Real Salt Lake: The improbable happens as the club upsets Columbus to move on to conference final

November 6, 3:28 PMUtah Sports ExaminerBrian Shaw

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RSL defender Robbie Russell celebrates his team's 1-0 upset win over Columbus, but from the looks of the photo, it's hard to tell RSL did anything other than win another game. AP/George Frey

If anyone said before Real Salt Lake played Columbus at Crew Stadium that they thought RSL would come back from being two goals down, on the road, in front of a yellow-and-black clad contingent, that person would be ready for the loony bin.

The improbable happened Thursday after RSL told everybody, and their dog and cat this week that the only way to win the second game of the series in Columbus would be to play defense. Actually, it was the opposite. All RSL did was attack.

RSL defied the odds Thursday, basically stunning not only 10,000-plus fans at Crew Stadium, but also Major League Soccer, the ESPN analysts and announcers covering the game, and the whole of humanity, winning 3-2 in a game they had no business of winning, according to most, and capturing the first round series 4-2 on aggregate.

Too bad nobody said the underdog didn’t have a chance to RSL head coach Jason Kreis, or the team, because the team carried on after the game as though nothing actually happened. In fact, the postgame scene looked like any other game, with the exception of a few Crew players burying their faces in their hands. 
 

What was more remarkable than RSL’s businesslike demeanor, was the manner in which they stormed back after being down 2-0 early on. It took all of three minutes to get back one of the goals it gave up, and RSL’s aggregate goals lead of 1-0 that it carried into the second leg.

The first RSL goal was profound, a one-touch passing clinic in which the RSL midfield zigzagged through the bewildered Crew defense before another one-touch through ball from Kyle Beckerman squirted into the path of Javier Morales, who corralled the chest-high ball at the top of the 18-yard box and half-volleyed it into the net.

The other goal was simply a result of the hard work RSL put in, in its attack in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Forward Javier Espindola was pulled down by Columbus defender Frankie Hejduk inside the Crew box in minute 42, causing the referee to award RSL a penalty kick. Robbie Findley took it and finished it to give RSL the aggregate lead in the series and level the game at 2-2.

Well into the second half and after RSL weathered several threatening attacking chances by the Crew, RSL midfielder Andy Williams took a free kick in the 78th minute that bent and skipped past the Columbus keeper for a commanding 4-2 aggregate lead and a 3-2 lead in the match.
Next up for RSL is the winner of New England or Chicago in the Eastern Conference final.