So, what can Jason Kreis do now?

Clearly, the coach took a chance in showing confidence in his RSL players at San Jose last night, by scrapping the defensive 4-5-1 formation that had served it reasonably well — relatively speaking — in its past two road games and returning to the two-striker alignment that the team prefers, albeit with new starters Fabian Espindola and Luis Miguel Escalada in the lineup.

It seemed pretty obvious that Kreis had hoped the show of strength would allow the team to shake out of its season-long road malaise — especially given that it was playing against the worst team in Major League Soccer, riding an eight-game winless streak with five straight losses and theoretically tired legs after a mid-week game on the road.

No soap, all the way around.

The new strikers did nothing (unless you count Escalada missing perhaps RSL's best chance when he fired an open shot directly at goalkeeper Joe Cannon in the sixth minute), though Kreis held them pretty much blameless, noting the team's dismal passing and possession — supposedly its strength — that kept the the Argentines from getting much quality service and the team from getting its first road win of the season.

Instead, the Earthquakes ran away with a 2-1 victory that knocked RSL further out of the playoff picture.

“We kept giving them the ball and they gained confidence as the game went on,” Kreis said.

Indeed, RSL was stunningly outplayed for much of the game, after playing well early. It made a push in the last 10 minutes when it was hurling everything at the goal looking for a miracle, but forward Robbie Findley's 80th minute strike was all it could muster — snapping the season-long scoreless streak on the road but still leaving it far short of the desired result.

“It was another game where there was too much pressure to try to get that goal on the road,” Kreis said. “We failed to play the simple options. It was disappointing.”

Now, not only has RSL blown probably its best chance during its current four-out-of-five-games-the-road stretch, but it left itself seriously shorthanded for the only home game in that span — the meeting with rival Colorado at Rio Tinto Stadium next weekend. Midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales — the team captain and its best and highest-paid player, respectively — both picked up yellow cards against the Earthquakes, earning them a one-game suspension for yellow-card accumulation.

Defender Jamison Olave could be out, too, if the league decides to suspend him for the elbow he threw at San Jose's Ryan Johnson during a tussle in the second half.

The whole situation seems to leave Kreis nearly at the end of his rope, but sometimes there's only so much a coach can do. Sometimes, no matter the formation or the personnel, players just have to work hard and pressure the ball and stop firing balls long downfield when their stated goal is to build through the short passing game.

“The possession wasn't good enough,” Kreis repeated.

And allowing unmarked striker Cornell Glen to score a header in the 52nd minute on a play that started with a throw-in? Not a high point for the defense, either. Although he allowed himself the film review to double-check, Kreis called it a “really, really bad goal … we're going to spend a lot of time talking about that this week, I'm sure.”

Probably, it won't be the only thing.

For the third time in four seasons, Real Salt Lake will play host to a team from Mexico in an international exhibition this summer.

The team will play Club America — arguably the most accomplished team in its country — in an international exhibition at 6 p.m. on July 11 at Rio Tinto Stadium, a team spokesman confirmed, filling its weekend off from Major League Soccer play.

Tickets for the game will be included in the package for season-ticket holders, but otherwise start at $18 and will be on sale soon.

RSL is 5-4-2 in its international exhibitions, including a 1-2-0 mark against Mexican teams — Monarcas Morelia, Santos Laguna and UANL Tigres. Without its game against Club America, RSL would have gone without playing from July 3 to July 18.

While RSL prepares to take aim at its first road victory of the season tonight at struggling San Jose, its under-18 boys team is already overseas preparing for the U-18 Club World Cup in Madrid, Spain.

The team qualified by winning last year's SUM U-17 Cup in Colorado.

Assistant coach Brian Johnson is heading the delegation in his role as youth development program technical director, and the RSL side will play group games against Partizan de Belgrado of Serbia on Monday, RCD Espanyol of Spain on Wednesday and CA River Plate on Friday. The fifth annual tournament also includes the youth teams of heavyweights such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Boca Juniors, AC Milan and Werder Bremen.

"Just to be around this is probably going to be something they remember more than the games they play. It’s the whole experience," Johnson said in a statement. "We’re going to go in with the mindset that we are the best team in MLS for the academy teams and go in and represent not only RSL and the U.S., but to just go in there and see how they do. These guys are good kids, they are very competitive, and they are going to work for each other."

Turns out, Real Madrid is coming to the USA this summer.

Just not to Utah.

Despite canceling an exhibition against RSL last summer that was to have been one in a series of biennial exhibitions as part of its heralded long-term partnership agreement that so far has not produced many tangible benefits, Real Madrid reportedly will skip RSL again when it travels stateside this summer for exhibitions against D.C. United in Washington and perhaps Toronto FC.

The game has not been officially announced, but The Washington Post says it's scheduled for August 9 at FedEx Field.

All of which fits precisely into what Real Madrid's Ivan Bravo said about the prospect for future friendlies between his team and RSL, that it would not be “beneficial to travel to Salt Lake every time we visit the U.S. Every market needs to be nurtured, even considering our esteemed relationship with fans and followers in Salt Lake." He added that Real Madrid will return to Utah "when the timing is right."

Fresh off his stint with his Haitian national team, rookie midfielder Jean Alexandre is headed off on loan to the USL's Austin Aztex for their game this weekend, in order to get some playing time.

Alexandre departed today, and figures to get plenty of work against the Puerto Rico Islanders on Saturday. It's not certain what position he will play — in the midfield or maybe up top — but general manager Garth Lagerwey coincidentally will be attending a wedding in Austin and will be able to catch his latest first-round draft pick in action.

The move is similar to the way RSL loaned goalkeeper Chris Seitz to the USL's Portland Timbers for a couple of games recently.

Alexandre played about 20 minutes last weekend in Haiti's 2-2 draw against Jamaica in a friendly last weekend in Florida, in preparation for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July.

After months of searching, Marcia Williams has found the help that might save her life.

Doctors have finally located a promising match of umbilical-cord blood for the wife of midfielder Andy Williams, who has been fighting a rare form of leukemia with which she was diagnosed last year. Though it's not quite a perfect match — it comes from a donor in Spain — it's good enough that Williams will receive the blood in a transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle around June 12, after another round of chemotherapy and radiation treatment there next week.

“We're all happy right now,” Williams said.

Williams will leave the team Thursday and probably miss the next couple of games while he takes his two daughters to Seattle to visit their mother before the procedure, which Williams said is more like a blood transfusion than a surgical transplant. Doctors hope that the stem cells in the transplanted blood grow into new cells that ultimately kill the cancerous ones.

The treatment is still fairly new, Williams said, so there are no long-term studies available on its success rate. But “in short term, it has been great so far,” he said. The family is not in the clear yet, however; Marcia Williams will need to spend 60 to 90 days in the hospital after the transplant, with few visitors, to monitor her recovery and avoid the risk of infection.

Don't expect coach Jason Kreis to suddenly start worrying about scoring, now that the defense has been solid for a couple of road games in a row.

“I'm very cautions to say that we should change our thinking right now,” he said. “We've established a good mentality on the road with what needs to happen. I think were creating the right number of chances to have walked out of D.C. — again — with three points, but we're happy for the one point we had. So I don't really you'll see a whole lot change” when the team plays at struggling San Jose on Saturday.

Defender Robbie Russell agreed, saying it has been “huge” for RSL to avoid conceding early goals on the road. That happened in each of its first three road games — all losses — but not in its last two.

“It helps you build confidence as the game goes along,” he said, “you don't feel like you're chasing something. What happens when you start chasing games, all of the sudden you open yourself up to counter-attacks … so it's a big help.

“We just wanted to get back to fundamentals and getting good defending and then not worrying about the goals,” Russell added. “Just making sure we have the good defense in, and if a goal comes, it's an added bonus — especially on the road. We've definitely made huge strides towards that.”

The team played to a scoreless draw at D.C. United last week with regular starting left back Chris Wingert coming off the bench late.

The move marked the first time since he joined the club that Wingert has not started, but Kreis said he needed a break — both mental and physical — after going hard since January, on account of the time he spent training with the national team. At the same time, Kreis said young Tony Beltran “really deserved a chance” back in the startling lineup, after playing well there when central defender Jamison Olave was suspended recently. So it will be interesting to see whether both Beltran and Russell will get the nod again on the outside, or if Wingert will earn his way back into the team and displace one of them.

Already, MLS has witnessed 33 draws in its first 75 games. That's 44 percent of games ending without a winner — a pace that would represent an all-time season record.

But coach Jason Kreis thinks it will even out.

“I think it's an anomaly, to be honest,” he said. “You get through the whole season, I don't think we'll be talking about all the draws.”

For the moment, though, it's a hot topic — especially with some of the strange records showing up in the standings. The Los Angeles Galaxy are 1-1-8, for example, while defending champion Columbus is 1-2-6 and D.C. United is 3-1-7. In fact, no team in the league has fewer draws than RSL, with two.

Sure, his team still hasn't scored on the road this season.

But coach Jason Kreis was encouraged by what he saw in RSL's scoreless draw at D.C. United over the weekend, giving the team its first point on the road and keeping it easily within the Major League Soccer playoff picture.

“We focused very, very much on the defensive side,” he said, noting that defense was the cornerstone of the team's rebuilding effort, in the first place. “To see it come to fruition on the weekend is very, very rewarding.”

RSL is tied for fifth in the MLS Western Conference with 11 points, but that's only two points out of a playoff spot, after a third of the season. (The top two teams in each conference make the playoffs, along with the four teams with the next best records, regardless of conference.)

And considering that RSL now has put together two pretty good defensive efforts on the road back-to-back — its previous road game was a 1-0 loss at Chivas that was solid but for one bad clearance, for which it paid dearly — the coach is hoping that the team is starting to find its way on the road again. Not only did it defend well at United, but it also generated more good scoring chances.

“We're very pleased with that first step, now we're hoping to build on that,” Kreis said. “That's another step in the right direction. Obviously, the three points and a goal are what we're after.”

The team might have a pretty good chance this week, too, considering that it plays at San Jose — a team riding a seven-game winless streak in the league (plus another loss in U.S. Open Cup action) that has lost four in a row while being outscored by a 10-2 margin.

The capacity of Rio Tinto Stadium will be taking a bit of a dip for the rest of the summer, now that the team has cleared out several hundred seats in the south end to make way for the concert stage.

Official capacity is now 19,340 — that's 668 fewer than normal — plus any of the new standing-room tickets the team hopes to begin selling when RSL plays Colorado in the next home game June 6. The plan isn't finalized yet, and the team still needs to inspect a few details. But standing-room tickets probably would cost in the $10 range and allow most (if not all) patrons using them to watch the games from the empty space under the temporary stage shelter in the south end.

And since concessions aren't as easily accessible from that south end as they are in other parts of the stadium, the team is looking into moving a few beer carts nearby. You know, for that nice, cool, liquid refreshment.

Injured defender Ian Joy has not played for Real Salt Lake all season, but that has not stopped him from getting in trouble.

The disciplinary committee within Major League Soccer fined him $500 today "for inappropriate comments directed at the officiating crew" at halftime of RSL's loss to Kansas City at Rio Tinto Stadium last weekend.

Joy was not on the active roster for the game and watching the game from the stands. But spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald said all players — active and inactive — are allowed into the locker room at halftime, and Joy was in the tunnel leading to the locker room when he accosted the referees. Joy remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, and has said he hopes to be back to training by next week.

Rookie midfielder Jean Alexandre is not making the trip with RSL to D.C. United this weekend.

Instead, he's heading out to join his native Haitian national team for its international friendly against Jamaica in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday. Alexandre worked out with RSL during its closed-door scrimmage today, before leaving to join the national team.

RSL's Andy Williams was not called in for duty for his native Jamaica.

Coach Jason Kreis wouldn't let us nosy reporters watch, but he put his RSL players through an 80-minute scrimmage today against the Ogden Outlaws of the USL Premier Development League at Rio Tinto Stadium, in all likelihood working on some new lineup or formation combinations in advance of their trip to D.C. United this weekend.

It was a “very, very successful exercise,” Kreis said.

Notably, goalkeeper Nick Rimando put some work in, and looked good enough that Kreis believes he might have a chance to play against his old team Saturday. Injured back-up Chris Seitz was stuck on a stationary bicycle, he said, on account of his sprained shoulder.

The teams played four 20-minute periods in the scrimmage, with a full squad of referees monitoring the action.

One reason for its scoring slump — just two goals in the last four games — is that RSL has not generated nearly as many scoring opportunities during its four-game winless streak.

But it hasn't finished its chances nearly as well, either, which is why coach Jason Kreis believes “we're still creating the number of chances that I think are necessary to get the results that we need.”

Obviously, not all promising scoring opportunities end with actual shots -- sometimes, that's part of the problem -- but statistics show that RSL is averaging only about half the number of the shots (and shots on goal) that it was when it started 3-2-0 and blasted its first three opponents at home by a 12-2 combined score.

In its first five games, RSL was averaging nearly 19 shots per game, including 7.6 on goal. In the last four games, however, it has averaged only 10.5 shots and 3.75 shots on goal. What's more, it also has finishing just 13 percent of the shots on goal it has created, compared to 32 percent during the first five games, for a crushing double-whammy.

Clearly, it's inefficiency that's hurting RSL the most.

“We still get at least three or four good chances a game,” striker Yura Movsisyan said. “It's just a matter of staying focused and putting them in the back of the net.”

The team has announced two new three-game ticket packages for fans.

The “Fireworks Frenzy” includes tickets to all three games that will feature post-game fireworks in the next couple of months — against Colorado on June 6, against San Jose on July 3 and against FC Dallas on July 24 — while the “Comboleto” includes tickets to the 2009 MLS All-Star Game against Everton FC on July 29, as well as the games against Chivas USA on August 26 and against Chicago on Sept. 12. Price start at $39 for the fireworks package and $51 for the all-star package.

Call 1-800-838-3380 for more information, or visit www.RioTintoStadium.com.

Striker Josh Wolff of the Kansas City Wizards has won MLS Player of the Week honors, after scoring twice in a 2-0 victory over RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium last weekend.

It's the second time this season that a player has won the award with his heroics against RSL, with Seattle's Kasey Keller claiming it after earning a shutout in RSL's season opener on March 28. Midfielder Javier Morales, however, won the award after helping RSL blast New England in that historic 6-0 victory a few weeks ago.

Goalkeeper Chris Seitz suffered a sprained right shoulder during Real Salt Lake's 2-0 loss to Kansas City at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night, and is expected to miss at least a month.

That could force third-string back-up Kyle Reynish into action at D.C. United next weekend.

Seitz already was playing in place of injured regular starter Nick Rimando, who has missed the last three games since suffering a deep cut on his finger two weeks ago. Rimando had four stitches removed from his finger on Saturday, but it's unknown whether he will be available to face his former team when RSL attempts to win its first road game of the season.

Seitz was injured when he collided with defender Jamison Olave in the 67th minute, as both made sliding attempts to stop the Wizards' Josh Wolff from scoring his team's second goal. Neither was successful, and Olave's knee rammed into Seitz's shoulder.

The keeper stayed down in pain for several minutes, but eventually finished the game while clutching his arm close to his body, trying not to move it. Seitz was taken to the hospital after the game for tests, which a team spokesman said revealed a grade-2 separation of the AC joint in his shoulder. He will miss four to six weeks, spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald said.

If Reynish is forced into duty, he will be making the first start of his Major League Soccer career. The 25-year-old played 55 minutes in relief of Rimando when Rimando was injured in a 2-0 loss at Colorado, and allowed a goal in the only MLS action of his three-year career.

Having been a player himself, coach Jason Kreis' natural inclination is to protect his RSL players from too much criticism. Typically, he's more than fair in his assessments — at least, in front of the media — and seldom has harsh words for them publicly.

But that has started to change.

Kreis offered his most stinging public rebuke of his team after it lost 2-0 to the Kansas City Wizards at Rio Tinto Stadium tonight, saying that “too many players had bad nights” and describing the team's third shutout loss in four winless games as “the worst game I've ever seen in this stadium by the home team.”

“We just weren't good enough,” he said. “Just too many players had bad nights tonight. Bad nights — not average nights, not mediocre nights. Bad nights.”

And that did not come out of nowhere.

Kreis first started to show some dissatisfaction with his team after it allowed two goals in stoppage time against the Los Angeles Galaxy and had to settle for a draw, saying the players had to take some responsibility for not effectively killing the game.

Then, after playing well but losing at Chivas USA last weekend, he said he thought changing formations had less to do with his team's success or failure than its mentality — suggesting that the players aren't always ready to play. And then came tonight, when he effectively ripped the team, even though — in trademark fashion — he did it without raising his voice.

“I can't give a positive spin on any player that's been part of this run of games,” he said.

You have to wonder whether starting jobs aren't going to be up for grabs soon, after that.

So, you need a place to kick back and have a drink after RSL home games?

Does RSL have a plan for you.

The team announced today that starting with its game against Kansas City at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night, it will keep its Budweiser Club Real open after home games while KALL 700's Spencer Checketts joins RSL's Trey Fitz-Gerald to broadcast the post-game show on the patio. Better still, the team will provide a free nacho bar — some other food will be available for purchase — and a full liquor bar.

Guess we know where that next RSL game story is going to be filed from, eh?

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman said he's not sure what to expect out of the Kansas City Wizards when they visit RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night.

But coach Jason Kreis does.

“It's a team, for me, that really has a never-say-die attitude and is I think playing pretty well on the road,” he said. “So it's a terrific challenge for us right now.”

While RSL is 3-4-1 with 10 points in the MLS Western Conference, the Wizards are 3-4-2 with 11 points in the Eastern Conference — and nearly came back from a 3-1 deficit at Columbus last week. However, they also have won just one of their last five games, while RSL remains undefeated at home this season, with three wins and a draw.

“I was surprised to see how they started out struggling a bit” with back-to-back losses to start the season, Beckerman said, “because I've seen their team and I feel like they have good players and a good coach, from what I hear. … Maybe they're trying to figure out who they are still. They're a fairly new team, not too many of them have been together too long. But it will be a tough team. You don't know what you're going to get — the Kansas City team that has been winning or the Kansas City that has been losing. Hopefully, the latter.”

That's because RSL probably needs another home victory to avoid falling off the pace already.

With just one point in its last three games, it's sitting in fifth place in the eight-team Western Conference, with four of its next five games on the road, where it has yet to even score a goal this season. Points could be awfully hard to come by for the next month or so.

Having played five games in a two-week span, coach Jason Kreis sensed his team could use a bit of a break.

So he took them on a hike.

The players arrived at Rio Tinto Stadium this morning expecting Kreis to hold a team meeting before practice to prepare for their home game against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday. Instead, he surprised them by canceling practice, and they all headed up to a trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon for about an hour-long hike.

“It was pretty cool, yeah,” midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “It was fun. Everybody has been working hard this week, so we thought just a change of scenery and practice would help.”

When it plays the Wizards, the team will be aiming to snap a three-game winless streak that includes two road losses and a home draw that Kreis characterized earlier in the week as “failures.” RSL remains unbeaten at home, however, with a 3-0-1 record.

Kreis said he'd already planned on putting the players through a light workout, on account of all of their recent games and tough practices on the two previous days. But he felt they needed a mental break, as well as a physical one.

“Every day, we'd turn around and it was either, we have a game tomorrow, or we're about to get on a plane tomorrow,” said Beckerman, who credited Kreis for remembering what it was like to be a player. “It was challenging, not only in the short period, but a lot of them were away.”

RSL announced today that it's bringing back its successful RSL-Arizona Under-17 boys program for a third season, with tryouts scheduled next Monday and Tuesday at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

The first session is an open tryout, with coaches inviting the most promising players back the next day.

“It has taken only two summers to prove that the RSL-Arizona program has been an unqualified success, and we’re looking forward to another tremendous year for the squad in 2009,” general manager Garth Lagerwey said in a statement. “Our friends in the Arizona youth soccer circles have been incredibly cooperative since the launch of this program, and we believe the caliber of player in the state speaks for itself with the success the RSL-Arizona U-17s have attained over the last two years.”

Players born in 1992 or later are eligible for the team, whose final 28-man roster — 20 members of the travel team, plus eight alternates — will be unveiled on the RSL web site by May 22. The open tryout is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. At the soccer fields at Grand Canyon University, located at 3300 W. Camelback Road in Phoenix.

Nice story on striker Robbie Findley this morning in USA Today, noting his vast family connections in professional sports — the NBA's Mike Bibby and the NFL's Shaun McDonald are both cousins, for starters — as well as the promise that coach Jason Kreis sees in him.

"There's been a few players in our league that have had lightning pace but haven't been able to trap a ball or been able to figure it out tactically or be an intelligent player or be someone who works well with the team," Kreis said. "I think he's developing into all those things."

Findley shares the Major League Soccer scoring lead with Landon Donovan of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Brian McBride of the Chicago Fire. Each has five goals.

Coach Jason Kreis was pretty pleased with the way his team played out of its 4-5-1 formation at Chivas USA over the weekend, even if it didn't manage to come away with any points. That's because it had struggled so mightily to use it to kill off its previous game at home against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“We were basically defending at the top of the penalty box” against the Galaxy, he said. “Which is too deep. You're just inviting the other team to serve balls in to you, lobs. And now you have to deal with who knows what happens?

“So, for the other night, I thought we kept a higher line, and we also played out of that formation,” he added. “We possessed the balls and created some chances, whereas on prior occasions when we played a 4-5-1, we really hadn't figured out how we were going to create chances. I thought the movement of the players and the ball was better Saturday night [at Chivas] than I've ever seen us play” in that formation.

The coach even acknowledged he might use the formation to start RSL's next game at home against Kansas City at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night, although that seems unlikely, given how good RSL has been at home using its standard 4-4-2 formation with strikers Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley up top.

Still, it was encouraging for Kreis to see his players improve with a system that they're going to have to use, at least from time to time.

Don't forget, tickets for the upcoming MLS All-Star Game at Rio Tinto Stadium go on sale to the general public today, starting at 10 a.m. The game is scheduled for July 29, and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Players for the game against Everton FC of the English Premier League will be chosen by a combined vote by fans, reporters and players, and all 12 of the regular RSL starters will be listed on the ballot that will be released next week.

Tickets are available either at the stadium box office — open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday — or on the stadium web site at www.RioTintoStadium.com.

It's not that coach Jason Kreis has grown any more fond of playing conservatively for a draw.

He still pretty much hates it.

But heading into RSL's game at league-leading Chivas USA on Saturday night, he seems to be coming closer and closer to accepting it as a potentially successful strategy for his team, which still has not even scored in three league road games this season that it has attempted to play more aggressively.

“In our game, you honestly have to be happy with a draw,” he said. “I mean, ask the Galaxy. And I think I'm not always happy with a draw, to be honest, no matter where we're playing — at home or on the road — because I believe that our team is too good. I do. I think that we're better than most teams that we face, and so if we play to our potential, we win.

“Having said that,” he added, “after our first three games on the road this season, maybe it's time to say, 'Well, we need to walk before we can run.' And walking, for us right now, would be to get a point on the road.”

The sentiment seems to have found a footing with at least some of the players, including midfielder and captain Kyle Beckerman. After RSL's last-minute draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy the other night, he seemed to step back from the idea that the team necessarily needs to aim for a victory at Chivas.

“We just really have to try to get this road win — or let's get a road result, this weekend,” he said. “That's all our focus is, right now.”

Either way, veteran midfielder Clint Mathis said the team needs to quit worrying about its road problems.

“We need to go in there with a right head on our shoulders and get this — whatever, jinx, or what everybody keeps talking about that we can't win on the road — we have to get that out of our head,” he said. “It's just like playing at home. It's just another soccer game.”

Just call him a quick study.

Midfielder and captain Kyle Beckerman became the youngest player in Major League Soccer history to appear in 200 games, when he (again) played the full 90 in the draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy last weekend. At 27 years and 13 days, he shattered the previous record held by San Jose's Nick Garcia, who was 28 years and 179 days old when he appeared in his 200th game.

No sooner had RSL learned that starting defender Nat Borchers did not break any bones when he injured his right foot against the Los Angeles Galaxy than it received bad news on another front.

Turns out, back-up David Horst tore the meniscus in his right knee, during his 21 minutes in relief of Borchers. Horst played well and finished out the game, but according to a team spokesman, arrived at practice today complaining about pain in his knee. An MRI exam confirmed the tear, and Horst will have surgery on Friday to repair it — meaning he will be out four to six weeks.

That leaves RSL pretty thin in central defense, particularly if Borchers is out for a prolonged period.

Presumably, that would leave Jamison Olave and Robbie Russell to start in the middle, with probably left back Chris Wingert — who played centrally in college and early in his pro career — and perhaps rookie Jean Alexandre as potential substitutes.

Good news for Nat Borchers — nothing is broken.

The central defender had his right foot X-rayed today, after injuring it during RSL's 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy last night, and the test came back negative, a team spokesman said, meaning Borchers suffered only a sprain in his collision with the Galaxy's Edson Buddle. Borchers had to leave the game midway through the second half — until then, he had played every minute of the season — and is questionable to play at Chivas USA on Saturday.

If Borchers cannot go, expect veteran Robbie Russell to remain in central defense in his place, with Tony Beltran probably getting another starting nod at right back after a strong performance against the Galaxy.

Looks like soccer fans will have the Fourth of July all to themselves, to do with what they please.

That's because RSL has moved its scheduled July 4 home game against San Jose up one day, to July 3 at Rio Tinto Stadium. There will still be fireworks after the game — still scheduled for 8 p.m. — but now fans can attend both the game and whatever other holiday event they might fancy, the next night.

Certainly, RSL was relieved to have earned a penalty kick in stoppage time last night, allowing it to momentarily reclaim the lead on the Los Angeles Galaxy after the Galaxy had equalized on their own penalty following an obvious handball in the box.

But coach Bruce Arena seemed to think RSL didn't deserve it.

“It’s not easy being a referee,” the Galaxy boss said after the game. “I think we could tell that today. A clear penalty for us, a handball. He calls it, and then it just seems to me that the second one was a make-up call, which seemed odd.

“But we were fortunate to get the second goal, a great finish by Mike Magee.”

Indeed, Magee fired the final equalizer under RSL's Tony Beltran and between goalkeeper Chris Seitz's legs in the 94th minute for the 2-2 final, marking the fourth time in team history that RSL has allowed an equalizer in extra time. It was Magee's first goal as a member of the Galaxy — he seemed to be kept onside by RSL's Will Johnson, sagging back just enough on the other side of the box — and marked the first time in four home games that RSL allowed more than a single goal.

“I saw someone kind of in front of me — they didn’t call it, so I definitely wasn’t offside,” Magee said. “I didn’t really see much. I know the ball was bouncing around the top of the box and we had a couple of shots, so I was trying to stay to the side and maybe get a deflection. Then it kind of popped up perfect for me.”

Johnson played a huge role in the wild finish.

His handball allowed the Galaxy's Landon Donovan to equalize first — “last year, we would have lost that game,” Donovan said later — but he stepped up and confidently scored the penalty that Arena thought came off a make-up call, when RSL's Fabian Espindola went down in the box.

“I knew I needed to make up [for the handball], and I wanted to put that on my shoulders,” Johnson said. “I’ve taken penalties for a few teams and I feel confident, I feel like I can strike a good ball. Penalties for me are all about confidence, and I don’t feel that I am short on that.”

After enduring the “maddening” final minutes, coach Jason Kreis said his Real Salt Lake players helped bring disappointment on themselves, by failing to play aggressively enough down the stretch of a 2-2 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy tonight at Rio Tinto Stadium.

“Probably the most disappointing thing for me is how we played in the last 10 or 12 minutes,” he said. “Just didn't quite figure it out and really just dropped all the way into our box and allowed them to serve things into us. As you saw, bounces have a funny way of going against you, when you do that.”

Indeed, the Galaxy's Mike Magee scored through goalkeeper Chris Seitz's legs from a nearly impossible angle near the touchline in the 94th minute, moments after RSL had miraculously earned a penalty kick to retake the lead, after the Galaxy's Landon Donovan had equalized on a penalty in the 91st minute.

But it was a late-game shift to a 4-5-1 formation that Kreis said caused RSL problems.

“We've had a couple of occasions now where we just can't figure out how to play out of it,” he said. “I think it almost gives our guys just a complete defensive mentality that we don't have to play soccer now. ... But having said that, I don't think it's fair to take all the blame on the coaching staff. The guys have to figure out how to play that way, as well. We can't always think we're going to be able to play the soccer we want to or in the shape that we want to. We going to have to learn to play other ways. We're going to have to learn to dig out results.”

When it takes on the Los Angeles Galaxy tonight at Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL will have to rely heavily on several reserves, with goalkeeper Nick Rimando injured and midfielder Javier Morales and defender Jamison Olave both suspended.

But midfielder Kyle Beckerman doesn't foresee any problems.

“It will be exactly the same, that we've been playing all season,” the team captain said. “That's a good thing. We won't have to adjust much. Sometimes you have to adjust the way you play, it's a different style of player. But for the most part, everything will be the same.”

Goalkeeper Chris Seitz will make his first start of the season in place of Rimando, while midfielder Andy Williams and defender Tony Beltran seem likely to enter the starting lineup. Defender Robbie Russell figures to move into central defense for Olave, with Beltran replacing Russell at right back, since back-up central defender David Horst has made some costly mistakes this season.

Regardless of how the lineup shakes out exactly — midfielder Ned Grabavoy also is a possible starter — Beckerman said RSL won't be lacking for confidence, despite its tough road loss last weekend. The team has won all three of its home games so far this season, by an astonishing 12-2 margin. The big key will be keeping a close mark on the Galaxy's Landon Donovan, who has scored four goals and assisted on three this season.

“We're confident going into this game,” Beckerman said, “no matter who we've got.”

Beckerman also said he's eager to see former RSL midfielder Dema Kovalenko, whom the team traded in the offseason after the veteran played a big role in its first playoff run last year. “When he's not on your team at all, you think he's this big, bad wolf,” Beckerman said. “But once you get to know him, he's a nice guy. … I don't think he has any animosity towards us, like he did against New York. So it will just be regular old Dema.”

General manager Garth Lagerwey was talking to reporters at practice yesterday about the importance of RSL's game against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night.

Not only is the team trying to snap back from another 2-0 road loss — this time at Colorado, last weekend — but it also must do so without injured starting goalkeeper Nick Rimando, suspended midfielder Javier Morales and suspended center back Jamison Olave, just three days before a trip to red-hot Chivas USA.

Basically, Lagerwey's point was that a victory can go a long way toward soothing the aches of the past few days and restoring confidence, while a loss might make things feel exponentially worse — especially because the team would have lost three straight (counting the U.S. Open Cup qualifying disaster at Seattle last week) going into another road game against the hottest team in Major League Soccer.

The Goats lead the league with a 6-1-1 record for 19 points, with a 4-0 record at home and only three goals allowed.

“We need a big game,” coach Jason Kreis agreed. “We need a real positive reaction from our group. That's one of the good things about having a game this quickly. We don't have to wait all week, for this one. Get the guys back out there, and they can prove some things correct.”

Just received word that the league has suspended midfielder Javier Morales for RSL's game against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night, for elbowing Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni in the face late in last weekend's 2-0 loss to the Rapids.

That means RSL will be without three pivotal starters -- goalkeeper Nick Rimando, central defender Jamison Olave, and Morales. Rimando suffered a cut on his finger that will keep him out two or three weeks, while Olave is suspended for his red-card ejection against the Rapids.

So who takes their place?

Obviously, back-up goalkeeper Chris Seitz will get his first MLS action of the season, while either David Horst or Robbie Russell figures to move into central defense for Olave (an especially important move, it would seem, with the Galaxy's Landon Donovan coming to town). Either Andy Williams, Ned Grabavoy or maybe even Clint Mathis could slide into Morales' place as the attacking midfielder.

Either way, this is not going to make extending the home winning streak any easier ...

Goalkeeper Chris Seitz has been waiting basically his whole professional career to enjoy some meaningful playing time.

Finally, he's about to get it.

The third-year pro and former No. 4 pick of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft is expected to start at least the next two or three games for RSL, while regular starter Nick Rimando recovers from a deep cut in his finger suffered over the weekend in a loss at Colorado. Team doctors told coach Jason Kreis that Rimando probably will be out for two to three weeks, but Kreis said Seitz is “very ready” to take over — in spite of having played only three league games for the franchise since it drafted him in 2007.

“He looks probably, to me, the most ready that I've ever seen him,” Kreis said.

Seitz feels that way, too.

The 22-year-old Olympian and youth national-team standout just returned from playing two games while on loan to the USL's Portland Timbers, where he made 15 saves, did not allow a goal, and learned that his good friend had been injured. Seitz will make his first start when RSL plays the Los Angeles Galaxy at Rio Tinto Stadium on Wednesday night.

“To hear that he went down is obviously never a good thing,” Seitz said. “But I have an opportunity in front of me, and hopefully I can make the most of it and go out there and show that I am capable.”

Seitz played three league games as a rookie two years ago, but did not play at all while Rimando played every minute of last season. His only action with RSL this season came in a 4-1 loss at Seattle in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier last week, meaning he hopes to be sharp after playing three games in the past week.

That will be important for RSL, which is trying to shake off its third straight scoreless road loss in MLS.

The team also will be playing the Galaxy without central defender Jamison Olave, who must serve a one-game suspension for getting ejected with a red card against the Rapids. Young defender David Horst figures to replace Olave, unless Kreis chooses to move veteran Robbie Russell into central defense and start Tony Beltran at right back.

“You always are going to want some consistency,” Kreis said. “That's where we really want the most consistency, is in the back four and the goalkeeper. … So to not have that, it presents us a tough problem. But again, we believe we built this team with depth. We believe in all of our players, so now it's time for other players to step and not only take their opportunity, but take their responsibility.”

At least, RSL has one more player it can use.

Striker Fabian Espindola rejoined the team at practice Monday, after finally clearing the international transfer process, and probably will be available against the Galaxy.

Espindola said he's eager to make up for his embarrassing ankle injury last season — he hurt himself doing a back-flip in celebration of a goal that was later disallowed — and is thrilled to be back with RSL, particularly since his last team, Deportivo Anzoategui in Venezuela, had stopped paying him. Espindola said he hadn't been paid in three months.

“He looks bright, he looks happy,” Kreis said. “And he's a good player.”

Obviously, it wasn't much of a performance for RSL in its third straight road loss last night, this time at rival Colorado in a rematch of last season's dramatic finale.

Not only did they lose 2-0 for the third straight Major League Soccer road game — RSL is one of three teams in the league without a road goal, and one of three without a road point — but they lost goalkeeper Nick Rimando to an ugly hand injury and defender Jamison Olave to a straight red card. Both players will miss RSL's home game against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday.

“You’ve got to throw evaluation out the window on this game because were down a man too long to talk about offense,” coach Jason Kreis said.

Kreis said he would be “shocked” if Rimando is “even available” against the Galaxy, after suffering a deep cut on his finger -- it required four stitches to close -- in a collision with Colorado's Conor Casey that forced Rimando out of the game. Third-string back-up Kyle Reynish made his MLS debut in relief, with regular back-up Chris Seitz away on loan and making nine saves for the USL's Portland Timbers in their first victory of the season.

Presumably, Seitz will earn the start against the Galaxy, since he's expected back this week.

“We had some pretty good possession being down a man and then they got the second one and I think we ran out of steam,” midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “We fought, nobody gave up, it’s a good sign of character.”

While RSL hopes to hammer out the difference between its home and away performances tonight when it meets rival Colorado for the first time since its stunning draw to reach the playoffs last season, the Rapids are trying to squeeze more out of midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy.

The midfielder that RSL traded to the Rapids for captain Kyle Beckerman has impressed with his talent, particularly on defense. But coach Gary Smith is hoping the native Moroccan get find ways to move into the attack.

"What we have to try and do is break some of those shackles so he can be a little more expressive," Smith said. "If we can just get him in more advanced positions and more creative positions, I think we'll see, with the quality he's got, some reward for that."

Ballouchy and Beckerman figure to see an awful lot of each other at DSG Park tonight, when RSL takes aim at its first road win of the season and the Rapids try to exact revenge for RSL's dramatic 90th-minute draw in last season's finale that vaulted it into the playoffs for the first time -- and knocked the Rapids out of the postseason.

So, you want to attend the MLS All-Star Game at Rio Tinto Stadium? If you have a Visa credit card, you're in luck — you can start buying tickets in the morning.

The league has allowed Visa cardholders to buy tickets to the July 29 game against Everton FC a week before they're made available to the general public, so long as you use your Visa card to purchase them. They will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday, after RSL season-ticket holders have had an exclusive chance to buy.

Ticket prices begin at $35 for seats behind the goals and in the upper deck. Seats behind the corner flags will cost $45, while those on the lower sidelines will cost $45, and seats in the front row and at midfield will cost $105. Club seats are $200 each.

For more information, please visit www.RealSaltLake.com or www.RioTintoStadium.com. Special event credentials will be required for media wishing to cover this event. Media credential application information for the 2009 MLS All-Star game will be distributed at a later date.

Goalkeeper Chris Seitz turned in a fine performance in his first game on loan to the USL's Portland Timbers last night, stopping six shots and helping preserve a scoreless draw in the team's home opener against the Carolina Railhawks.

Seitz made all six of his saves in the first half.

He's expected to play for the Timbers again on Saturday, before returning to RSL. The Timbers said they needed Seitz because regular keeper Steve Cronin — late of the Los Angeles Galaxy's abysmal defense last season — suffered a “mild ankle injury” during training earlier this week.