(Sports Network) - Real Salt Lake travels to Columbus to take on the Crew in Major League Soccer action between two second-place teams on Saturday. While neither team was in the playoffs a year ago, both seem to have a bead on spots in the 2008 MLS Cup playoffs thanks to some surprising play that has each near the top of their respective conference tables.

The Crew are second in the league with a 10-6-4 record, just two points back of Eastern Conference and league-leading New England while RSL is 7-7-6 and five points back in the much weaker Western Conference table.

The Crew are coming off a 2-1 win over FC Dallas in which they entered the second half down a goal after being thoroughly outplayed in the opening frame. The team showed its character after the break, however, to get it's 10th win of the season.

"I didn't think we played well in the first half, we were lucky," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said. "We were just off, we were a little bit lethargic, but as you said, the character of the team is great. They listen to what we have to say at halftime, they came out in the second half with a lot more energy. We were a lot more direct with our play, we stretched their defense, got behind them, and as a result of that we started to create some chances and then the goals came."

RSL is coming off a disappointing 4-3 loss at Western leading Houston in which the team gave up four first-half goals en route to the one-goal loss.

"We definitely wanted to come get three points and make a statement that we're for real," RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "We wanted to come down and really put it to them. But they're a good team, and they play really well in Houston in all this heat."

The four goals allowed by RSL matched the total it had allowed in the previous 10 games combined, dating back to May 31.

A positive for RSL is it scored three goals against a solid Houston defense in the loss.

"There were good things all over the field," RSL forward Robbie Findley said. "We wanted to come out early and try to press them and get a goal early if we could, and that happened. ... I think every one of our forwards who came in got at least point, and that's a good sign. We've just got to get back to being stingy on defense and continue scoring goals."

Both teams enter Saturday's match relatively healthy, with the only significant absence being Crew midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo, who plays Saturday afternoon for Nigeria against Argentina in the Olympic gold medal match.



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