Real Salt Lake

The “official” team watch party at Rio Tinto Stadium is sold out, but that doesn't mean fans can't find other soccer-friendly places to watch RSL play Chicago in the MLS Eastern Conference final on Saturday.

One of them is The Republican bar at 917 S. State Street in Salt Lake City, where members of various supporters groups — mostly the Rogue Cavaliers' Brigade and Section 26 — will gather to sing and chant and watch the big game. We're told that new fans are more than welcome to stop by and enjoy the festivities!

It sure didn't look like your stereotypical American soccer crowd.

And to a man, the players on RSL have said they're looking forward to playing the Chicago Fire in the MLS Eastern Conference final on Saturday in as wild and charged an atmosphere as the one that a stadium-record 21,258 fans created for the Fire's first-round playoff victory over New England at Toyota Park last weekend.

“It was great,” goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. “That's what this league needs. It was perfect. I think if that game was here, we'd have some similarities. But I think it's great. This team thrives on our competition and fans like that and the pressure. … It's cool to go into a place like that and see their fans, and if you can be victorious, it's a little bit more to get them on their home field.”

Defender Chris Wingert agreed.

“It was awesome,” he said. “It was exciting to see that they had so many people out there. Obviously, that's what you want when you're going into a conference final. It would be a disappointment if there was a lack of support. It's going to be awesome for the city of Chicago and great for us, too. Of course, we want a big crowd.”

While his team prepares for the game that could send it into the league championship, owner Dave Checketts is in “advanced discussions” to sell nearly half of RSL to local real estate developer Dell Loy Hansen.

Spokesman Eric Gelfand confirmed that Checketts and his Sports Capital Partners Worldwide are close to selling 49 percent of the team to Hansen, though the deal has not closed yet. Gelfand declined to reveal the price Hansen will pay.

The owner of the Wasatch Property Management real estate firm based in Logan, Hansen could not immediately be reached for comment. But he recently confirmed his part in the deal in the weekly business newspaper, The Enterprise, saying he will “be considered the local partner.”

All of the proceeds from the deal will remain with RSL, sources within the organization said, and are not tied to Checketts' effort to buy the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Nor does the sale indicate the team is facing financial difficulty, the sources said.

Coach Jason Kreis is bracing himself for probably the biggest challenge the Chicago Fire can offer his RSL team in the MLS Eastern Conference final on Saturday:

Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

The star Mexican forward was a monster in the Fire's 2-0 victory over the New England Revolution last weekend, scoring once, helping set up the other goal and creating numerous other dangerous chances.

“That was the best game I've ever seen Blanco play, apart from what he does with Mexico,” Kreis said. “I think that was his best game in a Chicago Fire jersey. He's special. He's different. He makes special plays happen offensively.”

Blanco did not play in either of the regular-season meetings between the Fire and RSL, with nagging injuries having slowed him for much of the season. But he appeared rejuvenated against the Revs, and figures to be a handful for the RSL defense.

“We have to be aware of where he is, even when we have the ball,” Kreis said. “We'll have one or two players mindful of the spaces he floats into, such that when it turns over, we can get close to him and close down quickly.”

Kreis said the challenge is “almost exactly” the same as the one RSL faced against Guillermo Barros Schelotto and the Columbus Crew the past two weeks — “nine guys who are working all the time and then one guy who doesn't work as much but is a big-time difference-maker.”

“He's difficult to defend against because he shows up in a lot of different positions on the field,” defender Nat Borchers said. “He's dangerous. He plays balls that a lot of guys on the field wouldn't play and keeps defenses on their toes and stretches you out. It will be fun to play against him.”

Forward Robbie Findley was not among the players called up to the United States national team today for its upcoming international friendlies with Slovakia and Denmark.

But he would have been.

Coach Jason Kreis said that if RSL wasn't still alive in the Major League Soccer playoffs — it meets Chicago in the MLS Eastern Conference final on Saturday — his star scorer would have been among the players called up by national team coach Bob Bradley.

But Bradley did not call up anybody whose team is still in the playoffs, choosing Colorado's Conor Casey and FC Dallas' Jeff Cunningham among the forwards, instead. In any case, Kreis doubts Findley has any conflicted feelings — especially because RSL in the playoffs and the national team is playing merely exhibitions.

“If this was the middle of the season, I would think he would have mixed feelings, for sure,” Kreis said. “But when it comes to playoffs? When it comes to a guy like Robbie Findley? I got no doubts he's 100 percent with us.”

Findley earned his first cap over the summer during qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Americans qualified, and will play Slovakia and Denmark on Nov. 14 and 18, as part of their preparation.