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Fire-Real Salt Lake Preview

Sep 17, 2010 - 6:07 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (6-8-8) at Real Salt Lake (12-4-8), 4:00 p.m. EDT

Real Salt Lake is one win away from the longest home unbeaten streak in MLS history.

The club hopes a depleted roster won't hurt its push to extend its league unbeaten mark at Rio Tinto Stadium to 23 games Saturday when it meets the Chicago Fire in a rematch of last year's thrilling Eastern Conference championship.

Real Salt Lake (12-4-8) owns the best goal differential in the league at plus-21 and is three points behind Los Angeles for the best record. The strong season for the defending MLS Cup champion has been largely because of its stellar play at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The club is 9-0-3 there this year and unbeaten in 25 in a row at home in all competitions after a 4-1 victory over Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday. RSL tied the regular-season league record at 22 - set by Columbus in 2008 and '09 - in its last MLS home match, a 1-0 defeat of New York on Sept. 4.

RSL will be forced into some lineup changes. Midfielder Javier Morales has been suspended for this contest for retaliating against Seattle's Osvaldo Alonso just moments after Alonso fouled him close to midfield in a scoreless draw Sept. 9.

Defender Robbie Russell also may sit out after leaving Wednesday's match in the 28th minute due to concussion-like symptoms following a collision with Toronto's Matin Saric.

"Robbie Russell has a concussion and it seems like a pretty serious one," coach Jason Kreis said. "It would probably put him in great jeopardy to be available for us on Saturday."

Forward Fabian Espindola missed the Seattle contest with a hamstring injury. Espindola and Morales are tied for second on the team with six goals.

"I've got my fingers crossed with Fabian," Kreis said. "I just don't know."

One piece of good news is that defender Jamison Olave will be available after he missed the match against Seattle due to yellow card accumulation.

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando has posted four straight clean sheets and leads the league with 11. Rimando had several key saves in last year's penalty shootout victory over Chicago (6-8-8) that sent RSL to its first MLS Cup.

The teams' first meeting since that game was a 1-0 victory for RSL at Toyota Park on July 8 in which Robbie Findley scored on a penalty kick.

Chicago is 0-3-2 in its last five league matches, falling 1-0 at expansion Philadelphia last Saturday. The Fire are seven points shy of a playoff spot.

"It's time for urgency right now," midfielder Patrick Nyarko said. "We cannot drop any points."

The Fire made a change in management by naming Julian Posada team president earlier in the week. Posada replaces Dave Greeley, who resigned last month.