The road to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup starts Wednesday night for Real Salt Lake.
The Claret-and-Cobalt opens the tournament on the road in the Fourth Round against the USL’s Sacramento Republic FC and with just five matches separating RSL from a chance at a trophy and a berth in CONCACAF Champions League, the club is taking a winning approach to the Open Cup.
“I think the Open Cup is a very important competition in this country. I put a big importance on it,” RSL Head Coach Mike Petke said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
RSL has had some deep Open Cup runs in recent years, reaching the final in 2013 and the semifinal in 2015. The club has talked openly about making another deep run and it starts Wednesday in California’s capital city.
In Sacramento, RSL will have a formidable opponent. Although MLS teams have won the tournament every year since 1999, that hasn’t precluded lower-division teams from making runs at the championship. With a mix of rising young players and experienced MLS veterans, Sacramento has the tools to compete with MLS clubs in a one-off setting and Petke and his team aren’t about to overlook the Republic.
“They have a lot of threats going forward. They have a number of players who have the quality to be at the next level and they have a number of players, like Jeremy Hall and (Sammy) Ochoa who have been at that level. At home, they have a phenomenal environment and they are very hard to break down and play against,” Petke said. “At the end of the day, this is a good opportunity for a lot of players who haven’t seen huge minutes and a lot of the Monarchs players.”
Kickoff for Wednesday’s match is scheduled for 9 p.m. MT with a live stream at RSL.com.
