COLUMBUS, Ohio (ABC 4 Sports) - It was a tumultuous trip to Columbus, and in the end Real Salt Lake is coming home with its third straight defeat.
RSL was shut out by the Columbus Crew, 2-0, after the game was delayed an hour by a power outage at the stadium.
Toni Tchani scored a goal in the 16th minute, ending a streak of 331 consecutive minutes of not allowing a goal on the road. Eddie Gaven added another score in the 44th minute to give the Crew a two-goal lead at the half.
Real Salt Lake (10-6-2) managed just two shots on target in suffering its third defeat in 11 days. RSL was playing without captain Kyle Beckerman, who was suspended for the match for yellow card violations.
RSL's lackluster performance could have been attributed to the fact that a major storm knocked out power in their hotel for 24 hours. Head coach Jason Kreis felt the break in their routine definitely affected their effort.
"I'm going to say yes because I was a player," head coach Jason Kreis said. "I know how it would have affected me. It would have been really drastic on trying to prepare for the game. These guys are well-oiled machines and they need to take care of their body in a particular way to prepare for the game. I think it had some effect, but do I think it was responsible for the performance? Not necessarily. I'm not willing to wash my hands of it and say it was all the storm."
RSL returns home to take on the Seattle Sounders on July 4th at Rio Tinto Stadium. The match will start at 8:00 p.m. and can be seen on CW30.
