Justin Johnson

SANDY -- For Real Salt Lake, it is the end of an era.

For Andy Williams, his future is just getting started.

Williams, the last remaining player from Real's inaugural 2005 season, announced his retirement on KALL-AM 700's Bill and Spence Show late Monday afternoon.

While Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy took wildly divergent paths to get there, both teams are precisely where many expected them to be at the start of the season.

Tonight at 7 p.m., RSL and L.A. will collide at the Home Depot Center, with the winner advance to the MLS Cup for the second time in three seasons.

"It's a good rivalry," Real goalkeeper Nick Rimando said earlier this week. "I think it all started from MLS Cup. The last four years we've been consistent with our play, and got to where the Galaxy have always been. We're their competition, I think."

Nick Rimando is a pretty smart guy.

Having started 288 matches in his 12 year Major League Soccer career, the 32-year old native of Montclair, Calif., knows just how important it is for Real Salt Lake not to lose its focus as its Western Conference semifinal series shifts to Seattle this week for the decisive second leg.

"We've gotta go out and play; we can't just sit back and let (Seattle) come at us," Rimando said. "Seattle is a tough place to play. 3-0 is a good lead, but I think we need to continue to play well.

SANDY -- It's easy to look at Real Salt Lake's six-match winless streak at the end of the season and not be encouraged at the team's prospects as it opens up the 2011 edition of the Major League Soccer playoffs tonight.

Especially with its opponent, Seattle, carrying a 5-2-0 record and the league's second-best record into tonight's 8 p.m. kickoff of a two-leg Western Conference semifinal series, which will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel.

SANDY -- The endgame of the Major League Soccer's regular season has arrived, with Real Salt Lake set to host a critical home match tonight against Portland.

At stake tonight when the Claret-and-Cobalt host the Timbers at 7 p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium is the coveted No. 3 spot on the Western Conference table, a spot that would earn Real a pass through the wild-card round of the MLS playoffs and directly into a two-leg conference semifinal series with Seattle.

For the Claret-and-Cobalt, nearly everything is on the line tonight.

Real Salt Lake's first visit to Vancouver earlier this season didn't turn out well.

In fact, it didn't turn out at all as the match was postponed just two hours prior to kickoff due to excessive rain that waterlogged the Whitecaps' temporary playing surface that had been put down to prior to an international friendly match against Manchester City.