Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Real Salt Lake will close out its 2013 regular season Wednesday night hosting Major League Soccer Western Conference opponent Chivas USA inside its fortress, Rio Tinto Stadium.
And with playoff action looming in the not so distant future, the Salt Lake club is focused solely on Wednesday night.
“I only know one thing,” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 Tuesday. “We need to win (Wednesday) night.”
Finishing off its regular season with a win Wednesday night would put the Salt Lake club in first place in the West and tied for first in the Supporter’s Shield race with 56 points.
That is, at least until the rest of the teams around the league finish off their regular season this weekend.
“I’d really like to put ourselves into a position where we can take the three points, put ourselves in the lead for both the Supporter’s Shield and the conference championship and then watch the other teams this weekend,” said Kreis.
RSL enters the mid-week fresh match off a one-point, 0-0 draw, result on the road last weekend in Oregon with Western Conference foe the Portland Timbers. The Salt Lake side currently sits in second place in the West, with 53 points and a 15-10-8 record on the season.
Chivas USA comes to Rio Tinto Stadium Wednesday night sitting dead last in the Western Conference with 26 points, a 6-18-8 record and absolutely no hope for a playoff seed this season.
Despite Chivas’ current record, RSL knows it will need to be prepared for anything, especially with the way the last few weeks have been going around the league.
"I think that anything could happen, so we have to go out there and plan on going for three points," RSL defender Nat Borchers told the media following Saturday’s draw in Portland.
However, Kreis is confident his roster is aware and knows what needs to happen Wednesday night inside Rio Tinto.
“I think that everybody knows the score, I think that everybody knows that we need to get the three points first and foremost just to alleviate the possibility of having to play in that play-in game next Wednesday or Thursday,” Kreis said.
“I think everybody knows that there’s still an opportunity for us to win something —the Supporter’s Shield or the conference championship — and I’m hopeful that everybody knows that I feel we haven’t put together a complete 90-minute performance, it’s been a very long time, maybe we haven’t even done it the entire season and I think this would be the exact right time to put everything together and to show ourselves, most importantly, that we’re ready for the playoffs.” Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
