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SANDY — Jeff Attinella wasn't mincing words: He was tired.
The Real Salt Lake goalkeeper flew into Salt Lake International Airport with his team around midnight Wednesday after picking up a 1-0 win in its CONCACAF Champion's League opener, and he was still feeling it by Friday's training session.
But he resolved to move forward as RSL (7-8-8, 29 points) rounds the halfway point of a brutal 11,000-mile, three-country trek of five games in 15 days before Saturday's game at Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 8 p.m. MT.
"It doesn't matter how our bodies feel, how our minds feel. We've got to figure it out and get right by Saturday," said Attinella, who earned back-to-back league save of the week honors. "We had a great chance to win both those games, and it would be a lot different feeling if we could have come back with a win over D.C. But we took the game, learned from it for Tuesday, got a great road win and now we have to do it in the league. Saturday is the chance to do that."
The weekend game is just another stop in what head coach Jeff Cassar called a "whirlwind" of an August road trip. But the RSL players are up for it.
"The guys are responding really well and taking care of themselves," Cassar added. "I really like where we are at right now. It's not going to be easy, this trip. But sometimes that makes you come together and concentrate harder on the small details. I look forward to it."
Focusing on the 'Caps makes the constant quick turnaround easier to deal, too. Vancouver (12-8-3, 39 points) is clinging to first place in the Western Conference, and has seemingly rebounded from last month's shock 2-1 loss to last-place Colorado, the first of back-to-back defeats.
Since then, the Whitecaps are unbeaten in three matches with Saturday's 3-0 win over Seattle. With so much at stake in an intraconference matchup, Attinella expects nothing but the best this weekend.
"As of right now, they're in serious contention for winning the West and Supporters Shield, and I expect them to bring everybody," said Attinella, who did not play Tuesday in CCL play. "I heard they rested a lot on Wednesday (for Champions League), so we have to prepare for the full arsenal."
The briefly sputtering wheels happens to a lot of MLS teams during a long season, Cassar said, adding that nagging injuries and natural squad rotation makes weird losses happen.
But players like Octavio Rivero (eight goals), Pedro Morales (four goals, four assists) and Cristian Techera (two goals, three assists) has Vancouver humming.
"Sometimes players are stepping up while others are dipping a bit," Cassar said. "They have guys like Teixeira stepping up and playing really well. The back line has been almost the same all year, and they have a nice rotation in the midfield between (Matias) Laba, (Gershon) Koffie and (Russell) Teibert.
"I expect a really strong team from them."
RSL has found a key to unlocking its offense with the return of Joao Plata and surging play of Sebastian Jaime. Now it's about keeping another zero under the opposing team's name in the box score.
"Recently we've been scoring early, thanks to Plata," midfielder Luke Mulholland said. "Once we take that lead, we've got to shut up shop, get to halftime with a clean sheet.
"We just have to play in their half of the field, and hold the ball, not lose it in certain areas."
