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Sandy

Stirred from the pitch straight into the crowd at Saturday's Major League Soccer home opener for Real Salt Lake were bits of optimism, bits of skepticism, bits of anticipation, bits of curiosity, bits of show-me-what-will-be-better-this-time-around, bits of what-the-hell-was-that?

All of the above remains in the uncertain mix, even after a 2-1 RSL win over Seattle at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Real's partisans aren't so much a tough crowd as much as they are an educated one, a group that knows what it's like to watch smart, crisp soccer, winning soccer, soccer that eventually leads to a playoff run and, before that, to the hope that builds over a nine-month-long journey, especially when it is played at Rio Tinto.

Not sure that's what they got, not even the early rudiments of it.

"We didn't win a beauty contest today — at all," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said, afterward. "But I liked the battle and the commitment. … It wasn't pretty. We'll take the three points."

The showing did not effectively clear the air or bounce-back strong off the good, the bad and the ugly of last week's season-opening draw at Orlando, a game in which RSL fired off with purpose at first and then sputtered in extra time with shocking collapse.

"It's a definitely a psychological victory for us," said Cassar. "I thought the guys really buckled down. We closed it out well. It's never going to be perfect."

No doubt, the result floated a little cheer and buoyancy, but the overall play did not. There were no sure signals that last season's playoff non-qualification was just a brief absence and aberration, and that the changes put into place during the offseason actually will boost the cause now.

Cassar embraced optimism, though, saying, "Relationships are growing, I think we're going to have a really good team."

What else was he supposed to say?

Beyond the win, there were some positives. While veteran mainstay Javier Morales was unavailable, recovering from his rib and quad injuries, a few of his teammates picked up for him, one an addition — Sunny Obayan — and one — Joao Plata — coming off a broken foot from last year. Another — Burrito Martinez — joined the club in 2015.

Those guys are obviously fine players, Obayan wandering to RSL in January from Turkey, his last stop after a long career in Spain and Bulgaria. The Nigerian finished on a corner kick, hit by Plata and expertly and accurately headed into the upper-right corner, to tie the count at 1-all near the end of the first half. Until then, nothing much had worked for Real. Over much of that first half, Seattle controlled the ball, at times making RSL look discombobulated. The Sounders were cleaner on the ball, had better distribution, better positioning, better speed, better … everything.

All of that paid off for Seattle on a bing-bang goal in the 28th minute, when defender Joevin Jones initiated a ball in to Nelson Haedo Valdez, who hit it to Osvaldo Alonso, who popped it past Nick Rimando.

Slowly, RSL found some go, particularly following Obayan's work.

"He was everywhere," Cassar said.

Duly sparked, RSL continued on in the second half, spending much of its time in front of and around Seattle's GK Tyler Miller. Burrito Martinez ripped a shot from the right side, for instance, that blasted past the far post by all of a foot.

Seattle responded with chances, too, but Real by that time seemed like the more inspired team. Still, there were spacing issues, disorganization issues, coordination issues, synchronization issues. Morales was missed. The return of rusty Yura Movsisyan brought little.

The game-winner, coming in the 86th minute, was fueled as much by good fortune as skill, but, to pull it off, both were required. Martinez sent a towering pop-up from the left side tight in front of Seattle's goal, and as the ball floated down, RSL's Jamison Olave timed his jump much better than Seattle's Miller read the ball's flight, enabling him to head it into the goal.

There was irony in Olave's success there, since he, at 34, and other RSL backline defenders, are seen as, bluntly put, one of the club's greatest weaknesses, or, more gingerly put, as one of its biggest question marks. Perhaps the return of Chris Wingert will help.

Bottom line for the day: RSL beat the Sounders.

Bottom line for the season: There's a whole lot of improvement to get done.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.