top and pumping crosses into the box and RSL trying to stick to its possession-based ground attack. Cassar said Tuesday there were some errant passes — "When you're playing on the slick turf like that, when you're off just a little bit? You're way off. It's not forgiving" — but followed the adage of finding results on the road and securing three points at home.

The Philadelphia Union stand in the way of a win this Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium. Cassar said the Union can utilize either a 4-4-2 formation or a 4-2-3-1, both of which were on display in Philadelphia's 0-0 draw against the Colorado Rapids.

RSL will prepare for size and physicality up front in new signing Fernando Aristeguieta and Sebastian Le Toux as well as creativity in the midfield perhaps from the likes of Cristian Maidana.

Right back Tony Beltran said the 0-0 draw in Portland was "a big morale boost for the boys."

"It felt like a grind, just because we were in Portland," he said. "You're playing there, the crowd's behind them and they're lumping a lot of balls, it can get tough. In our formation sometimes, especially away from home, when we defend, we have our wingers helping out and sometimes it's just going to be Sabo up there battling and we just clear the ball out. We're comfortable in that shape. Some games are going to be like that and if we have to fight to get a result, we'll fight to get a result."

Beltran said he tried watching Philadelphia's match against Colorado in the hotel before facing the Timbers but the wifi connection wasn't allowing his MLS Live account to stream properly.

"They're always a really hard-working, blue-collar team, so I think we can expect that," he said of the Union. "I think they're going to come in here and I'm sure they're going to be fit and they'll try to play a little bit for the most part. They'll be fighting, they'll be battling and they've got some quality as well, some guys that [Andrew] Wenger guy has gotten behind us a couple times, so if you leave them room, they can be dangerous. We'll go into this game with the idea of imposing our new style of play a little bit more since we're at home."

Lastly a quote from youngster Sebastian Saucedo. The 18-year-old Homegrown Player from Park City made his first-ever 18-man roster Saturday after officially becoming a first-team member Jan. 1.

"Coming here when I was in the academy, it was always an honor to come work with the first team, now I'm getting used to it and knowing this is your team, it's the best feeling knowing I'm going to be here for a quite a while," he said.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani