CHICAGO / SANDY, Utah (Thursday, May 25, 2023) – Real Salt Lake (4-6-3 / 15 pts / 11th West) will host long-time MLS rival LA Galaxy in one of four Quarterfinal stage matches in the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, June 7, with a 7:30p MT kickoff at America First Field in Sandy. Tickets for the highly-anticipated match are exclusively available at www.RSL.com/tickets from NOW through Sunday, May 28 for 2023 RSL Season Ticket Members. America First Credit Union members will have an exclusive window from NOW through Sunday as well, with the general public sales availability for the #USOC2023 Quarterfinal starting at 10a MT on Monday, May 29.
RSL advanced with a 1-0 win over Colorado Wednesday in suburban Denver, a match that saw attacking talisman **Jefferson Savarino** pounce onto an **Anderson Julio** steal at midfield and send a looping curler from 25 yards out in the 30th minute. Eighteen-year-old homegrown GK **Gavin Beavers** earned the clean sheet – RSL’s first in the Open Cup in eight years – behind a defense that featured homegrowns **Justen Glad** and **Andrew Brody**, along with 2023 newcomers **Brayan Vera** and rookie **Emeka Eneli**.
RSL is now amongst the final eight teams remaining in this year’s tournament, with six MLS sides and two USL Championship teams progressing to this stage, RSL emerging from a Third-Round field alongside 63 other U.S.-based teams. The RSL v LA Galaxy match will stream on Bleacher Report Football’s YouTube page and the B/R Football app, with KSL Sports Radio also providing coverage for this match.
The three U.S. Open Cup road wins over the last month at Las Vegas (3-1 W after extra time), at Portland (a 4-3 W that featured comebacks from 0-1 and 2-3 deficits) and last night’s 1-0 at Colorado have advanced Real Salt Lake to the Quarterfinal stage for the first time since 2015. RSL MF **Maikel Chang**, FW **Danny Musovski** and Captain Damir Kreilach each have a Club-high two goals during this run, while Savarino, Julio, Vera and several others – including newcomers Andrés Gómez, Braian Ojeda, Bryan Oviedo and rookies Bertin Jacquesson, Ilijah Paul, Delentz Pierre have made their USOC debuts for RSL.
Eight years ago saw RSL win at home against the LA Galaxy at this stage, as an 87th-minute Aaron Maund goal sent the Utah side to an eventual Semifinal loss at Kansas City, completing the Claret-and-Cobalt’s second-longest LHUSOC run. In 2013, RSL advanced all the way to the Open Cup Final, dropping an 0-1 home decision in Sandy to a three-win D.C. United side six weeks prior to that year’s MLS Cup loss in Kansas City.
Real Salt Lake has advanced to the Final Four twice in its previous Open Cup forays, dropping the 2013 LHUSOC Final at home, 0-1, succumbing to a hapless D.C. United side, winners of just three regular-season MLS matches that year. In 2015, RSL fell at the Semifinal stage at Sporting Kansas City, despite leading that match early.
All-time, Real Salt Lake now owns a 14-15-3 (W-L-T) record in the 109-year old tournament, the United States’ longest-running competition, regardless of sport. On Utah soil, RSL is 11W-6L-1T against visiting teams, including a dominant 6-2-1 (W-L-T) mark against those from lower divisions. The lone Utah-based losses to lesser-heralded visitors: first in 2012, when the Minnesota Stars arrived to stun a then-record LHUSOC crowd of 17,212 in a 1-3 RSL result; and last year, when the expansion USL League One side Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC sent 19,000+ RSL fans home dismayed after a shocking 0-1 loss in the Third Round.
On three occasions, RSL has needed a penalty-kick tiebreaker to determine LHUSOC advancement, winning twice. The first time came away in San Jose in 2010, as former DF Nat Borchers scoring the equalizer in extra time to force the shootout, then burying the game-winning kick against the Earthquakes in an MLS qualifier for the tournament proper. In 2016, RSL both lived and died by the PK shootout sword; needing the tiebreaker to eliminate the lower-division Wilmington Hammerheads at the RioT, then falling victim in the Round of 16 to the Seattle Sounders, riding an impenetrable Tyler Miller in goal.
