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RSL eyes postseason return against Chivas

Oct 3, 2014 - 8:23 PM Carson, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Salt Lake can clinch a seventh straight trip to the playoffs on Sunday when the club travels to the StubHub Center to take on last-place Chivas USA.

RSL enters the weekend eight points back of Western Conference leaders Seattle and Los Angeles, but the team would like to remain in the top three to avoid playing in the knockout round.

Salt Lake has only a one-point lead on FC Dallas with four games to play, so three points is a must for Jeff Cassar's side on Sunday.

A 2-1 defeat to Vancouver last time out saw RSL take the lead in the 57th minute through Nat Borchers, but Salt Lake gave away two debatable penalty kicks that were converted by Pedro Morales, forcing the team to leave the match with nothing.

Despite the setback, midfielder Kyle Beckerman was still pleased with the effort, and he is confident his team can come away with a better result on Sunday.

"I think the important thing was the effort that we gave tonight," Beckerman said after the loss. "I thought everybody fought for each other and really had each other's back. The main thing you can get from it is we you can work for each other and really react to mistakes, and I thought we did that. We'll take that and see if we can get better next week."

Chivas is a team that is in the midst of another disappointing campaign, and the club saw its winless streak reach 12 games following a 4-2 setback against Seattle last time out.

Wilmer Cabrera's team actually took a 2-1 lead against the Supporters' Shield contenders through 18 minutes, but goals from Lamar Neagle, Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins allowed the Sounders to survive the upset.

The performance against Seattle is one of the best that Chivas has produced in recent months with the team having been held without a goal in nine of its 12 games during the winless streak.

"We came to play an even game and it was a good game," said Cabrera following the Seattle defeat. "The intensity was good; we created options and we scored two goals. [Seattle is] a very good team, one of the top teams in this league, if not the best. No doubt, with the mentality, with the intensity that the players put on the field, we watched and we enjoyed a good game."

Those kind of moral victories are the only ones that Chivas is getting at this point in the season with the club rooted to the bottom of the Western Conference and having already been eliminated from playoff contention.

But Cabrera is hopeful that if his side can play with a similar intensity to what he saw against Seattle over the final four games, that his side will be able to at least take some points down the stretch.

"We've been talking, [the players] are committed and right now, what we need to think is, if we can play the next four games with this intensity, we're going to win some points because we have three [games] at home, so that's important," Cabrera said.