This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The season the Real Salt Lake fan base dreaded for so many years came in 2015, and it came to a familiar end on a soggy Sunday evening in downtown Seattle. With its long-admired seven-year playoff streak shattered and purely part of the past, RSL was outclassed by a Sounders team desperate for a win.
Seattle topped RSL 3-1 at CenturyLink Field in the regular-season finale, dropping RSL's 2015 record to 11-15-8. The last time RSL lost 15 regular-season games was 2007, a year in which the club went 6-15-9 and was the worst team in the Western Conference.
"We knew that they were going to come out, the crowd was behind them [and had] the energy for this game," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. "We stressed it, we went over it, we didn't execute it. We paid the price."
The Sounders chased early proving to be the aggressors five minutes into the match when star Clint Dempsey put Seattle up 1-0 off a cross from Obafemi Martins. Dempsey, who added a second goal soon after, drifted unmarked between Aaron Maund and Abdoulie Mansally and had a simple tap-in past goalkeeper Jeff Attinella for the early lead.
Midfielder Luis Gil said the pregame topic of discussion was managing the emotions of the match and ensuring the Sounders didn't take a commanding lead.
"It was all just words," he said. "We didn't show it on the field."
In the 10th minute, Seattle winger Marco Pappa doubled the lead by curling a left-footed shot from outside the box through traffic and into the side of the net, by the outstretched arms of Attinella.
Dempsey added his second goal in the 20th minute after RSL midfielder Jordan Allen was dispossessed in the RSL half by Seattle midfielder Erik Friberg. Dempsey slipped a through ball to Martins who took a left-footed shot just inside the box. Attinella was there to push it wide, but the ball rolled directly to Dempsey for an easy finish.
Upon rising to his feet, Dempsey gestured to 55,435 inside CenturyLink Field to relax.
He was right about that. The Sounders solidified their playoff spot.
As enjoyable as the first half was for the Sounders, it was a fiasco for RSL. During a televised halftime interview, Tony Beltran called the performance "pathetic."
RSL pressed in the second half and held the majority of possession time, but the face-plant of the first 20 minutes was too much to overcome. The club avoided its 15th shutout of the season when Gil scored his first goal in 18 months in the 77th minute. Gil, out of contract at RSL, finished a shot by Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei off a low cross into the box by Beltran.
"If we didn't want to play those first 20 minutes, we should have stayed in Salt Lake," Beltran said. "And then after that, for whatever reason, we woke up."
A minor consolation in what was a bungled season. Now a third-consecutive offseason filled with question marks surrounds what a year ago was an MLS Cup contender.
Twitter: @chriskamrani —
Storylines
R RSL closes out its 2015 regular season with its 11th road loss of the year.
• Clint Dempsey has two goals for the Sounders as Marco Pappa adds another.
• RSL finishes with 15 regular-season losses, the most since 2007.