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Sandy • Normally, four goals and postgame fireworks would be explosive enough.
Not for Jason Kreis and Jon Busch, evidently.
In the moments after his Real Salt Lake team hammered the San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 on Saturday, in part, because of a disputed penalty kick, Kreis had to be restrained from furiously charging up the tunnel leading toward the locker rooms at Rio Tinto Stadium to get after the veteran goalkeeper.
Evidently, Busch — who had been caught by television cameras using his middle finger to express his displeasure during the game — said something derogatory about RSL, according to Kreis, and walked away before Kreis could answer.
"So I felt it necessary that he should hear my response," Kreis said.
Whatever it was, it probably could not have been much more definitive than the final score — the biggest victory of the season for RSL and one that extended its unbeaten streak to seven games.
Alvaro Saborio scored twice — his controversial penalty kick opened the floodgates in the second half — before Kyle Beckerman and Jamison Olave added goals in the late stages before their departure for the MLS All-Star Game.
"We knew we could wear them out if we just kept the ball," Beckerman said.
That penalty didn't hurt, either.
Replays showed that Saborio was not even touched when he went down driving toward goal in the penalty box in the 63rd minute. But referee David Gantar called San Jose's Bobby Burling for the foul, ejecting him with a red card and allowing Saborio to beat Busch from the spot.
Saborio has scored all five of his goals this season in the past four games. His team has scored 12 goals in that span, after scoring just eight goals in the previous 11 games.
While both Kreis and San Jose coach Frank Yallop said they hadn't seen a replay of the controversial play, Busch and Burling both said nobody touched Saborio.
Either way, Kreis said it might have been the kind of play to make up for the penalty kick call that D.C. United's Charlie Davies drew against RSL to pull out a draw last month.
The league later fined Davies $1,000 for taking a dive.
"You hope that, over the course of a season, some bounces are going to go your way and some decisions are going to go your way, and so tonight was one," Kreis said. "But I still think we have a couple more that we've got in our pockets."
Playing a man down, then, the Quakes were then no match for RSL.
Saborio doubled the margin in the 75th minute by putting home a rebound off a shot that Busch had parried, and Beckerman added another after a scramble in the box in the 78th — kissing the post afterward to celebrate scoring in the north end for the first time.
"I thought I was cursed on that side of the field," he said.
Olave finished the scoring by heading home a cross from Arturo Alvarez in the 83rd minute, boosting RSL to 9-3-6 for 33 points despite having endured a surprisingly listless first half. The Earthquakes fell to 5-7-9 for 24 points.
"We moved forward again," Kreis said. "But we're still looking for 90 minutes of good play. Tonight, for me, it was 45. Maybe 55. Maybe there was 10 minutes of good play in the first half."
Oh, and Busch?
The keeper said he and Kreis were arguing over dinner plans.
"I wanted pizza," Busch said, "he wanted steak."
Storylines
R IN SHORT • RSL extends its unbeaten streak to seven games with a 4-0 victory over San Jose.
KEY STAT • RSL takes 13 shots on goal, compared with just one for San Jose.
KEY MOMENT • Referee David Gantar ejects San Jose's Bobby Burling in the 63rd minute, allowing RSL's Alvaro Saborio to score a game-changing penalty kick.