Unkind twist hits at RSL's depth

SALT LAKE CITY -- An unkind twist of fate -- or, more accurately, flip -- has left Real Salt Lake shorthanded again as they hit the road to take on the New York Red Bulls this weekend.

Star forward Fabian Espindola will be sidelined for 4-to-8 weeks after severely injuring his ankle when he did a series of backflips on an early goal that was ultimately disallowed because of an offside call in last Saturday's 2-2 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"I had no solid footing when I came down," Espindola told reporters after the game. "They told me that it was possibly fractured and I knew that was probably what had happened."

While it turned out to be a sprain rather than a fracture, it doesn't offer much solace for RSL. Espindola's injury fits squarely in the pantheon of bizarre sports injuries. And it could not have come at a worse time for RSL.

The return of the Argentinean forward had given the Real offense a finishing boost it had lacked while he rehabbed an MCL strain for much of the summer. Now with Espindola sidelined once again, RSL must dig into its cadre of forwards to find yet another combination that will work.

It is a turn of events that leave both the club and its fans feeling frustrated. But RSL can take solace in knowing that its success or failure doesn't hinge on the status of a player or two.

Real coach Jason Kreis feels like he has a much bigger talent pool to compensate for the untimely loss of one player.

"Our top players are better than they have been in the past," Kreis said. "Also, I think we are really buying into the team mentality. Our guys really fight for each other, work hard for each other and have an understanding of what we are trying to do."

RSL will look to build on its draw against the Galaxy against the Red Bulls on Saturday, but it won't be easy. Los Angeles seemed to offer a golden shot at earning three points, simply because the Galaxy were missing a wide array of their top players coming into the match.

But things did not stick to the script Real hoped for. Los Angeles snatched an early lead after Espindola's ill-fated would-be goal and then successfully rallied from a 2-1 deficit midway through the second half when Edson Buddle cleaned up a loose ball and sent it home.

"He's a great player," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "If you give him an inch, he's going to bury it."

Buddle's goal undid all the progress RSL's offense had shown since its last pair of road outings. Yura Movsisyan, in particular, continued his late-season blossoming. Movsisyan came up with Real's first goal in the 21st minute and played a nice give-and-go to Will Johnson for the club's second tally in the 52nd minute.

Given all that it accomplished offensively, RSL felt disappointed by claiming just one point on the road. But, at the same time, it has become apparent to a player like Beckerman that Real have come a long way since he was first traded to the Utah-based club in 2007.

In the past, Beckerman said, teams could expect an automatic victory when RSL came up on the schedule. That is no longer true since Kreis took the helm.

"We've tried to clean that up right away," Beckerman said. "We seem to have done that at home so far. It's just a different mentality in the guys."

Now the next stage for RSL is to see that winning mentality finally translate into a road environment as well.