Real Salt Lake's Beckerman: 'Hopefully we'll be the underdog'

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Kyle Beckerman nearly scoffed when asked if there was any pressure on Real Salt Lake going into the first leg of the MLS Western Conference semifinals Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium.RSL (15-11-8), the third seed, hosts No. 2 seed Seattle (18-7-9) at 8 p.m. "Pressure? I don't know," he said. "We know we have a chance to win the whole thing. I hope we're ready."Beckerman does embrace the role of underdog. "It kind of seems sometimes we play up when we play against a tougher opponent in the standings or down when [we play] a lesser opponent in the standings. Hopefully we'll be the underdog in this series. We can take something from that and put it in our game."Then there's RSL coach Jason Kreis' take:"I don't don't know what to say other than the proof will come in the matches."martyr@sltrib.comTwitter@:Rsltribune.com