Real Salt Lake has picked up 12 points from four MLS matches, but the perfect start to league play recently took a backseat to a remarkable run to the CONCACAF Champions League final.
After a devastating finish, it's back to reality.
Bouncing back from a bitter loss won't be easy for RSL, which on Saturday night visits a Portland Timbers club that's looked impressive in winning its first two home matches.
Salt Lake (4-0-0) spent nine months working its way through the Champions League, and drew 2-all with Mexican club Monterrey on the road April 20 in the first leg of the final. That put it in excellent position to become the first MLS club to win the tournament and advance to the FIFA Club World Cup, where it would get a chance to potentially face world powers Barcelona or Manchester United.
RSL hadn't lost at home in 37 games, and a draw with four or fewer total goals in the second leg Wednesday would have been good enough. Monterrey, though, scored the game's lone goal in first-half stoppage time, one that was enough to put it over the top with a 3-2 aggregate victory.
"It's going to be tough," said RSL captain Kyle Beckerman, who missed the match because of yellow card accumulation. "Everybody in the locker room is pretty hurt right now, so it's going to take a lot for us to get back."
Beckerman will be back in his team's midfield Saturday, when the club plays its first league match since April 13. It was slated to play Philadelphia last Saturday, but that game was postponed due to RSL's Champions League participation.
The disappointment over Wednesday's loss could leave RSL vulnerable, but so could facing a Timbers team that's played very well at Jeld-Wen Field. Expansion Portland (2-3-1) has won both games in its newly renovated stadium, totaling seven goals.
Those victories came in a four-day span earlier this month, but its first road game after that didn't go nearly as well. The Timbers let Los Angeles score twice in the first eight minutes of a 3-0 defeat last Saturday.
"We lost the game probably in the first 10 minutes," coach John Spencer said. "... That's something that we are going to have to address."
One bright spot for Portland was the debut of Columbian midfielder Diego Chara, who four days earlier was signed as the club's first designated player.
Chara came on in the second half and played alongside captain Jack Jewsbury, a combination Spencer expects to employ again Saturday.
"I think it makes us versatile," Spencer told MLSSoccer.com. "The two of them are both good players. Jack can get shots from distance and get himself in the box and Diego can do a little bit of both, too."
The Timbers have done well in finishing opportunities in their two home matches, but they may be hard-pressed to do so against an RSL club that's conceded one goal.
Raucous crowds have played a role in Portland's wins, but RSL feels playing twice in Mexico has them ready for anything.
"You're not going to get any more hostile environments than those," general manager Garth Lagerwey said. "Our team's better for having gone through the experience, there's no question about that."
