KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Real Salt Lake picked up a big point in the Western Conference playoff race with their 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.
But the LA Galaxy still gained ground on them in the race for the West’s final postseason berth.
Looking dead in the water a couple weeks ago, suddenly the Galaxy are making a late push up the Western Conference standings, defeating the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps and posting back-to-back clean sheets in the process.
Do RSL feel that pressure of the Galaxy on their heels?
“I don’t feel that,” coach Mike Petke said on Sunday. “We’re above the playoff line. We’ve been there for four and a half months. It’s in our hands now. If we do what we have to do, then we’ll be OK. So I’m not really score-checking at this point.”
Rookie forward Corey Baird knows what happens when the lights shine brighter. A three-time NCAA national champion at Stanford University, Baird has been in pressure situations before. He echoed the sentiments of his head coach after he bagged his seventh goal of the season in RSL’s draw with Sporting.
“I’m not really too focused on them,” he said of the Galaxy. “I just know we have got three more games now. If we do what we should be able to do, then we’ll make the playoffs.”
Both the Galaxy and Salt Lake have three games left. LA play at Sporting KC, at Minnesota United and then host the Houston Dynamo on Decision Day. As the only team in MLS not participating in that final day of the regular season due to the odd number of teams, RSL will host Portland and New England before finishing their season a week earlier than everyone else in Portland.
One slip-up and they could end up missing out on the postseason. But results like Sunday’s have RSL feeling like they’re taking the right steps, especially considering how close they came to making the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs last year.
“At this point in the season, every point counts,” said Albert Rusnak. “This could be an important point at the end of the regular season. We know we missed playoffs last year on one point, so we know how much we value this.”
