SANDY, Utah -- If anything, the 2008 season could truly be defined as a season of firsts for Real Salt Lake.
In the span of a few months, RSL went from the MLS basement to a playoff team for the first time. The Utah side also posted its first winning record and inhabited first place in the Western Conference at different junctures for the first time in club history.
2008 also marked the move from Rice-Eccles Stadium to Rio Tinto Stadium -- a soccer-specific facility that will also serve as host venue to the 2009 MLS All-Star Game.
For the club, nothing signaled 2008 would be a different year than previous ones quite like taking over the top spot in the Western Conference. Real only stayed on top for a few weeks after beating Eastern Conference champion Columbus by a 2-0 margin in mid-July. Still, the impact it made, in terms of building confidence, could not be measured.
It was also during that stretch that RSL posted a record above .500 for the first time in club history.
Real coach Jason Kreis felt like RSL earned what it got through being much more competitive on the field.
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SIGHTS & SOUNDS
"I still look back at the whole season and say that we were the better team in almost every game we played," Kreis said. "There was very few games where I could say, well, we didn't deserve better than we got there."
Perhaps one of the biggest keys to RSL accomplishing what it did in 2008 was the club's ability to plug in key pieces during the league's international transfer window in the summer.
In that time, RSL added depth and versatility by bringing in forward Clint Mathis, midfielder Will Johnson and utility man Robbie Russell. All three players played key roles in the team's playoff run.
Johnson instantly earned a starting role. Mathis and Russell gradually moved into the first XI as well. Kreis thought all three players possessed a nice degree of versatility and meshed well with the existing core of the team. Such additions to the RSL roster worked out better than anyone could have anticipated.
Kreis credited general manager Garth Lagerway's knack for finding the best players available.
"He does deserve a lot of credit," Kreis said. "He's worked extremely hard and been out scouting and brought in some quality players."
Many of the players themselves hoped for good things when they joined RSL at midseason. What they experienced as the season wound down exceeded even their fondest expectations.
"When I first signed, you never could have told me that this would happen the way it did," Johnson said. "Things have more or less been perfect since the minute I got here."
RSL reached a major landmark in October when it opened up Rio Tinto Stadium -- a state-of-the-art soccer-specific venue seating 20,008 people. Getting to that point was a journey fraught with political infighting as RSL worked to secure a portion of Salt Lake County tax revenues to help finance the cost of building the stadium.
Once the stadium was finished and RSL moved in, the dramatic difference between Rio Tinto and the club's former venue at Rice-Eccles became immediately apparent.
RSL players embraced a natural grass surface that was easier on their bodies than the hard artificial surface at Rice-Eccles. The stadium was also seen as a friendlier venue for the team's fans -- with better views of the field throughout the stadium than what was possible before.
Working to match its brand of soccer with the quality of its new digs became a goal for RSL in 2008 and beyond.
"This stadium is too nice to not have a good product in there," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said.
Perhaps the most memorable moment for RSL in the 2008 season is its first-ever trip to the postseason. Real needed a dramatic finish to get to that point, qualifying in the season finale at Colorado when Yura Movsisyan came up with the equalizer in the 90th minute for the playoff-clinching draw.
While that moment stands out most in the minds of fans and outside observers, for RSL players another moment proved just as big in fueling their run to the playoffs. The moment in question was Real's second road victory of the season at San Jose.
That 3-2 triumph in late September set off an eight-game unbeaten streak that did not come to an end until a 1-0 loss to New York in the Western Conference Championship.
"It was a game we wanted to win," goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. "We were OK with a tie, but we fought to the end and we got a victory. From then on, we got some results on the road and we picked up some confidence."
Once RSL reached the MLS Cup Playoffs, the team was not content to simply sit back and call it a season. The Utah side upset expansion partner Chivas USA and earned a surprise berth into the Western Conference Championship.
Beckerman said that the team's unexpected success was an appropriate reward to a cadre of loyal fans that have continued to support RSL even in bleaker moments.
"We wanted to give them something to cheer about," Beckerman said. "We wanted the soccer that we play to be attractive -- attacking, creating chances. This is the type of soccer we wanted to play. But, also, that's what we wanted the fans to see. We wanted them to be excited about their team and how we play."
The bitter 1-0 loss at home to the Red Bulls in the West final has left RSL wanting more going into the 2009 season. And while its possible they might rise to even further heights, it will be hard to eclipse what happened this season -- simply because how quickly the team rose after enduring mediocrity for so long.
"We're not the doormat of the league anymore," Beckerman said. "We're players in this league. That definitely takes it up a notch there. Our fans are going to expect that the type of soccer we're playing is good enough to (make us) first or second all year."
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