Real Salt Lake looking to ride hot hand into MLS finals

CHICAGO — The MLS playoffs are all about getting hot at the right time.

A year ago the New York Red Bulls, a team that won just once away from home during the regular season, pulled off two road upsets in the playoffs to advance to the MLS Cup. In 2005 the L.A. Galaxy took that a step further by winning the MLS Cup as the No. 8 seed.

Both went on the road to clinch their respective conference championships, something Real Salt Lake hopes to duplicate tonight at Chicago at 6 p.m. (MDT), a match that will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.

Interestingly enough, in the brief six-year history of the current playoff format, road teams have been successful in the conference finals with a 7-5 record. That includes New York's win at Rio Tinto Stadium last year.

Asked if his team learned anything from losing in the conference final, RSL captain Kyle Beckerman succinctly said, "Yeah, that the away team can win."

Real Salt Lake is 0-2-2 in four visits to Toyota Park, including a 1-0 loss earlier this summer. The team is much more confident now, however, after pulling off the first-round upset of Columbus, especially on the road where it historically has been bad.

"We don't want to be overconfident and excited about the Columbus victory, we want to just focus on the task at hand and beat Chicago," said defender Chris Wingert.

The winner of today's match will advance to the MLS Cup in Seattle on Sunday, Nov. 22.

Considering how bleak RSL's chances of reaching the MLS playoffs were after back-to-back road losses in Texas in late September, the players don't want to let this opportunity slip away. Especially Beckerman, who is 0-4 in four career conference final appearances.

Those road struggles in Texas actually triggered RSL's late-season push. The team treated the 19-day break that followed as a mini preseason, a stretch coach Jason Kreis believes refocused his team for the stretch run.

The team finished the regular season with a 2-1 record and then prevailed in both its playoff games against the Crew.

"I think we clearly are one of the best teams in the league right now at this moment," said Kreis. "Obviously we didn't have a fantastic regular season but at the end of it all we're playing good soccer at the right time."

As history has shown, the playoffs are all about timing.

Despite all of RSL's confidence, it's no doubt still an underdog in tonight's Eastern Conference final against an equally, if not more motivated, Chicago Fire squad.