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Toronto FC-Real Salt Lake Preview

Apr 30, 2010 - 5:24 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Toronto FC (2-3-0) at Real Salt Lake (1-3-1), 9:00 p.m. EDT

Real Salt Lake's first MLS Cup title may seem like a distant memory now that the team has struggled through a winless April.

But after playing four of its first five on the road, RSL has reason to believe better results are in store during a stretch of three straight home matches that begins Saturday night against Toronto FC.

While the team's championship defense began with a 3-0 win at San Jose on March 27, RSL (1-3-1) managed one point in four April games against some of the league's best competition.

Coach Jason Kreis' club has come up empty each of the last two weeks. Following a 2-1 loss at MLS Cup runner-up Los Angeles, RSL lost 1-0 last Saturday at Columbus, the team that won the league title in 2008.

"We wanted to get more points out of this road stretch," defender Nat Borchers told the team's official website. "But we know that we're very good at home."

In fact, RSL will hope to get nine points from its next three games, at home against Toronto, Philadelphia and Houston.

The club's lone home match this year resulted in a 2-2 tie with Seattle, and RSL had the best home record in MLS last year, going 9-1-5 at Rio Tinto Stadium. In 2008, RSL also lost only once at home, going 8-1-6.

"A lot of it has got to be due to our aggressive mentality when we play at home," Borchers said. "We make sure that we press teams in their half of the field. We make sure that's where we're winning balls. We make sure that we're not playing in our half of the field, and we try to assert ourselves early."

Toronto has been outscored 9-2 while losing all three of its matches away from home.

Such issues are nothing new for the club, which is 6-32-10 on the road since joining MLS in 2007. Last year, Toronto lost 3-0 at RSL on June 27.

Toronto (2-3-0) can draw optimism from Sunday's 2-0 win over Seattle, which featured the club's first goal from a player other than Dwayne De Rosario.

The Toronto native earned MLS player of the week honors, scoring his fifth goal and also setting up O'Brian White for a goal in the victory.

"It's good progress for me because now I see the group of men in the locker room that want to win, so hopefully we can build on this," coach Preki told Toronto FC's official website.

Toronto will have a quick turnaround from Thursday's 2-0 win over the Montreal Impact in Nutrilite Canadian Championship play. De Rosario also had a goal and an assist in that game, but the victory may have been costly as defenders Nick Garcia (head) and Ty Harden (leg) were both injured. Neither made the trip to Utah.

RSL is also dealing with injuries, as striker Fabian Espindola (ankle) and defender Chris Wingert (hamstring) are doubtful. Striker Robbie Findley, who's still looking for his first goal after scoring 15 last year, and midfielder Javier Morales are probable, although neither started the last two games.