This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

They allowed four disastrous goals in the first hour of their last game against a team at the top of the standings. Now, Real Salt Lake takes its flickering hopes for a respectable season to D.C. United.

In a word?

Uh-oh.

United is not only the best team in Major League Soccer, but it's also the hottest - an eight-game unbeaten streak attests to that - and one that can doom RSL to planning for next season if RSL can't somehow manufacture an unlikely victory tonight at RFK Stadium in Washington.

The game is the second on RSL's crucial three-game road trip that players described before leaving as "make-or-break." They believed they needed to emerge with at least six points in the standings to keep alive their paper-thin playoff hopes.

But another loss tonight assures RSL won't get its six points for the trip, not after falling apart defensively in a 4-3 loss in Houston last weekend that led coach Jason Kreis to wonder "why there are guys running completely free in the six-yard box on our goal."

And without those points, RSL is destined to miss the playoffs for a third year in a row and perhaps stimulate serious questions about the value of its midseason makeover. The team is 4-10-4 since Kreis took over as coach, and seems to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again - such as failing to maintain possession through the midfield.

"We weren't keeping the ball the way we can" against Houston, midfielder Kyle Beckerman said, "so that was killing us. When we would keep the ball, we would get some good chances, and when we didn't they were making us pay. It's just something we could do better on next time."

It won't be easy.

United is 14-6-4 and atop the MLS Eastern Conference, having gone 7-0-1 in its last eight games and 14-3-3 since first-year coach Tom Soehn started fiddling with his formation following a winless four-game start.

Electrifying striker Luciano Emilio is the league's leading scorer with 18 goals, including at least one in each game of the winless streak - a terrifying thought for a defense that allowed Houston's Nate Jacqua to equal his scoring total for the entire season by finding the net three times in 57 minutes against it - and United has lost only once at home all season.

What could be worse?

United also can clinch its playoff spot with a win or a tie, and avenge a stunning loss to RSL in striker Robbie Findley's two-goal debut in Utah back on June 23. In other words, motivation doesn't figure to be a problem.

RSL at D.C. United

At RFK Stadium, Washington

Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. MDT

TV: None

Radio: 103.1 FM, 1600 AM

Records: RSL 4-12-6, United 14-6-4

Series: Tied, 2-2-1

Last Meeting: RSL 2, United 1 (June 23)