SANDY — As is well-known by now, Major League Soccer altered its playoff format this season.
The change eliminated any and all two-leg series from the postseason.
Instead, every game throughout the playoffs is single-elimination.
It is, by all accounts, a welcome change.
“We are excited about the new format,” Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. “Once we get started, it’ll go really quick. You’ll find out if you are in the finals in just a week or so. In the past, Game 1 of the two legs wasn’t always the best game to watch. I think this (single elimination) will make the whole playoffs more fun.”
The fun is about to begin, as No. 3 seeded Real Salt Lake will take on the No. 6 Portland Timbers Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium to open the 2019 postseason.
The Timbers, of course, have had RSL’s number over the years, particularly this year. Portland swept the regular season series two games to none, courtesy of a 2-1 victory in May, followed by 1-0 win in August.
“The curse of Nat Borchers is real,” Beckerman said.
Borchers, of course, won the MLS Cup in 2009 while with RSL, before winning it again in 2015 with Portland.
“They have had our number at times, and we have had their number at times,” said Beckerman. “Now we are trying to switch it up. If we knew (how), it would be easy. We have to go out and do it. We have to find a way.”
The way to victory could be behind them, or so believes midfielder Albert Rusnák, recently returned from international duty.
“I feel like in the games we have played against them, and not just here (in Utah), but even over there (in Portland), there were games where we were probably the better team, but came out on the wrong side of the result,” Rusnák said. “Performance-wise, we know what we can do at home. It is what we have done most of this season. We will try and repeat that.”
There is optimism on that front, particularly in light of what the team pulled off in the knockout round of the 2018 MLS playoffs, when Real Salt Lake upset off LAFC 3-2.
That win, and the subsequent two-game series against Sporting Kansas City, followed by this year’s campaign, has given RSL, and particularly the team’s younger players, a wealth of opportunities for growth.
“The younger guys have more experience now and with that comes confidence,” interim head coach Freddy Juarez said. “That LAFC game, playing two games against KC, all that is growth and development. The only way you get better is seeing situations occur over and over again.
“We have a good group of veterans who have seen it all and we have young guys who are growing steadily. We didn’t necessarily come into the season saying we wanted to be the hardest team to play against, but we do pride ourselves on being a team that can collectively be strong on both phases, attacking and defending. It is something we’ve wanted to focus on. We been doing these tactics since last year, but it takes some time for a team to grow and mesh to find the right balance of what we think.”
In addition to the team’s growth — which per Juarez, enabled RSL to be as steady as any team in MLS this season, a fact that led to the team earning its No. 3 seed — Real Salt Lake believes the odds to be its favor this time around against the Timbers, if only because of how difficult it is to defeat a team three times in a season.
“It is tough because of how even teams are in this league,” Beckerman said. “Each game, there is such a small sliver of what causes a win or a loss. In some of those games we lost, we could have won. I think it is hard for just one team to get that small difference on their side every game.”
Real Salt Lake can only hope that to be the case, but they are not counting on it.
“This is a one game off,” Rusnák said. “We all must play with the attitude that this is going to be a tough game and won’t be easy. We have to treat this as a final.”
And if they come away victorious, all the better.
“It is the greatest time to beat them,” Rusnák said. “A win now means we keep playing and their season is done. It’ll be a nice feeling.”
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RSL on the air
No. 3 Real Salt Lake (16-13-5) vs. No. 6 Portland Timbers (14-13-7)
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy
Saturday, 8 p.m. MDT
TV: ESPNews
Radio: ESPN 700 AM