Video: Real Salt Lake Suffers Crushing Loss in Mexico City

Real Salt Lake stood on the cusp of history, just 15 minutes away from ending a streak that embarrasses the entirety of American soccer. And it fell flat on its face, with a lot of help from mother nature, a 22-year-old Mexican forward, a Honduran referee, its own coach, Montezuma and whatever other conspirators could arrange such an epic collapse.

Leading Cruz Azul 3-1 with a quarter-hour remaining and on the verge of becoming the first senior American side (either MLS or national team) to win in Mexico, RSL literally watched Los Cementeros score four times in the pouring rain at Estadio Azul. The last came on the final kick of the game and sent RSL to an almost unbelievable 5-4 defeat.

It was the second time in two nights that an MLS club lost in Mexico on the game's final touch, which seems to have established once and for all that there are dark forces at work when an American soccer team goes south of the border.

Key among those dark forces are CONCACAF's referees, who continue to rob U.S. teams blind. The Columbus Crew have filed an official protest against the decision to disallow its goal in Torreón on Tuesday, and RSL suffered a two-goal swing on Wednesday thanks to clownish refereeing. Midfielder Will Johnson's perfectly-good opener was incorrectly ruled offside, and Cruz Azul was allowed a 1-0 lead off a "free kick" on which the ball never came to a complete stop. It's all basic, elementary refereeing that seems to be forgotten or ignored whenever an American team goes to Mexico.

But to its substantial credit, Salt Lake rebounded, and as the field became a series of puddles and shallow lakes, the visitors took a 3-1 lead. Álvaro Saborío struck from the penalty spot in the 23rd, and smartly took advantage of a Cruz Azul defensive error two minutes before the extended halftime. Workers cleared some of the standing water with massive wooden squeegees, and in the 64th, Fabián Espíndola finished a low cross from Saborío.

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@FanHouseSoccer | @BrianStraus RSL was so close. And then Jason Kreis and Javier Orozco engineered a return to the status quo. Kreis, the RSL coach, played his part by removing midfield engineer Javier Morales and replacing him with Andy Williams in the 74th minute. Salt Lake's possession advantage evaporated, and with Cruz Azul keeping the ball at will, RSL was left to defend desperately.

"I do think we got a little too comfortable (at 3-1) and thought that maybe it was going to be easy," Kreis said. "We've seen it in our league before where, if we get a two-goal lead, the other team quits. And obviously there's no quit in Cruz Azul."

Orozco made them pay, scoring in the 75th, 88th and 89th minutes. He'd scored Cruz Azul's first goal as well. But just when Salt Lake seem consigned to a crushing defeat, Johnson popped back up and tallied a goal the refs couldn't take back. RSL celebrated as if they'd been behind all game.

But it wasn't to be. Cruz Azul's Christian Giménez, who did so much damage to MLS teams as a member of Pachuca, scored on a low shot from distance that ended the most incredible game in CONCACAF Champions League history -- in the Mexicans' favor, of course.

"I think we had some mental lapses and they made us pay for it. That's all it came down to. We made them pay for some lapses as well, but they made us pay for one more than we did," RSL captain Kyle Beckerman said.

MLS clubs now are 0-20-2 on Mexican soil (the Seattle Sounders also were beaten at home last night by Monterrey) and, when combined with the national team's futility, American teams boast a 0-43-3 record at our biggest rival. Even an RSL tie would have been something to celebrate.

Here are the current Champions League standings.

Video of Wednesday's unforgettable game is below: