• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

RSL tries to bounce back against San Jose

Jun 22, 2012 - 7:12 PM Sandy, UT (Sports Network) - Real Salt Lake will be eager to return to action on Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium against the San Jose Earthquakes after squandering a two-goal lead in Wednesday's 3-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

RSL was riding a seven-game unbeaten streak heading into the match and looked to be a safe bet to extend that run after goals from Kyle Beckerman and Alvaro Saborio in the first 25 minutes.

However, RSL let the Galaxy back into the match with a goal from Landon Donovan before halftime, and the visitors tallied two more times after the break to snatch the win.

"You go into the locker room 2-1 up at halftime and we think that we're still in control, we are still in the driver's seat, but we gave up that second goal," said RSL defender Nat Borchers. "Then we tried to push to go for the win, because that's what we do when we're at home, we're always going to try to win."

Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis was pleased with the start of the game and happy with how his team responded once they went behind, but obviously there was a lot that went wrong in between.

"I thought we approached the game in the right way," Kreis said. "We were really aggressive with our spirit and aggressive with the ball. We got the ball in their half of the field, strung some nice passes together, got some nice chances to score and took them. I'm really, really pleased with how we started the match and then not pleased with a lot of things from there. However, I will say that I'm pleased the guys never gave up. They were going after the win until the 95th minute, so there was no quit in them tonight."

There was certainly no quit in San Jose in Wednesday's 2-1 win at the Colorado Rapids as the Earthquakes scored two goals in the last seven minutes to steal three points.

Chris Wondolowski returned to the San Jose lineup for the first time since May 19 after being away on international duty. And even though he didn't make a huge impact on the match, he still managed to score the winning goal from the penalty spot and create openings for others.

"Any time you've got the Golden Boot winner, it's good to have him on your side," Gordon said of Wondolowski's return. "He's dangerous, he gets into good spots, and [opponents] have to change their game plan when he's on the field. So it creates a little more space for other guys and we played better with him, for sure."

Wondolowski acknowledged that his team wasn't at its best on Wednesday, but was pleased with the fact that they kept pushing and in the end came away with three points.

"I didn't think we were playing our best, but we were creating opportunities, which is all you can really ask for," Wondolowski said. "I thought our defense did really well trying to limit their opportunities. It was great to keep pounding away and get those goals."