Match 11.26 Preview: Real Salt Lake

Match #: 11.26

Opponent: Real Salt Lake, Final MLS Matchup

Records:
DC United, 14-3-8, 50 pts, 1st in East Conference, 1st in MLS
Chivas USA, 9-12-5, 32 pts, 6th in West Conference, 8th in MLS

TV: CSN/DK/MLSlive.tv/FSC - 7:30pm

Previous Meeting: Real Salt Lake 2 : 1 DC United (DCenters Debriefing)

Suggested Pregame Music: Okay, I have a confession to make, I know nothing about music. This is the worst part of the preview for me because unlike many other DC United fans, I am not a music snob. I usually just listen to whatever is on the radio and any indie bands that I do listen to can be directly correlated to my little sister sending me a song or two over AIM. So basically I usually just come up with some sort of classic rock reference after lots of futile searching online. This time however my googleing skills came to fruition. Unfortunately, the band sucks and I had never heard of them before, but you can't make this stuff up. "Hospital Food is an original melodic pop-punk band straight from the streets of Salt Lake City." The first song on their new album is Diablo.

Suggested Pregame Activity: Operation

The Stakes: United still needs points for the Supporter's Shield and the international bid that comes with it. There is still a lot of animosity left over from the pre-season, as the last match between these two probably did very little to resolve anything. RSL are currently at the bottom of a bitter five way play-off race and need points on the road.

Things I'd like to see: Somebody step up. Last week it was Gomez. This week Gros, Boswell, Gomez, and Eski are all out with yellow card accumulation or straight reds. Moreno might not play this one, as he has been sidelined with tendonitis in his knee and Wilson is out for the year. So we are probably going to see Walker, Dyachenko, Simms, and Prideaux all starting. Somebody needs to step up. I would love to see Adu be the man, but would be happy if it was anybody on the field wearing black. United needs to dominate the midfield, contain Cunningham, and take their shots. Those are the keys to the game, if DC can do that they can win the game. If they don't it could get ugly.

Previews from the DCUniverse: QuarterVolley, DCist

Previews from RSLand: Real Salt Lake Blog, Are You Loyal?

Expected Yield: 1 point (Kinney).

Kinney's Location: RFK

D's and Oscar's Locations? Had better be at RFK.

Last Words: "I think people fancy me. They can't figure me out. I'm an attractive guy. I make good money and I score goals. I'm the kind of guy I believe people love. And, at the same time, they can't figure out why they love me so much, so they decide to hate me."