SANDY, Utah — Real Salt Lake scored 14 goals at home in 2009 before they found the back of the net even once away from the thin Rocky Mountain air.
And although the defending champs reversed that trend at least momentarily last weekend with a 3-0 romp over San Jose at Buck Shaw Stadium, coach Jason Kreis is preaching one thing to his players this season – consistency.
“All we've been talking about this year is consistency, whether it's the second game, the 12th game or the 30th game,” Kreis said Tuesday, asserting the team needs to remain consistent in how the team views itself as the reigning champs. “We didn’t pay attention to what people said before, so why should we start now that they have good things to say?”
It’s a tough but fair stance heading into RSL’s second road test in as many matches, this time against the Houston Dynamo on Thursday night at Robertson Stadium.
Kyle Beckerman told MLSsoccer.com that the win in San Jose last week does help to give the team a boost, especially heading into such a tough task in Houston.
“It’s good to open the season like that, especially on the road,” Beckerman said.
Teammate Chris Wingert mentioned that Javier Morales’ wonderful first half strike gave the team confidence in that game, and the win may potentially boost the team’s road efforts.
“That gave us real confidence going forward,” Wingert said. “It was great to start out the season with three points, but there's no time to focus on the win.”
