MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Travels to Portland Wednesday to Continue 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Published on May 9, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake (3-5-2, 11 pts, MLS 11th West) continues its 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup journey Wednesday night, one of 24 Major League Soccer sides to have advanced to the Round of 32 in the 109-year old tourney. Unbeaten in five of its last six contests across all competitions, RSL now travels to Providence Park in Portland, Ore., to face fellow MLS rival Timbers with an 8:00 p.m. MT kickoff.

Wednesday's match will be broadcast nationally via the B/R App and the U.S. Soccer and/or Bleacher Report YouTube pages, with local coverage on KSL radio. Spanish-speaking fans can tune in on KBMG Latino 106.3 FM, La Gran D 102.3 FM and KTUB 1600 AM for the local radio broadcast.

Two weeks ago, RSL won its first-ever Open Cup road match in 11 all-time attempts, needing 120 minutes to defeat the USL Championship Las Vegas Lights, 3-1, in a game that featured an extra-time brace from Captain Damir Kreilach - his first goal snapping a 431-minute scoring drought in the competition dating back to 2017. RSL also rode exquisite play to victory from Vegas natives Danny Musovski and Gavin Beavers, gutsy 120-minute performances from Emeka Eneli, Braian Ojeda and Maikel Chang, with flashes of brilliance from Andrés Gómez, Bertin Jacquesson and Diego Luna, among others.

2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup - Round of 32

Real Salt Lake (MLS) at Portland Timbers (MLS)

Providence Park - Portland, Ore.

Wednesday, May 10 at 8:30 p.m. MT

2023 Records: Real Salt Lake (3-5-2, 11 pts, MLS 11th West); Portland Timbers (3-5-3, 12 pts, MLS 10th West)

Wednesday's contest is the fifth of what could be a 14-game, 48-day stretch that sees Real Salt Lake manage multiple competitions, with several potential Open Cup and MLS three-game weeks on the horizon ... In order to do so, however, RSL will have to capitalize on the momentum of the Vegas win two weeks ago, which snapped a seven-game overall winless streak in the U.S. Open Cup dating back to 2015, and an all-time 10-game winless streak on the road in Open Cup play ...

RSL @ PORTLAND (USOC): RSL arrives in Portland - who will visit Utah soil next Wednesday in MLS action - unbeaten in five of its last six matches, now on the heels of a solid 0-0 draw over the weekend at Houston ... The scoreless draw Saturday was RSL's second in a row, following a similar 0-0 home

draw on April 29 against Seattle Sounders FC; the pair of 0-0 results extended RSL's active MLS shutout streak to 221 minutes, with RSL's clean sheet away its first since April 2022 at Portland ... The back-to-back clean sheets for the RSL defense are the Club's first since June 18/25 of last year, both at home ...

RSL v TIMBERS ACROSS ALL COMPETITIONS: The rivalry between RSL and Portland has previously spilled over into both the MLS postseason and the Open Cup as well ... While RSL's overall record against the 2010 expansion side is nearly evenly split with an all-time, all competition Claret-and-Cobalt record of 15W-14L-9T, RSL has knocked Portland out of the 100-plus year-old U.S. Soccer tourney in both 2013 and 2015, both matches on Utah soil.

Wednesday marks RSL's third all-time elimination game at what is now Providence Park, where RSL is just 4W-11L-4T all-time; the Timbers defeated RSL back in November, 2021, by a 2-0 scoreline in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final. RSL had previously knocked Portland out of the postseason on two occasions: most recently, in 2019, with a 2-1 home win that included an 87' game-winner from FW Jefferson Savarino; and back in 2013, RSL snared an 180-minute, aggregate goal victory over Portland in the West Finals to advance MLS Cup.

ARTIFICIAL TURF HISTORY: With the March 4 loss at Seattle, RSL's all-time MLS regular-season and playoff road mark dropped to just 17W-42L-19T on artificial surfaces across the league since its 2005 inaugural campaign ...In those 77 all-time games on plastic, the Utah side has been outscored 135-80 ...

RSL is now 5-4-3 all-time at Foxborough against the Revolution, the March 12, 2022 win at Gillette Stadium snapping a three-game winless streak ... In both 2015 and 2017, RSL lost 0-4 in turf drubbings, prior to a 0-0 draw in its last visit to Gillette, in 2019 ... From 2010-13, RSL did win three consecutive road matches against the Revs by an aggregate score of 6-2 ... Salt Lake's all-time record at Lumen Field is just 4-12-2 in MLS reg. season action, outscored by Seattle 12-29 ... In postseason and Open Cup action at Seattle, RSL is 0-6-2, outscored 1-8 ...

MORE OPEN CUP HISTORY: RSL has advanced to the U.S. Open Cup's "final four" on two occasions: 2013 and 2015 ... The Club's five-game 2013 run included every match at home, with three against lower-division USL/NASL sides, prior to a 2-1 home win over MLS rival Portland Timbers FC that enabled RSL to host a three-win D.C. United side in that year's Final ... Despite the imbalance indicated by League performance, RSL squandered that rare opportunity to lift hardware at home, losing 0-1 on a late first-half goal by MF Lewis Neal, who had been in preseason with RSL that fateful year, which also saw RSL drop the MLS Cup final at Kansas City via penalty-kick shootout ...

In 2015, RSL rode three home wins - against Seattle's USL "S2" side and again versus Portland Timbers FC and LA Galaxy - to advance to that year's semifinal ... However, RSL lost 1-3 in that road semi away at Kansas City, despite an early 1-0 lead thanks to an Olmes Garcia goal ...

While RSL is 6-2-1 all-time against lower-division sides at home, the Club's all-time 30-game, 17-year tourney record is 12-15-3 (W-L-T), including MLS "qualifying" games from 2007-10 ... The overall home record at Rice-Eccles Stadium (3-1-0) and the former Rio Tinto Stadium (8-5-2) is 11-6-2, with RSL splitting the penalty-kick tiebreakers in Sandy - both in 2016 ...

Starting with the 2016 shootout loss to Seattle, RSL has dropped four consecutive Open Cup contests at home, the 0-3-1 mark during that time including 90-minute home losses before 15,000+ at RioT in 2018 (Sporting KC), 2019 (LAFC), and 2022 (No. Colo.) ... The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ending 106 years of consecutive play ...

PURSUING MULTIPLE TROPHIES: The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup returns for 2023, with RSL and its 25 fellow American sides competing for the nation's oldest trophy, regardless of sport ... 18 MLS teams entered at the tourney's Third Round stage - only San Jose Earthquakes and Atlanta United succumbing to lower-division opponents - with the other 7 U.S.-based MLS sides now entering at the Round of 32 stage ...

Other key LHUSOC dates (subject to change):

May 9/10 - Round of 32 (May 11 draw)

May 23/23 - Round of 16

June 6/7 - Quarterfinal

August 23/24 - Semifinal (June 8 draw)

Sept. 27 - Final

On July 22 and 26, RSL enters the 2023 Leagues Cup, a 47-team, 78-game tournament, with three CONCACAF Champions League berths on the line ... RSL hosts both Seattle Sounders FC (MLS) and CF Monterrey (MEX) at America First Field as the top seed in the West 2 group, with single-elimination knockout games to follow leading up to an August 19 title match ...

RSL OPEN CUP MISCELLANY

- As it heads to Portland, RSL boasts only one outright road win - 14 days ago in Las Vegas - and two road results (1-9-1, W-L-T) in the Club's 11 LHUSOC matches played away, also advancing in 2010 via shootout at San Jose ... In that match, RSL led 2-0 in the 68th minute before Chris Leitch and Arturo Alvarez - who signed with RSL 6 months later, critically setting up Javier Morales' equalizing road goal in CCL Leg One at Monterrey - brought the home 'Quakes to 2-2 in regulation ... San Jose took a 3-2 lead in the 108' before RSL icon Nat Borchers' 118th-minute equalizer forced kicks from the penalty mark (KFPM) ... Alvarez missed his PK, RSL made its five to advance to a second MLS qualifier, at D.C. United the same week as the Obama White House visit and a reg. season contest in the Nation's Capital ... RSL dropped that match, 2-1, to suffer tourney elimination ...

- RSL is 0W-6L-1T away in Open Cup play against MLS hosts all-time ...

- While RSL has lost just twice at home to a lower-division side - April, 2022 to No. Colo. Hailstorm and May, 2012 to Minnesota Stars FC (NASL) - it has dropped three road USOC contests to teams from lower leagues ... The Club's first-ever LHUSOC game was 2005 in the Round of 16, Jason Kreis' hat trick surpassed by Melvin Tarley's four-goal game in a 4-6 (AET) loss for RSL at Minnesota ... RSL lost at Atlanta in the 2014 Open Cup, in Jeff Cassar's LHUSOC coaching debut - and in 2017 at Sacramento in what would be Mike Petke's lone USOC match with RSL...

- Former RSL DF Tony Beltran - now the Club's Assistant General Manager - owns the most U.S. Open Cup appearances in team history, playing in 17 games and starting 15 - three more than the runner-up in each category ... Beltran - who scored just one goal in his 20,652 Major League Soccer regular-season minutes - scored twice in Open Cup contests - tied for third all-time - to go along with two assists, also third place in RSL's LHUSOC annals ...

- Seven currently rostered RSL players boast multiple appearances for RSL in the Open Cup - including three HomeGrowns - DF Justen Glad (4 games, 4 starts, 279 min.), DF Erik Holt (2 games, 2 starts, 190 minutes) and DF Andrew Brody (3 games, 2 starts, 188 min., despite not appearing earlier this year at Las Vegas) ... Another player who did not appear two weeks ago

- MF Pablo Ruiz (2 games, 2 starts, 106 min.) - is joined by Captain Damir Kreilach (2 games, 2 starts, 198 minutes, 2 goals), MF Scott Caldwell (2 games, 47 min.) and MF Maikel Chang (2 games, 1 start, 136 min.), who each made their second-ever USOC appearances for RSL in the historic tourney ...

- Four other current RSL players - Marcelo Silva, Bode Hidalgo, Rubio Rubin and Jasper Löffelsend - have previously represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in the Open Cup, with the first four playing a full 90 minutes, Kreilach playing 78, and the others 62 or fewer ...

- A quartet of 2023 USOC rookies - GK Gavin Beavers, D/M Emeka Eneli, DF Bryan Oviedo and MF Braian Ojeda - each played the full 120 minutes in the 3-1 win at Las Vegas ... FW Damir Kreilach's game-winning goal, assisted by substitute Andrés Gómez, marked the first active players to notch those difference-making stats in this tourney ...

- Several RSL players could be back in the mix this week, as recently injured FW Anderson Julio (hamstring), MF Jasper Löffelsend (ankle), DF Bode Hidalgo (hamstring) and GK Tomas Gomez (knee) recently returned to training, while DF Delentz Pierre (fibula contusion) and DF Erik Holt (shoulder) - both of whom were hurt in the Las Vegas USOC match - also could contribute this week with both Portland/LAFC in play ... MF Pablo Ruiz - suspended last Saturday against Houston due to his second yellow card issued late on April 29 against Seattle - is also available this week ...

- Since May, 2012, RSL has played 19 Open Cup contests, including this Wednesday at Portland ... 14 of those have been at home, the Club posting a 7-5-2 (W-L-T) mark in that time, splitting the resultant penalty tiebreakers ... RSL is winless at home in four consecutive Open Cup matches, the Club's last 90-minute victory in the competition coming on July 14, 2015 in a 1-0 decision over LA Galaxy ... Former DF Aaron Maund with the 87' stunner in that one ...

- The winner of the RSL / Portland USOC match would likely play another member of the Western region in the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the group including numerous traditional MLS rivals, with a trio of lower-division West contenders still alive: Northern California sides Sacramento Republic (USL) and Monterey Bay (USL), along with New Mexico United (USL) ... The pairings draw for the Round of 16 is expected to be live on www.USsoccer.com on Thursday, May 11, at 12 noon MT ...

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