Real Salt Lake is ready to welcome their old, familiar playoff foe, the LA Galaxy, to Rio Tinto Stadium for the first leg of their Western Conference semifinals series on Saturday night (Watch live on NBCSN at 8 pm ET and online via Live Extra).
With these two teams having met in the playoffs three times in the past, Real Salt Lake hold a slim two-series-to-one advantage over the Galaxy, including the most important one of all: the 2009 MLS Cup final.
The three-match regular season series, however, was split straight down the middle, 1-1-1.
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The big news tonight is that MLS MVP candidate Robbie Keane (19 goals, 14 assists) returns to the team for Bruce Arena’s side (full starting lineups below) after missing last weekend’s all-important Supporters Shield decider in Seattle altogether (the Sounders won 2-0).
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Rimando, Beltran, Borchers, Schuler, Wingert, Beckerman, Mulholland, Gil, Morales, Saborio, Plata
Subs: Attinella, Grabavoy, Jaime, Salcedo, Grossman, Findley, Mansally
LA Galaxy: Penedo, Gargan, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Rogers, Husidic, Sarvas, Juninho, Donovan, Keane, Zardes
Subs: Rowe, Villarreal, Gordon, Meyer, Leonardo, Ishizaki, Walker