SANDY, Utah (Tuesday, March 1, 2016) – Real Salt Lake kicks off the home portion of its 12th season with a decisive Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal second leg at home on Wednesday, facing Mexican power Tigres UANL at a SOLD OUT, Standing-Room Only Rio Tinto Stadium at 8:00 p.m. MT.
Wednesday night’s match – RSL’s first knockout-round SCCL contest at Rio Tinto Stadium since an 0-1 loss on April 27, 2011, in the 2010/11 Final to Monterrey (Tigres’ chief rival) can be viewed in Utah via Fox Sports 2 (English, JP Dellacamera & Brian Dunseth) or heard via RSL flagships ESPN700 AM (English) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish). Pre-game coverage airs live locally on ESPN700 AM at 7:00 p.m. MT.
Tigres holds a 2-0 advantage in the 180-minute, aggregate goal series, RSL needing a 2-0 victory Wednesday to force two 15-minute extra time periods (and potentially kicks from the penalty mark) to determine who advances to the Semifinal stage against Tuesday’s D.C. United / Queretaro winner. Should RSL concede a road goal to Tigres, it would need to win the match by three or more goals to overcome the weighted away goal tiebreaker for the aggregate series.
All-time, RSL boasts a total of 27 wins on Utah soil against international opponents in either CCL play (8-1-1, with a 20/6 goal advantage), exhibitions (7-4-4, 20/17 difference) or against visiting Canadian MLS teams (12-2-3, with a 32/14 +/-). Since moving into Rio Tinto Stadium in October, 2008, RSL owns a 22-2-6 (win-loss-draw) mark against int’l clubs or in CCL competition. Mexican clubs are 1-1-0 in Sandy in meaningful games, as Cruz Azul (2010 group stage) fell 1-3 at RSL prior to Monterrey riding a Humberto Suazo dagger in April 2011 in the second leg of the 2010/11 Final.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake v. Tigres (MEX) – SCCL QF Leg Two
- Coverage Begins: 8:00 p.m. MT
- TV: Fox Sports 2 – JP Dellacamera & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN 700 AM (7:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Brian Kamler, Jeremy Horton, Spencer Warne
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Wednesday’s RSL v Tigres Matchup Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Wednesday night’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Tigres is available here.
RSL earned the third overall seed in this year’s knockout stage by winning Group G last Fall, amassing a 3-0-1 mark (10 points) to eliminate challengers Santa Tecla FC (El Salvador) and Municipal (Guatemala).
2015/16 CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NOTES –
RSL vs. TIGRES QUARTERFINAL LEG TWO – Wed., March 2, 2016
WALL OF THE WASATCH INDEED:
Iconic RSL GK Nick Rimando saw his CCL shutout streak snapped at 593 minutes Wednesday with Tigres’ first goal (he last allowed a goal in the 14th minute of RSL’s 0-1 loss at Herediano in July 2012), but his active HOME clean sheet streak entering Wednesday totals 316 minutes, not conceding since the Humberto Suazo series-winner in the 44th minute against Monterrey at the RioT back in April 2011 … One of the highlights for RSL’s first leg was Rimando’s PK save against Tigres FW Andre-Pierre Gignac just before halftime after the Beckerman handball in the box … Rimando has achieved legendary status as a PK stopper in MLS play, denying opponents on 17 of 43 attempts during his 9 MLS seasons with RSL, his 7 PK saves in the 2013-15 seasons nearly double (three more) than any other GK … For his MLS career, Rimando has saved 26 of 73 attempts from the spot, in addition to his scintillating efforts in shootout tiebreakers to enable RSL to advance to and win MLS Cup 2009 (also engaged in playoff PK shootouts in 2004 with D.C. United and 2013 for RSL) …
Tigres’ two-goal effort was the first multi-goal game conceded by RSL in the continental competition since earning advancement with a road goal in a 1-2, second-leg loss at Saprissa back in early April, 2011 … When RSL’s defense (backstopped by GK Jeff Attinella) allowed the 60’ goal last Sept. 24 against Santa Tecla in group play, that snapped the club’s overall shutout streak at 586 minutes, a new SCCL record … RSL also shares the competition record of 5 straight clean sheets with Alajuela (CRC) and Pachuca (MEX) … RSL allowed 7 goals in its first two all-time SCCL matches (2010: 5-4 loss @ Cruz Azul; 3-2 win v Arabe Unido), but has allowed a total of only 9 goals in its last 11 SCCL games …
SECOND LEG OF HOME AGGREGATE SERIES HISTORY FOR RSL:
Wednesday marks RSL’s 5th-ever second leg at home in an aggregate goal series, and the third with the Claret-and-Cobalt seeking to reverse a deficit … In CCL play, RSL earned a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Monterrey in the 2011 Final before dropping at home, 0-1, to be denied a trip to the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan … In MLS Cup Playoff action, RSL lost in this scenario twice: in 2010, RSL dropped a 1-2 first leg decision at FC Dallas in the West Semis, earning only a 1-1 home draw and thusly being eliminated … In 2012, RSL drew 0-0 at Seattle in the first leg, but dropped the 0-1 home leg to the Sounders … In 2013, en route to that year’s MLS Cup, RSL returned home for the second leg down 0-1 to LA Galaxy, finally breaking through to win the second leg 1-0 to force extra time, where a 103’ Chris Schuler goal pushed RSL to victory …
ELIMINATION GAMES AT HOME FOR CLARET-AND-COBALT:
RSL’s all-time home record in elimination games at Rio Tinto Stadium is 10-5-1 overall across all competitions, with a 1-1-0 (CCL), 1-2-1 (MLS) and 8-2-0 (Open Cup) marks … The home final losses in 2011 CCL to Monterrey and the 2013 U.S. Open Cup Final to D.C. United have scarred the psyche of the RSL fan base, as did the 2008 West Final loss to New York Red Bulls, as each game saw relatively dominant attacking RSL performances marred by a lack of finishing, uncooperative woodwork, or both …
NOT FIRST RODEO FOR TIGRES IN UTAH:
Back on Labor Day Weekend, 2008, Tigres visited RSL on the Rice-Eccles turf at the University of Utah, RSL winning the exhibition match 1-0 on a Yura Movsisyan goal in the 18th minute and a Chris Seitz shutout in a game that also saw DF Jamison Olave, DF Chris Wingert and Capt. Kyle Beckerman start … Movsisyan could have snared a brace in the match, but his PK offering in the 48th minute was saved by GK Alfredo Talavera …
RESPECTABLE ROAD WARRIOR HISTORY IN CCL:
RSL’s 0-2 loss last week at Tigres dropped Jeff Cassar’s club to 1-1-1 away mark in this edition of the tournament, with the all-time Claret-and-Cobalt road mark falling to 3-4-4 through 11 away games in the 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2015/16 tournaments … Last August’s win in Guatemala was the first coming outside of Panama (2010 at Arabe Unido, 2-1; 2012 at Tauro FC, 1-0) … RSL’s road losses prior to last week’s 0-2 first leg came in 2010 at Cruz Azul (4-5 at group stage), 2011 at Saprissa (gaining critical away goal to advance with a 1-2 loss in Semifinal stage) and in 2012 at Herediano (0-1 loss in group stage after a 55’ Nat Borchers red card) … RSL drew in trips to Toronto FC (1-1 in 2010 group), Columbus Crew (0-0 in 2011 Quarterfinal) and at Monterrey (2-2 in 2011 Final) …
