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Portland, Ore. » Kyle Beckerman sat on a chair in front of a random locker below Providence Park and properly announced the obvious. The end is near. The 2014 Major League Soccer regular season has a week remaining. After seven-and-a-half months of games all over North America, Real Salt Lake has just a single match remaining on the slate, Wednesday's regular-season finale against Chivas USA at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The 32-year-old midfielder in his 15th season in MLS laughed off how simultaneously long and short a season can be in the league as RSL prepares for its seventh straight trip to the MLS Cup playoffs in a couple weeks.

"Every year, that's just the way it is," Beckerman said, shaking his head. "Every year we look back and say, 'Man, that was quick.' Preseason's super-long, but the season goes quick."

After RSL's dramatic defensive performance in Portland on Friday night — one that produced a 0-0 draw against the Timbers — the club sits at 14-8-11 and with 53 points entering the match against Chivas USA. The team's full focus will be on the Goats, a group RSL has struggled with this season. Chivas is just one of two Western Conference teams that RSL has yet to defeat, the other being Vancouver. For most in MLS, Chivas has been a relatively easy go. Not the case for RSL. The Goats are 2-0-0 this year against RSL, both instances yielding 1-0 victories at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

"I think people know what Chivas has done to us this year," goalkeeper Nick Rimando said after his magnificent job against Portland, "but nobody has to bring that up."

The motivation to snag the No. 3 seed out West, coupled with the motivation of losing twice to a club with eight wins this year is clearly there.

"We need to win," midfielder Javier Morales said. "This team is a little bit upset about losing two games against them.

"Now we need to have to win this game at home. We have to finish on a good note."

Piecing together back-to-back shutouts is an integral part of garnering momentum as the postseason looms. Entering Friday's match at Portland, RSL coach Jeff Cassar mentioned how the trip to Providence Park could be a playoff intro for this year's group. The first-year head coach said his team passed with flying colors against the Timbers, who needed a win to control their destiny for the final playoff spot.

"It's massive," Cassar said. "If we're playing Portland in the playoffs and we got 0-0 [away], guess what? We're in the driver's seat. That's exactly our mentality.

"You want to make sure you get a shutout on the road, take care of business and then take care of business at home. Now the job's half-done in our preparation and we need to have the right mentality against Chivas to get ready for the playoffs."

RSL faces its third game in a 10-day span to close out yet another season in which again the playoffs are a guarantee. Real will earn the third seed in the playoffs with a win over Chivas USA and if FC Dallas loses or ties Portland in its season finale Oct. 25. —

Chivas USA at RSL

O Wednesday,

7:30 p.m.

TV • CW30