Cuauhtemoc Blanco, seen last week, is trying to end his time in Chicago with an MLS championship. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, seen last week, is trying to end his time in Chicago with an MLS championship. (Jim Prisching/Associated Press)

The Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake meet on Saturday night in the Eastern Conference finals for the right to face the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Major League Soccer championship.

Both teams are trying to break through to the MLS Cup in the game at Bridgeview, Ill., after falling in their respective conference finals a year ago.

"We've been very, very up and down and at times maddeningly inconsistent," Real coach Jason Kreis said Wednesday in a conference call. "But what we have shown this year is when we're good, we're very, very good."

After finishing fifth in the Western Conference and earning a cross-over berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Real looked sharp in knocking off Columbus in the Eastern semifinals, scoring the final three goals in a 3-2 victory on Nov. 5 to take a series win on a 4-2 aggregate.

Now, they’ll try to take out Chicago, the runner-up to Columbus in the East during the regular season with 45 points and a loser in the conference finals the past two years.

This time, the Fire are looking to advance to the MLS Cup and delay the departure of Blanco, who signed with Chicago in 2007 and is headed back to Mexico to play for Veracruz.

"Everywhere we go, people want to come out and see him," goalie Jon Busch said. "They don’t really want to see us, but they want to see him. It’s pretty cool to see that circus that follows him around. He’s been great in the locker room with the guys, just trying to be one of the guys."

Blanco didn’t play in the two regular-season games against Salt Lake. Even so, the Fire still got the better of Real.

Chicago pulled out a 1-0 win at home on Aug. 1 on Patrick Nyarko’s header in the 76th minute, and played to a 1-1 tie at Salt Lake on Sept. 12. Now, Real will have to contend with Blanco, who has come on strong after being limited by nagging injuries.

The veteran midfielder was at his best in a 2-0 victory over New England last week that gave Chicago the series win, scoring one goal and setting up another, to lead the Fire back to the conference finals for the third straight year.

"They have a good midfield group, and not only Blanco, but we’re going to have our eyes on all the attacking options," Real midfielder Andy Williams said.

The championship game against Los Angeles will take place Nov. 22 on neutral territory at Qwest Field in Seattle.