5 questions with Real Salt Lake midfielder Andy Williams

Real Salt Lake midfielder Andy Williams will be starting in his second career MLS Cup today, his first since losing with the Chicago Fire back in 2003. It's been an emotional season for Williams on and off the field, and he caught up with RSL beat writer James Edward at Qwest Field on Friday to discuss playing for the championship.

1. Question: Looking back on your first couple of years with this team, did you ever think you'd be in a position to win an MLS Cup with Real Salt Lake?

Answer: First two years probably no. But once Jason came in and Garth turned the team around and brought in certain players you could see that the chips were there and hopefully they'll fall into place.

2. Question: What are your thoughts coming back to Seattle, the city where your wife, Marcia, underwent all of her treatments in her battle with Leukemia?

Answer: I've been here a couple times this year. We've won a battle here before and it's going to be another battle here on Sunday. I'm 1-0 here in the big game, and hopefully we'll come away with another victory on Sunday. She gets here (Saturday), she's got quite a few friends here, and hopefully we get a few Sounders fans on our side, too.

3. Question: Is it a coincidence that once your playing time increased late this the summer that Real Salt Lake's production started to go up?

Answer: Nah. We kind of peaked at the right time. It's been like that last year and it's been that way again this year. We kind of wait till the end of the season to start playing well. I think we've got a little bit of swag and it's paying off right now.

4. Question: What does being in this final mean to you and Jason Kreis specifically because you're the only two guys left from that expansion team?

Answer: It was tough the first two years. The first year I thought we had a good team on paper, but we just didn't perform well. It kind of went onto the next season but we made a few changes, we brought Kyle (Beckerman) in. I think that was the key puzzle to all of this. After that we brought in more backbone to the team and that's changed everything. It's great being here and hopefully we can help out the fans that suffered the first two years.

5. Question: Do you think you've got one more playoff road victory in you?

Answer: Well, it's road for them too. That's how we're looking at it. It's a neutral ground for them. Hopefully they won't be the hometown favorites where the Sounders fans take their side. I don't think the Sounders like them at all. Hopefully they'll be on our side tomorrow. It's gonna be different for them because they're going to be on turf and same thing for us, so it's going to be a different ballgame. We'll see who adjusts to the turf the best.