This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As Jeff Cassar noted, Real Salt Lake did not win a beauty contest in Saturday's home opener in Sandy.
The RSL head coach seemed a bit concerned that his team, coming off a serious cave-in the week prior in Orlando, lacked the proper energy to take it to a Western Conference foe at Rio Tinto Stadium.
It was the response that left Cassar and the RSL faithful smiling in the 2-1 win over Seattle. RSL (1-0-1, four points) flipped the script on its early-season defensive woes, scoring two unanswered goals to top the Sounders. In its previous three matches, RSL conceded goals in the 67th, 86th, 90th, 94th and 95th minute of play.
"What I do like is we went all the way to the end," Cassar said. "It wasn't pretty. We'll take three points."
Early on in this league's marathon season, it doesn't need to be pretty.
It was at times against Tigres UANL in the CONCACAF Champions League series and it was at times as a 10-man RSL dominated in Orlando City for extended stretches before the final 65 seconds.
Therein may lie the difference — and necessary progress — between the frustrations of 2015 and this season.
Only once a year ago did RSL go down on the scoreboard and respond with a victory. Just once. That was match No. 31 in a 2-1 win at Colorado in early October. RSL achieved as much in the second match of the year after Sunny Obayan and Jamison Olave negated Osvaldo Alonso's goal that put Seattle up in the 28th minute in the first half.
Is RSL a work in progress? Absolutely. Cassar made that much clear 24 hours before the match against Seattle, saying his group is nowhere near its peak ability yet.
But if the club can grind out results on off days, the outlook for 2016 is looking more bright. Tony Beltran said searching for rhythm and timing and tempo Saturday was difficult. Where the conversation turns brighter is RSL's response to its own difficulties, especially at home.
"What we're more concerned about is getting back to having Rio Tinto being an absolute fortress and winning our home games, because if you do that, if we get back to the days of old where nobody wants to come here and play, nobody can come here and play, that's how you get into the postseason," Beltran said.
Looking beyond the home win, RSL did so Saturday minus its key orchestrator, Javier Morales. The 36-year-old missed the match due to a rib contusion and quadriceps strain both suffered in Orlando last Sunday. In 2015, RSL was 1-5-2 without the franchise's star playmaker.
Morales is probable for the trip to face the Portland Timbers on Saturday, Cassar said.
"Obviously not having Javier in there changes the way we play, because usually everything goes through him," Beltran said.
RSL didn't have its usual luxury. But it had to find other paths to a win, which could become a favorable trend as the young MLS season progresses.
Twitter: @chriskamrani