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Usually, coach Jason Kreis wants his Real Salt Lake team to play to win on the road, not just bunker in and hope for a draw.
But this is different.
Having won the first leg of its first-round Major League Soccer playoff series against the defending champion Columbus Crew, RSL expects to take few chances in the second leg at Crew Stadium on Thursday night, knowing that a draw is all it needs to advance to the MLS Eastern Conference final.
"We just really hope for a clean sheet," midfielder Clint Mathis said, "because if we keep a clean sheet, we go through no matter if we score or not."
The series will be decided by combined goals, so the advantage RSL earned with its 1-0 victory in the first leg "affords us the opportunity to be a little bit more defensive, to really protect what we've already got," Kreis said.
The Crew have scored only one goal in their last five games -- four of them losses -- but figure to put star midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto back in the lineup, along with veteran forward Alejandro Moreno. The RSL players expect the Crew will come after them, knowing the Crew must win to have a chance to advance.
"We're going to try to make sure we play our best defense, and do our best not to let them on the scoreboard," defender Chris Wingert said.
Quick turnaround
With only five days between games and a rough history on the road, Kreis
So he packed up and left, already.
RSL departed for Ohio on Monday, hoping to benefit from having extra time to recover from the trip as well as the chance to work out twice at the Crew's practice facility before the game. Kreis has praised his team's ability to play on short rest between games -- it's 4-2-1 in that scenario -- but also said he's just trying to do things differently, since few previous road trips have turned out well.
The team is even staying in a different hotel than usual. "We'll hope that some of the little things pay dividends," Kreis said.
Award shutout
Perhaps not surprisingly, RSL will be shut out of the league's annual awards.
No RSL players was among the finalists the league has announced, while the Crew has Chad Marshall up for defender of the year again - he won, last year - and Robert Warzycha up for coach of the year.
Rare experience
Rookie midfielder Raphael Cox is the only player who has scored for RSL at Columbus.
The team has scored only three goals in five games at Crew Stadium -- three of its four losses there have been shutouts -- with the other two recorded by defenders Chris Klein and Carey Talley in a 2-1 victory in 2006. Neither player remains with RSL.
Cox's goal came late in a 3-1 loss back in July, after the Crew had jumped to a 3-0 lead. He has played in only one game since then, a victory over Kansas City on Aug. 29.
Happy ending?
Forward Yura Movsisyan is quite aware that he's playing his last games for RSL before moving to Randers FC in Denmark, and is hoping for a storybook finish.
"I want to win something before I leave," he said. "My main objective to stay here was to make the playoffs, and now that we made the playoffs, I don't want to leave here just by making the playoffs.
"I want to win something," he added. "I've been playing four years in this league, it's time for me to win something really memorable. Going out with an MLS Cup championship would be the best thing I could ask for."
RSL at Columbus
Thursday, 6 p.m.
TV » ESPN2
