(Sports Network) - The Chicago Fire host Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference final on Saturday night at Toyota Park.

The Fire are coming off a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the New England Revolution in the home-and-home, total goals semifinal.

The Fire are in their second-straight Eastern final after losing at Columbus last year and are looking forward to hosting the game this time around.

"I certainly think about it. When a crowd can generate an atmosphere like that, it makes it a lot easier for the players to get up for the games," Fire attacker John Thorrington said. "We certainly can feed off of that energy."

The Fire will be presented with a slightly different match-up than New England when they square off vs. RSL on Saturday.

"They're a much more technical team," Fire defender Brandon Prideaux told ESPN. "They like to pass and move quite a bit more, whereas New England is more direct, and they like to cross the ball in. That's how they break teams down."

RSL was the last seed in the playoffs overall and had to switch from the Western bracket to take on defending champions Columbus. RSL won the series in what turned out to be surprisingly one-sided.

They are expecting a much tough fixture this time around.

"I would say they have a lot more attacking options and firepower than the Crew," RSL attacker Andy Williams said. "Chris Rolfe is a good goal scorer, [Brian] McBride and then you have someone like [Cuauhtemoc] Blanco feeding those guys the ball and creating chances for them, it's a deadly combination."

This is also the second straight year RSL has been in a conference final after hosting New York in the Western Final a year ago, a game the home team lost.

"The situation was new. It was undiscovered country because our club had never been there before," RSL center back Nat Borchers said. "This year, it's much different because we know we could have done better last year. We're ambitious to get the MLS Cup and we know we have the team to do it."

RSL's injury list includes midfielders Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, and Javier Morales, defenders Tony Beltran and David Horst, and forward Yura Movsisyan, who are all probable.

Chicago is getting healthier than it has been in awhile with defenders Wilman Conde and Gonzalo Segares, and midfielder Peter Lowry questionable, and forwards Brian McBride and Chris Rolfe listed as probable.

"We're starting to get some bodies back healthy ... We know what it was like when we did have our whole group together because of the way we started the season. Confidence is high when you have that."



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