It wasn’t pretty, but the three points that Real Salt Lake brought back from Guatemala after a 1-0 win over Municipal in the first match of the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage on Tuesday weren’t any less sweet for it.
RSL scratched and clawed its way to a tough road victory in a tough environment at Estadio Mateo Flores, staving off the efforts of one of top stars of his time in MLS in Carlos Ruiz.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the guys’ performance,” Head Coach Jeff Cassar said after the match. “It was tough. It wasn’t pretty at all times. But it’s three points in the first game on the road in the Champions League and that’s huge.”
A team that has teetered on the brink of the playoffs for most of the 2015 MLS regular season, RSL has a tremendous opportunity in Champions League to make an international splash with a successful run in the tournament. That got off to a great start on Tuesday with a win despite being outshot 12-4 in the match.
The means that RSL earned the win weren’t as important as the three points that came with it. That being said, walking out with a shutout was a good way to get things started.
“It was huge. I thought it was really important to start the tournament off in a good way and with a result. Three points was huge for us,” club captain Kyle Beckerman said. “It wasn’t always going to be pretty but the guys fought for each other. We just kept on pushing until the end and we were able to get that shutout which was important to go along with the three points.”
The win also helped RSL regain some confidence after a 6-4 loss to D.C. United on Saturday. In getting a big win in the midst of a stretch of five matches in 15 days brings some excitement back to the locker room as the club continues the grind with another pair of road matches on Saturday against Vancouver Whitecaps FC followed by a U.S. Open Cup semifinal match against Sporting Kansas City on August 12.
“I think this is an exciting part of the season. Everything is right in front of us to play for. I think we’re all really excited for it,” Beckerman said, noting the character of the team to bounce back from defeat to get on the winning side of the ledger. “It was about fighting for the guy next to you and finding a way to win. That was good to see. A lot of character shown tonight.”
The team returns to Utah on Wednesday and will train on Friday before departing for Vancouver for Saturday’s match against the Whitecaps.
