This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If the conclusion of Real Salt Lake's season-opening 1-1 tie against visiting Chicago on a blustery Saturday afternoon appeared eerily similar to last season, there are reasons. As with the Major League Soccer opener last season against Dallas, RSL owned a 1-0 lead going into four minutes of extra time at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Like last season, the opponent's best player scored in the final seconds on a rebound.
Unlike 2007, however, Real coach Jason Kreis and his players insist that Salt Lake will rise from the ashes of losing a victory and turn it into a positive as they travel to Chivas USA next week.
"For me tonight, there was one team on the field," said Kreis, who admitted he was a bit revved up. "We had our chances. At the end, a special player makes a special goal. It was not a breakdown."
Cuauhtemoc Blanco pulled a result out of the fire for Chicago. In the 92nd minute, Blanco, who was quiet for most of the match, found the ball at his feet just inside the 18-yard box and fired home the tying goal.
"It was about one special player who made one special play and didn't do really anything else the entire game - except run around and whine," Kreis said.
As one would expect, those inside the Fire locker room had a bit different look at the game and the goal.
"What can you say about a guy like that?" said Chicago defender Diego Gutierrez about Blanco's cool. "He's played in how many World Cup games . . . in front of packed houses? I'm thankful he's on this team."
In actuality, Chicago scored both goals. RSL's score came via an own goal by Fire defender Bakary Soumare, whose attempted leg clearance of Demo Kovalenko's laser-like cross in the 71st minute wound up beating his own goalie, Jon Busch.
An unfortunate play, yes. Considering the constant pressure exerted by RSL, though, a mistake by someone in the back four was not a total surprise.
However, the final result was once again testament to Real Salt Lake's lack of finishing. RSL outshot Chicago 17 to 8. Salt Lake had six more shots on goal.
Real goalie Nick Rimando, under constant pressure last season, only needed to stop two shots on goal. Unfortunately for Rimando, the second by Blanco came via a rebound from a shot and into the back of his net.
"It was one of those things," Rimando said. "The fans saw how good we are. Last year, we would have held our heads down. The team knows how well we played. We showed we're a contender in this league."
For 92 minutes of a physical game, 20,272 fans, the majority of whom wore RSL colors, also believed that their team was better than the one that finished last season 6-15-9. Real owned most of the play, especially in the first half.
Chicago preferred a more conservative approach, content to weather wave after wave of RSL attack. The Fire didn't have many chances, but took advantage of the few they had.
"It was a hell of a goal," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said. "We knew coming in, Salt Lake, it being their home opener, would put a lot into it."
For RSL, in the face of another tie on its home field - it had four last season - it was time to put on a positive spin.
"I thought we did some really good things," defender Kyle Beckerman said. "It's easy to forget about that."