Real Salt Lake aims for Chivas, looks to win it all

SANDY — Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA were absolutely awful in their expansion years back in 2005. They combined for a 9-44-11 record, but it's only five wins when you eliminate the four times they capitalized on their own awfulness and beat each other.

The following year, the expansion brethren began to go their separate ways.

They each made drastic changes from their freshman to sophomore seasons, but it was Chivas that got it right. The Goats made the playoffs in 2006 and 2007 — including winning the West last year — whereas Real Salt Lake finished last in the Western Conference both years.

The former laughingstocks of the league are one again on level terms, but no one's laughing any more. RSL and Chivas have been reunited this year in the playoffs, a two-game series that begins today at Rio Tinto Stadium at 4 p.m. The second leg of the Western Conference semifinal is next Saturday at Chivas USA, and whichever team scores the most total goals in the two games advances.

"There will be a tendency now for the team, all of our supporters and the media to think, 'OK, we've gotten here, our work is done.' That is not the case at all," said RSL coach Jason Kreis. "We have felt within our locker room that probably the most difficult task for us this year would be to make the playoffs. Now that we're in there, we feel in our hearts that we can go all the way, and that's what we plan on doing."

It won't be easy against a Chivas team that's dominated the series since their joint expansion year. In the 10 matches since 2005, Real Salt Lake is 1-6-3 against Chivas. That lone RSL victory occurred this year, and it came at the Home Depot Center — one of just two RSL road wins all year. Conversely, and a reality that makes this series so intriguing, RSL's only home loss this year was against Chivas on Sept. 20, its last game in Rice-Eccles Stadium.

So what does it all mean? No one knows, but it's probably safe to expect the unexpected. Either way, one of these two franchises will advance to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

"These home-away series are always like playing a whole game, but two halves," said RSL defender Nat Borchers. "Anything can happen between those two games. I've seen it in all the years I've been a professional."