Can hot Real Salt Lake stay healthy?

SANDY -- With a little more than half of the 2010 Major League Soccer season in the books, Real Salt Lake is on a frenzied, record-setting pace.

With nine wins and 31 points after 17 matches, the Utah side is well on its way to the best regular season in franchise history.

RSL is the league co-leader in goals scored (29) and has the second-largest goal differential (plus-15), behind the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"I want us to be the highest-scoring team in the league, and we have done a darn good job up front in the first half of the season," Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerwey said. "We need to keep that up and score consistently. If one guy is out of form, the other three need to step up. When we get breakaways we need to finish them."

With the stretch drive of the regular season on the horizon, combined with a blistering schedule of matches in the CONCACAF Champions League, RSL's form is about to be tested like never before.

"(We need to) stay healthy. We are facing an unprecedented series of games over the next two months, and how we cope with that will determine our fate," Lagerwey said. "We are capable of repeating as champions, and are as talented and deep as any team in the league."

Real will face 14 matches over the next 56 days, a stretch that kicks off tonight at Rio Tinto Stadium when RSL hosts MLS cellar-dweller D.C. United at 7 p.m. The Claret-and-Cobalt drew United 0-0 at RFK Stadium in early June.

Lagerwey feels that RSL's biggest success, aside from its solid 9-4-4 record, is playing with more overall consistency and scoring goals on the road.

Real is 8-1-3 since May 1 and takes a 19-match home unbeaten streak in MLS play (23 matches overall) into tonight.

"We want to be the most entertaining team in the MLS through possession and passing," Lagerwey said when asked about Real's midfield. "We have done a good job of that, and we covered admirably for (Kyle) Beckerman while he was out. As we play 14 games in 56 days over the next two months, we will need all nine midfielders to contribute."

Lagerwey also had praise for Real's defense, which posted five consecutive shutouts earlier this month and has allowed only three goals since June 1.

"Our defense has been rock solid," Lagerwey said. "It is our most consistent unit."

For Real, perhaps the most important part of their current run of success is that they have battled through numerous injuries to key players, most notably Beckerman's two-month absence due to a foot injury.

"We had a number of players get extended looks during the first half of the season, and overall they did well," Lagerwey said. "We are comfortable that we have the talent to repeat, but we need our young players to show up in big moments down the stretch."

As the defending MLS champion, RSL received a direct berth into Champions League group play and will host Arabe Unido to kick off that competition on Aug. 18.