Real Salt Lake

Coach Jason Kreis wants to try to squeeze out every possible advantage for RSL, heading into the second leg of its first-round playoff series against Columbus at Crew Stadium.

That's why he's leaving early.

The team is scheduled to depart this afternoon for Ohio, allowing it two days of training at the Crew's training center and more time than usual to recover from the travel. That could all be particularly important, given the short turnaround between games. The teams play again Thursday night, just five days after RSL dealt the Crew a 1-0 loss at Rio Tinto Stadium — a result that has raised big concerns among the Crew.

“We've shown to be a team that turns around very well,” Kreis said.

He's right — RSL has performed pretty capably this season when playing less than a week after its previous game. It's 4-2-1 in that scenario, which includes four instances of playing on three days rest and one instance each of four, five and six days rest. All it needs is a draw against the Crew this time, to advance to the MLS Eastern Conference final against either New England or Chicago.

"We're going to have to battle the whole game," forward Robbie Findley said.