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Real Salt Lake-Sounders Preview

Sep 9, 2010 - 2:27 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Real Salt Lake (12-4-7) at Seattle (9-9-5), 11:00 p.m. EDT

Real Salt Lake is trying to prove that winning the MLS Cup championship last year wasn't a fluke. Taking the lead for the Supporters' Shield would be one way to cement its standing as one of the league's elite franchises.

Salt Lake looks extend its unbeaten streak to eight when its visits the Seattle Sounders on Thursday night.

RSL (12-4-7) made a surprising surge to its first league title in 2009, eliminating Columbus and Chicago before beating Western Conference champion Los Angeles on penalties in MLS Cup. The title-winning run came as the lowest seed in the playoffs, and was panned by many as a fluke.

However, Salt Lake is proving worthy of that lofty status, and a win over the Sounders (9-9-5) would move the club ahead of the East-leading Crew and the Galaxy in the race for the Supporters' Shield, awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season.

Real is trailing both clubs by one point with seven games remaining.

"It's already been mentioned to the players," coach Jason Kreis told the league's official website. "It would be huge. There's no doubt about it, we feel a lot of pride in what we've done here over several years. And to kind of answer a lot of naysayers, and what they had to say about us at the end of last season would be gigantic in my opinion.

"You thought we were just a good team at the end of last year. We'll show you over the course of 2010 what kind of team we are."

Salt Lake proved that again Saturday, beating high-powered New York 1-0 to tie Columbus' league-record 22-game home unbeaten streak. The club has a seven-game overall run (3-0-4) following a 2-0 loss at Dallas on July 17.

RSL, which is 3-4-4 on the road, could get an boost with the return of Alvaro Saborio, the team leader with eight goals. The forward didn't play against the Red Bulls due to being recalled to Costa Rica for a 1-0 loss at Jamaica in a friendly.

Saborio came up big in the most recent meeting with Seattle on April 10, scoring in stoppage time to clinch a 2-all tie at home.

RSL is 1-1-1 all-time against the Sounders, with a 2-0 loss coming in its only visit to Qwest Field on March 28, 2009.

While Salt Lake is trying to take command of the overall league standings, Seattle is trying to improve its position in the playoff race.

The Sounders are tied with San Jose for the last two wild card spots, two points behind sixth-place Colorado.

They'll need to show some improvement defensively after errors led to three goals in an 11-minute span in Saturday's 3-1 loss at New England.

"That was probably the worst 10 minutes we've played all year," goalkeeper Kasey Keller said. "We just want to get this out and learn from it and if we don't learn from it, I'm sure there will be some changes."

Fredy Montero is third in MLS with 10 goals, but failed to get a shot on goal Saturday. The forward had seven goals and six assists in the previous 11 games.