Real Salt Lake’s long march to the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal matchup against Tigres UANL in Monterrey, Mexico, has reached its final steps. RSL is now on the threshold of its most important matches on the schedule and the club is giddy with anticipation.
“I’m always thinking of that first game at Tigres,” Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales said. “In everything we do, I’m thinking about them. It’s going to be really important for us.”
It’s a long-awaited quest that is the result of a lengthy journey, dating back to the 2014 season. By virtue of its third place finish in the Western Conference in 2014, RSL qualified after Seattle Sounders FC won the Supporters’ Shield and U.S. Open Cup titles and the LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup. With Seattle occupying two of the MLS entries into Champions League, Real Salt Lake earned the spot with its regular season record.
Then, a grueling Group Stage schedule saw RSL go 3-0-1 against El Salvador’s Santa Tecla FC and Municipal from Guatemala from August to October of 2014. Now, with that portion of the journey behind it, Real Salt Lake has been focusing its preseason preparations on Tigres – winners of Liga MX and a finalist in Copa Libertadores last year.
A team chocked full of players with international experience for the national teams of Mexico, U.S.A., Argentina, Chile and France, “Tuca” Ferretti’s side is ripe with talent all over the field. Dealing with players of that caliber may be a tough task, but it’s one that RSL has spent all winter preparing for.
“It starts with their coach. He’s a very good coach tactically and technically. Very aware. He has his team all on the same page and his experience is second to none,” RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar said. “They’re very talented, very deep, very successful. They’re coming off of a year where they’ve been in three finals in all competitions. They’re a very confident group and they’ve only made one change to their starting lineup since last season. Then they’re depth is very good as well. It’s a very good team.”
As if facing one of the Western Hemisphere’s top teams isn’t a difficult enough ask of Real Salt Lake, doing so in Mexico has also proven to be a tough duty too. MLS teams went 0-13-0 in Mexico up until 2008 when the format for Champions League changed. Since then, MLS teams have gone just 2-19-8, but advance the microscope even further and you find that since FC Dallas topped Pumas in the 2011 Group Stage and Seattle beat Monterrey just days later, MLS clubs have gone 2-8-8. Still not promising, but the recent string that has seen MLS clubs post a .259 win percentage is far better than the .111 all-time mark.
RSL and the three other MLS teams still active in the tournament don’t necessarily need wins in Mexico to advance, but continuing the successful trend could be important in the aggregate-goal series. Before long, an MLS club will lift the Champions League trophy and Cassar wouldn’t mind being the first to do so this year.
“You have to be at your best to beat all these teams now in it,” Cassar said. “There are a lot of teams that have draws against Mexican teams, which is difficult, but if you do the math, you can start to see that if you get a couple wins and you get two MLS teams in the final, that means somebody from MLS is going to win it. I think that would be fantastic and hopefully it’s RSL.”
Strategy comes into play here, as well.
While RSL would be ecstatic with a win at Estadio Universitario on Wednesday, it isn’t necessary to advance. In 2013, Sounders FC lost 2-1 on the road against Tigres, but came back with a 3-1 win at home to become the first MLS club to knock off a Mexican opponent in the CCL tournament.
With the two-legged, aggregate-goals series, finding success in the first match away can set the tone for the series, particularly when the first tie-breaker in the series is road goals.
“It’s interesting. You want to get a result. You want to get a road goal because that can come back and be really beneficial, especially with the last game at home,” Cassar said. “You can really understand exactly what needs to be done to move on.”
Kickoff for Wednesday’s match is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT. For information on where to watch the match in Salt Lake City, click here.
