San Jose (2-5-1) at Real Salt Lake (2-5-2), 9 p.m.

Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - The bottom two teams in Major League Soccer will square off at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday when Real Salt Lake entertains the San Jose Earthquakes.

RSL enters the contest having won just one of its last six games, while the expansion Earthquakes halted a four-game winless skid their last time out, beating the Houston Dynamo 2-1 for the club's first home win since its return to the league.

Salt Lake was in position for a win in its last contest against Dallas, taking a 1-0 lead into the final 10 minutes, before the Hoops Dominic Oduro scored twice to send RSL home without any points.

The team can point to its struggles away from home as the main culprit for the slow start, as Jason Kreis' side has lost all five of its games on the road. However, RSL is looking to home games against San Jose and Kansas City in the next two weeks as a chance to get their season turned around.

"This is not over. There are so many games left but we have two games at home coming up, both must-wins," said midfielder Dema Kovalenko. "So, that's what we need to concentrate on and take it one game at a time."

Ian Joy was sent off in the first half, but Dallas also had a player ejected, leaving both teams with 10 men. Although Salt Lake went ahead in the second half, they struggled to cope with the extra space on the field, and eventually they were broken down.

Despite the disappointing loss, Kreis believes that his team can learn from the experience, and feels that it will be a good lesson for his squad to have learned.

"From our standpoint, we have to try and look at some of the positives from the match," Kreis said of the loss. "It could be space or it could just be a little bit about attitude. They realized they were going to have to work a little harder and show for each other a little bit more."

San Jose hopes that its win last time out is the start of something good, but the 'Quakes will have to cope with a shortage of strikers for their trip to Salt Lake.

Peguero Jean Philippe and Gavin Glinton opened the season as head coach Frank Yallop's starting strikers, but Philippe is out for the year with a knee injury while Glinton will miss Saturday's match due to a sports hernia.

Kei Kamara has been the team's top weapon so far, scoring two goals, but he will also not take part in Saturday's game because he will be away on international duty with Sierra Leone. Midfielder Ivan Guerrero will be playing for Honduras and only adds to the number of San Jose regulars missing out on the game.

With so many offensive weapons out, much of the scoring load will fall to striker Ryan Johnson, who made only his second MLS start against the Dynamo.

Yallop paired Johnson up top with Kamara, and the coach was impressed with the effort of his young forward.

"It was good, he is a bit of a rough and tumbler, but he gets it done," Yallop said of Johnson. "He isn't afraid of getting in there. He helped us play the way we want to play; Ryan is not as refined, but he is running with his heart and showed a lot of commitment for this team."

With so many absences, the 'Quakes will have a tough time getting a result, but even a loss does not spell the end for a team in the mediocre Western Conference.