A Big Opportunity
Real Salt Lake’s trip to Costa Rica is a huge opportunity. When the schedule was initially announced, a road match in Costa Rica appeared to be the toughest draw.
Salt Lake will play three matches in eight days when facing their toughest competition. But a few things have changed and given the former finalists a huge leg up.
An early-season matchup in Costa Rica is already to Salt Lake’s advantage, as the Costa Rican champions will still be coming together and not fully fit. However, they have also seen significant turnover.
RSL coach Jason Kreis mentioned this last week on the Bill and Hans show, and it has been noted in other places as well.
Salt Lake is also healthy. The side’s best XI are expected to start tomorrow night’s match. Depending upon who you ask, it sounds like this group hasn’t been together for more than 100 minutes of play.
This presents a huge opportunity. With seeding for the knock-out stage predicated upon points in this round, every point counts. If Salt Lake can win what is, most likely, its toughest match of the group, the side will be set up to advance and be seeded very highly.
This will hopefully lead to an easier knockout phase schedule as the side tries to get away from old demons and win the tournament.
Kickoff is at 8 pm MT and will be live streamed on CONCACAF.com.
Category: News
