Out of playoff chase, RSL playing for pride

Motivation is an unpredictable reality in sports, especially in soccer, where the difference between winning and losing is a very fine line.

The vast array of motivational levels will be on display at Rice-Eccles Stadium tonight at 7.

At one end of the spectrum you have Chivas USA. Not only would a victory over Real Salt Lake vault the Goats past Houston into first place in the Western Conference, but it would pull them to within two points of D.C. United in the race for the Supporter's Shield, presented to the MLS team with the best regular season record.

With so much at stake, it's hard to imagine Chivas lacking in focus.

As for Real Salt Lake, the only thing at stake tonight is pride. Thanks to Toronto's surprising win over New York on Thursday, RSL and Toronto now share the basement of the MLS standings with 24 points and three matches remaining.

Is trying to avoid finishing the year with the worst record motivation enough for RSL to come out with a solid effort?

"Before last week's game (at New York), our mentality was we still had a chance to be in the playoffs and that was our goal, to win every game," said Real coach Jason Kreis. "That's going to continue to be our goal, to win every game."

Do the players feel the same motivation?

"Everybody's fighting for their jobs right now, and we've got to put on a good showing for us, for our coaches and for our fans; they deserve it," said Nick Rimando, who is a shoo-in to win the team MVP award. "As far as (today) goes and the next three games, we're still going out to win. Jason's going to put a good team out there."

Following tonight's game with Chivas, RSL wraps up its home slate on Oct. 15 against visiting Houston, followed by a season-ending visit to Colorado on Oct. 20.

Real Salt Lake is by no means limping to the finish line. Thanks to a win over Colorado and draws against Toronto, Los Angeles and New York, Real is in the midst of a season-best four-game unbeaten streak.

Maintaining that streak for three more games would seemingly give RSL a confidence boost heading in 2008, but both Kreis and midfielder Carey Talley believe that's a deceiving assumption.

"We thought we could do that last year, but next season's going to be completely different," said Talley.

As for Kreis, he believes the foundation has already been laid for a successful 2008 campaign.

"I think either way we're already looking at next year as very promising regardless of the results collectively over the next three games," he said. "I think we feel like we've proven to ourselves anyway that we're very competitive with the rest of the teams in the league and that's saying quite a bit because we're quite a bit under the salary cap."

Despite the confidence, RSL faces a tall order tonight against a Chivas team on a nine-game unbeaten streak (6-0-3).

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Real on air

Chivas USA (14-6-6) at Real Salt Lake (5-13-9)

Tonight, 7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium

TV: HDNet (8 p.m.)

Radio: AM-700