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Lehi • Coach Jason Kreis would have loved for his Real Salt Lake team to shake off its Champions League disappointment and bounce back with a dominating victory at Portland in its return to Major League Soccer action last weekend.
Did not happen, though, and in retrospect, he's not surprised.
"This is one of those moments where you just say there's no substitute for time," he said.
Having suddenly gone from toast of the soccer world to a team riding a three-game winless streak has not been easy for RSL, which hopes to get back on track against former assistant coach Robin Fraser and his Chivas USA team at Rio Tinto Stadium in a rare day game Saturday.
In the last week, it has seen the end of its 37-game home unbeaten streak and been shut out in back-to-back games for the first time in nearly two years.
"We have to move on," goalkeeper Nick Rimando said, "and we have to show that we're a strong team."
In addition to dealing with the disappointment of failing to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup, several players are battling illness and injury — four regulars missed training Tuesday — and forward Fabian Espindola still appears visibly upset, again declining interview requests after a weekend off following his missed chances in the Champions League final against Monterrey.
Kreis even had to practice with his team at Xango Field, with most of his players either sitting out or away for a reserve-league game at Sporting Kansas City — which it lost, 2-0, on a pair of first-half goals by Sporting's Chance Myers.
"Certainly for us, these are desperate times a little bit," Kreis said.
Forward Alvaro Saborio and defender Jamison Olave skipped the workout to rest sore knees, and defender Nat Borchers stayed home with an illness. Forward Paulo Junior sat out nursing a hamstring injury, and midfielder Andy Williams was away tending to a family matter.
"This is a difficult spell for us," Kreis said. "And the very best teams in our league make those difficult spells as short as possible.
"We know that we're going to have them," he added. "I think any team that tells you they're going to go through an entire season and play fantastically the whole time and smooth sailing the whole way is kidding themselves. So this is our difficult stretch, and how short can we make it? That will be the measure of whether we're truly a great team right now."
The upcoming game against Chivas USA marks a return to a more normal schedule that will see RSL play three of its next four games at home, and all on the weekend. Its only road game in that span comes against FC Dallas on May 22. RSL has never won there, against the team that eliminated it from the playoffs last season.
"We're looking forward right now," Rimando said. "We're not even thinking about the last two games. We're in a new month right now and the spirits were high. … Everybody knows that's the past, and we can't really do anything about it. The most important game is the next one."
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman agreed.
"We're just getting back to the hard work that got us to the point of everybody talking about how good we are, and all that," he said. "We just need to get back to the hard work, and we'll get back there."
Chivas USA at RSL
P Saturday, 2 p.m.
TV • Telefutura