REAL SALT LAKE
LEARNS FINALGROUP A
SCHEDULE FORCONCACAF
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Six-game Round-Robin
Slate against Arabe Unido, Cruz Azul and Toronto FC Starts Wednesday, August 18
at Rio Tinto Stadium vs. Panamanian Champs
SANDY, Utah (Friday, August 6, 2010) – Real Salt Lake earlier in the week learned the remainder of its Group A cohorts in the 2010-11 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League, and the defending MLS Cup champions now know when they’ll contest their six pool play games after soccer’s governing body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean today announced the full group stage schedule for the competition.
Real Salt Lake’s two previously announced
dates will remain the same, with the Utah side starting off at home on Wednesday, August 18, against
Panamanian champs Arabe Unido at
8:00 p.m. MT, followed by a road trip to Mexico City one week later on Wednesday,August 25 to square off against five-time tournament champion and
last year’s runner-up, Cruz Azul
(6:00 p.m. MT).
CONCACAF action picks up again in
mid-September with the first of three consecutive midweek matches on Wednesday, Sept. 15, when Real Salt
Lake hosts fellow Major League Soccer side and Canadian Nutrilite Championship
winner Toronto FC at Rio Tinto
Stadium in an 8:00 p.m. MT start. RSL travels for back-to-back games, first to the
city of Colon (50 miles from Panama City) to face Arabe Unido on Wednesday, Sept. 22 (6:00 p.m.),
followed by a trip north of the border for the away leg against Toronto FC at
BMO Field on Tuesday, Sept. 28 (6:00
p.m.). Real Salt Lake will then close out the group stage with a pivotal home
contest against Cruz Azul in Sandy on Tuesday,
Oct. 19, at 8:00 p.m.
Real Salt Lake in the CONCACAF Champions
League – Group A Schedule
Wednesday, August 18: RSL v. Arabe Unido
(PAN) – 8:00 p.m. MT (“CONCACAF GAME A” ticket)
Wednesday, August 25: RSL at Cruz Azul (MEX)
– 6:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday, Sept. 15: RSL v. Toronto FC (CAN)
– 8:00 p.m. MT (“CONCACAF GAME B” ticket)
Wednesday, Sept. 22: RSL at Arabe Unido (PAN)
– 6:00 p.m. MT
Tuesday, Sept. 28: RSL at Toronto FC (CAN) –
6:00 p.m. MT
Tuesday, October 19: RSL v. Cruz Azul (MEX) –
8:00 p.m. MT (“CONCACAF GAME C” ticket)
All RSL season ticket holders are assured of their current seats for all three Group Stage matches at Rio Tinto Stadium by utilizing their “CONCACAF Game A, B & C” tickets, and will also have the ability to purchase a select number of additional, specially-priced tickets. Tickets for all three CONCACAF Champions League matches will be available to the general public via www.RioTintoStadium.com beginning Saturday, August 7, at 10:00 a.m. MT.
Ticket prices for the three Group A contests at Rio Tinto Stadium begin at $14 for those purchasing KFC vouchers, while stand-alone prices start at just $15 for Upper Deck seats and continue at $18 and $20 in the North and South Goals,$30 in the Lower Sideline area, $40 at East Side Midfield and $60 in the Front Row and West Side Midfield areas. For more information, please visit www.RealSaltLake.com or www.RioTintoStadium.com. Television broadcast information and details on away match Watch Parties will be distributed in the coming days.
All-time, RSL has posted a 7-4-3 mark against international squads, with all 15 games played as a “friendly” on Utah soil, and RSL owning a positive goal differential (19 goals for / 16 goals against). While RSL and Toronto have faced each other as League rivals since the Canadian side’s debut season of 2007, Arabe Unido and Cruz Azul join some of the planet’s most revered clubs in facing Real Salt Lake, as Spain’s Real Madrid (2006), Argentina’s Boca Juniors (2007), England’s Everton FC (2007/09) and Mexico’s Club América and Chivas de Guadalajara (2009) have previously blazed the trail to Utah.
As Major League Soccer’s champion last
season, Real Salt Lake earned a
bye into the Group Stage portion of the tournament, where it was drawn into
Group A. As last year’s Supporters Shield winner, the Columbus Crew also join RSL as an automatic group stage qualifier,
while two other MLS clubs – Toronto FC and Seattle
Sounders FC – advanced out of the Preliminary Round, the four-team
contingent giving the League its most representation in the pool play portion
of the tournament since the current format was adopted in 2008. Another MLS
squad – Real Salt Lake’s MLS Cup 2009 opponent, the Los Angeles Galaxy – failed
to advance past the Preliminary Round after being defeated 5-3 on aggregate by
the USSF Division II’s Puerto Rico
Islanders, thanks in part to the efforts of RSL defender David Horst, who is on loan to the
tournament’s “giant killers” for the 2010 season.
Group play follows a round-robin format, with
each team competing home and away against the other three teams in the group,
with the top two teams from each of the four groups advancing to the
Championship Round. Played in Feb., March and April, 2011, the Championship
Round features two-leg, home-and-away series at the Quarterfinal, Semifinal and
Final stages, with the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champion crowned in late April and
earning a berth to the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December, 2011, where it
will face the club champions from each of the other confederations: UEFA
(Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa) and Oceania (South
Pacific).
The full schedule for the Group Stage and the
Championship Round fixture dates are as follows:
2010-11 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
FIXTURES (as of Aug. 6, 2010)
QUALIFIERS
North America (9)
United
States (4): Real
Salt Lake (MLS
Cup 2009 winner), Columbus Crew (2009 Supporters Shield), Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS Cup 2009
runner-up), Seattle Sounders FC (U.S. Open Cup winner)
Mexico
(4): Monterrey,Toluca, Cruz Azul, Santos
Canada
(1): Toronto FC
Caribbean (3)
CFU Club
Champions Cup (3): Puerto
Rico Islanders (PUR), Joe Public (TRI), San Juan Jabloteh (TRI)
Central
America (12)
Costa Rica
(2): Saprissa,
Brujas
El
Salvador (2): CD FAS, Metapan
Guatemala
(2): Municipal, Xelaju
Honduras
(2): Olimpia, Marathon, Motagua@
Panama
(2): Arabe Unido, Tauro, San Francisco#
*
Teams in italics qualified automatically for Group Stage
PRELIMINARY
ROUND RESULTS (two-leg aggregate scores
listed)
CD FAS (SLV) 3 : 1 Xelajú (GUA)
Brujas
(CRC) 4
: 6 Joe
Public (TRI)
San
Juan Jabloteh (TRI) 0 :
6 Santos Laguna (MEX)
San
Francisco (PAN) 2 :
9 Cruz Azul (MEX)
Los Angeles Galaxy (USA) 3 : 5 Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR)
Tauro
(PAN) 2
: 4 Marathón
(HON)
Seattle Sounders FC (USA) 2 : 1 Isidro Metapán (SLV)
Toronto FC (CAN) 3 : 2 Motagua (HON)
GROUP STAGE PAIRINGS AND SCHEDULE (Home Team listed first; MLS teams in italics)
Group A
Real Salt Lake (USA)Cruz Azul (MEX)
Arabe Unido (PAN) Toronto
FC (CAN)
Group B
Columbus Crew (USA) Santos
Laguna (MEX)
Municipal (GUA) Joe
Public (TRI)
Group C
Monterrey (MEX) Seattle
Sounders FC (USA)
Saprissa (CRC) Marathon
(HON)
Group D
Toluca
(MEX) Puerto Rico
Islanders (PUR)
Olimpia (HON) CD
FAS (SLV)
MATCHWEEK
ONE:
Tuesday,
August 17:
Toronto (CAN) v. Cruz Azul (MEX) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Puerto
Rico Islanders (PUR) v. Olimpia (HON) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Monterrey
(MEX) v. Saprissa (CRC) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday,
August 18:
Joe
Public (TRI) v. Santos (MEX) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Columbus Crew (USA) v. Municipal (GUA) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Real Salt Lake (USA) v. Arabe Unido (PAN) – 8:00 p.m. MT
FAS
(MEX) v. Toluca (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
August 19:
Marathon
(HON) v. Seattle Sounders (USA) – 8:00 p.m. MT
MATCHWEEK
TWO:
Tuesday,
August 24:
Arabe
Unido (PAN) v. Toronto (CAN) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Santos
(MEX) v. Columbus Crew (USA) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday,
August 25:
Cruz Azul (MEX) v. Real Salt Lake (USA) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Puerto
Rico Islanders (PUR) v. FAS (SLV) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Seattle Sounders (USA) v. Monterrey (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
August 26:
Toluca
(MEX) v. Olimpia (HON) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Saprissa
(CRC) v. Marathon (HON) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Municipal
(GUA) v. Joe Public (TRI) – 8:00 p.m. MT
MATCHWEEK THREE:
Tuesday,
Sept. 14:
Columbus Crew (USA) v. Joe Public (TRI) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Monterrey
(MEX) v. Marathon (HON) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Municipal
(GUA) v. Santos (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Saprissa
(CRC) v. Seattle Sounders FC (USA) –
8:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday,
Sept. 15:
Toluca
(MEX) v. Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Arabe
Unido (PAN) v. Cruz Azul (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Real Salt Lake (USA) v. Toronto FC (CAN) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
Sept. 16:
Olimpia
(HON) v. CD FAS (SLV) – 6:00 p.m. MT
MATCHWEEK FOUR:
Tuesday,
Sept. 21:
Columbus Crew (USA) v. Santos (MEX) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Cruz
Azul (MEX) v. Toronto FC (CAN) – 8:00
p.m. MT
Wednesday,
Sept. 22:
Arabe Unido
(PAN) v. Real Salt Lake (USA) – 6:00
p.m. MT
Monterrey
(MEX) v. Seattle Sounders FC (USA) –
6:00 p.m. MT
Marathon
(HON) v. Saprissa (CRC) – 8:00 p.m. MT
CD
FAS (SLV) v. Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
Sept. 23:
Joe
Public (TRI) v. Municipal (GUA) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Olimpia
(HON) v. Toluca (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
MATCHWEEK FIVE:
Tuesday,
Sept. 28:
Toronto FC (CAN) v. Real Salt Lake (USA) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Cruz
Azul (MEX) v. Arabe Unido (PAN) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Saprissa
(CRC) v. Monterrey (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday,
Sept. 29
Puerto
Rico Islanders (PUR) v. Toluca (MEX) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Municipal
(GUA) v. Columbus Crew (USA) – 8:00
p.m. MT
Santos
(MEX) v. Joe Public (TRI) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Seattle Sounders FC (USA) v. Marathon (HON) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
Sept. 30:
CD
FAS (SLV) v. Olimpia (HON) – 8:00 p.m. MT
MATCHWEEK SIX:
Tuesday,
October 19
Toronto FC (CAN) v. Arabe Unido (PAN) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Santos
(MEX) v. Municipal (GUA) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Seattle Sounders FC (USA) v. Saprissa (CRC) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Real Salt Lake (USA) v. Cruz Azul (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Wednesday,
October 20:
Toluca
(MEX) v. CD FAS (SLV) – 6:00 p.m. MT
Marathon
(HON) v. Monterrey (MEX) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Olimpia
(HON) v. Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) – 8:00 p.m. MT
Thursday,
October 21:
Joe
Public (TRI) v. Columbus Crew (USA) –
6:00 p.m. MT
CHAMPIONSHIP STAGE – 2011 (top TWO teams from each group advance)
QUARTERFINAL
SERIES
Feb.
22-24 (Leg 1)
March
1-3 (Leg 2)
SEMIFINAL
SERIES
March
15-17 (Leg 1)
April
5-7 (Leg 2)
FINALS
April
19-21 (Leg 1)
April
26-28 (Leg 2)
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