SANDY — With its coach calling for better effort, Real Salt Lake answered.
RSL earned three very important points on Wednesday night by beating Chivas USA 4-0, keeping its playoff hopes alive.
“It was a big win, but I don’t know if it was a relief because Saturday night is another match and we don’t have time to dwell on this one,” said RSL head coach Jason Kreis. “We need to move forward and figure out a way to get points on the road.”
RSL (8-9-6), which plays on Saturday at Kansas City, was in desperate need of points and got them after the game-winning goal came from an unfamiliar source. One of RSL’s newest acquisitions, Pablo Campos made a gigantic impact in his first start with the club. The 6-foot-4 forward headed in his first goal with the club in the 43rd minute off a well-timed cross from Fabian Espindola to give the team a lead it wouldn’t let slip away.
The goal came just before the end of the first half, and gave the home team momentum heading into the locker room.
“It was a really timely goal for us because we had been the better team in the first half,” Kreis said. “It’s another one of those occasions where if you don’t get the goal – don’t reward yourself for all the hard work – then the pressure starts to mount and it becomes more difficult to get that goal in the second half.”
Espindola doubled the lead with a goal in the 75th minute and second-half substitute Robbie Findley added goals in the 85th and 89th minute.
Campos, who was subbed out of the game in the 67th minute for Findley, had played in five games this season for RSL after being traded from San Jose on July 15. During his time with the Earthquakes, Campos made 14 appearances, starting nine games, and scored two goals. Campos had only played 97 minutes – split between five games – for RSL prior to Wednesday. Kreis said the team expected a transition period before Campos would be ready to start, and that time ended before Wednesday’s match.
“I was told at the beginning that it would take me a while before I got in the rhythm and got to know the players and they got to know me,” Campos said. “Now I think we’re getting there.”
Chivas USA (10-8-3) never really threatened to score. Of Chivas’ two shots on goal, only one required a difficult save from RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who recorded his seventh clean sheet of the season. Rimando made a diving save on Jesus Padilla’s shot in the 23rd minute, deflecting it out of bounds at the last moment.
RSL now has 30 points, and is in a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots. With seven games left in the regular season, four of which will come away from Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL can’t afford to have any letdowns.
That happened during Sunday’s 3-1 loss at New England, which is why Kreis called out his players and asked for a better effort in Wednesday’s match. According to the coach, his players passed with flying colors.
“As I’ve said many, many times to them and other people, when they put in the effort, when they put in the commitment we get points,” Kreis said.
