Bruce Arena believes improvements have been made across the board at the San Jose Earthquakes, though he does not think they are capable of challenging for trophies yet.San Jose have already sealed their spot in the postseason, and they could finish as high as second in the Western Conference should results around them go their way.The Earthquakes were held to a 2-2 draw with the Colorado Rapids in midweek, with Jack Jasinski scoring a late equaliser despite Arena's side seeing Timo Werner sent off.Arena took charge of the Earthquakes in November 2024 and, after failing to qualify for the postseason in 2025, has got his team back in the playoffs for the first time since 2023.San Jose's penultimate game of the regular season sees them welcome Real Salt Lake to PayPal Park, and Arena believes the club is heading in the right direction."We made progress from 2024 to 2025, and we've made progress this year. We're not a team positioned to be MLS Cup favourites now, but we're getting better," Arena said."There are a lot of things we need to improve on, both on and off the field, but we're making progress. The guys did a great job. I'm really proud of them."I don't think it's about me. The entire organisation has improved, from the players and coaching staff to sports medicine, sports performance, and everyone behind the scenes."We were behind in a lot of areas, so ownership stepped up and supported us by investing in our facilities. That said, we still have a long way to go."RSL, meanwhile, are yet to confirm their place in the playoffs, but have done their chances no harm after putting together a three-game winning run at a crucial part of the season.After victories over Sporting Kansas City and St. Louis City SC, RSL came from behind at the Q2 Stadium to beat Austin FC 2-1, with Morgan Guilavogui scoring the winner.Pablo Mastroeni's side are ninth in the West heading into their final two games of the season, with their trip to San Jose followed up with a home game against the LA Galaxy.Mastroeni lauded his players for the endeavour they showed to get all three points against Austin, but he urged his team to be more clinical in their final two matches."The last 15, 20 minutes, it was just determination. I thought we could have made some better decisions in our final third," Mastroeni said."But overall, just super proud of the mentality and the way we approached the game. We created some really good opportunities."We played some really good stuff, and I think we deserved the result."PLAYERS TO WATCHSJ Earthquakes – Reid RobertsRoberts scored in San Jose's draw with Colorado in midweek, bringing up his fourth league goal of the season, while Jasinski was also on target.It was the second time in the last five seasons that San Jose have had two different defenders score in the same MLS match (Rodrigues and Vitor Costa against RSL in February 2025).RSL – Sergi SolansSolans provided the assist on Guilavogui's winning goal for RSL against Austin on Wednesday, his sixth goal contribution in his last six regular-season matches.He has now been involved in a goal in three straight matches for the second time this season, also doing so between March and April.MATCH PREDICTION: SJ EARTHQUAKES WINThe 12 meetings between San Jose and RSL since the start of the 2021 season have been split, with each team winning five times (D2). RSL have lost only one of the last four meetings (W2 D1), including a 1-1 home draw on October 14.San Jose's draw with Colorado was the second time over the last 15 seasons in which the Earthquakes both committed and won 19 fouls in the same MLS match. The other such match for San Jose in that time was in August 2019 against Sporting Kansas.But after winning one of their previous 16 regular-season matches, RSL have won three in a row for the first time since between February and March. Two of those wins came on the road as RSL have now won consecutive away matches in league play for the first time since April 2024.OPTA WIN PROBABILITYSJ Earthquakes – 45.1%Draw – 26.9%RSL – 28%