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MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Update

November 18, 2013 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


REAL SALT LAKE TO FACE PORTLAND TIMBERS IN SECOND LEG OF WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP ON SUNDAY

Real Salt Lake (West #2) will face Portland Timbers (West #1) on Sunday in the second and final leg of the Western Conference Championship series at 7:00 p.m. MT at JELD-WEN Field. Sunday's match will be broadcast live on ESPN and locally on ESPN 700 AM and 102.3 La Gran D FM/1600 AM .

Sunday's match is the second leg of the Western Conference Championship series. Real Salt Lake defeated Portland 4-2 in the first leg at Rio Tinto Stadium on Nov. 10, giving the Claret-and-Cobalt a two-goal advantage heading into the decisive second leg.

The winner of the RSL-Portland Western Conference Championship will advance to MLS Cup 2013, which will be played on Saturday, Dec. 7 against the winner of the Houston Dynamo-Sporting Kansas City Eastern Conference Championship series.

Sunday's match will be the second playoff meeting between Real Salt Lake and Portland Timbers and sixth meeting between the sides in all competitions this calendar year. The Claret-and-Cobalt is 3-0-2 against Portland in all competitions this year, drawing both matches at JELD-WEN Field. RSL went 1-0-2 against the Timbers in the 2013 MLS regular season, drawing 3-3 on Aug. 21 in Portland, winning 4-2 on Aug. 30 at Rio Tinto Stadium and drawing 0-0 on Oct. 19 at JELD-WEN Field. The teams also played in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal on Aug. 7 at Rio Tinto Stadium, a 2-1 RSL victory.

Real Salt Lake is unbeaten in its last nine matches across all competitions against Portland Timbers. RSL is 6-1-3 all-time against the Oregon side, with the Claret-and-Cobalt's lone loss against the Timbers coming in the first-ever meeting between the sides at JELD-WEN Field on April 30, 2011.

Real Salt Lake's first leg win over Portland featured goals from DF Chris Schuler, FW Robbie Findley, FW Devon Sandoval and MF Javier Morales. Robbie Findley continues to be RSL's all-time leading scorer in the postseason with five career playoff goals while Chris Schuler is RSL's top scorer in the 2013 postseason with two goals. Claret-and-Cobalt playmaker Javier Morales will look to continue his success against the Timbers on Sunday. The Argentine has three goals and three assists against Portland Timbers in three games played in 2013, and four goals and five assists against the Oregon side all-time.

RSL FORWARD ALVARO SABORIO WINS MLS LATINO DEL ANO 2013 AWARD

Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio was named Major League Soccer's Latino del Año 2013 on Monday, beating out Houston's Boniek Garcia, Dallas' Raul Fernandez and LA's Jaime Penedo in the final fan vote to take home the honor.

Saborio took home 36.4 percent of the final round vote to win Latino del Año. Fernandez finished in second with 25.47 percent, Penedo was third with 25.27 percent and Boniek Garcia rounded out the vote with 12.85 percent.

Saborio missed significant time in 2013 due to injuries and international call-ups, but he was wildly successful while on the field, leading RSL with 12 goals in 16 regular season games. The Costa Rican international's strike rate of 0.80 goals per 90 minutes was tops on Real Salt Lake and second in MLS to Golden Boot winner Vancouver forward Camilo Sanvezzo.

Saborio is currently rehabbing a hip flexor strain suffered in the second leg of RSL's Western Conference Semifinal series win over the Galaxy. It is not yet known if he'll be available for the second leg of RSL's Western Conference Championship series at Portland on Sunday.

RSL TO PARTICIPATE IN 2014 FC TUCSON DESERT DIAMOND CUP

Real Salt Lake and FC Tucson announced on Monday that the Claret-and-Cobalt will participate in the 2014 FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup. Fellow MLS clubs Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution and USL Premier Development League club FC Tucson will join RSL at the third edition of the MLS Preseason tournament, which will run from Feb. 19-March 1, 2014.

RSL participated in both previous editions of the Desert Diamond Cup, coming in third-place in the inaugural edition of the event in 2012 and finishing runners-up at the tournament this preseason.

"We're excited to head back to the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup for the third-straight year," said RSL General Manager Garth Lagerwey. "We're hoping to participate in Desert Diamond Cup on an annual basis, making Tucson - and this high-quality tournament - a regular preseason destination for our fans and media."

This year's tournament will consist of four days of tripleheaders, with the final day culminating with the championship game. The first three match days will be played at the brand new North Stadium at Kino Sports Complex. The March 1 finals will take place at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Five additional MLS teams - Houston Dynamo, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders FC - will participate in preseason friendlies in Tucson in early February. Vancouver Whitecaps FC will visit Tucson for a behind-closed-doors preseason friendly against the Dynamo.

A full schedule and ticketing information for all of the 2014 MLS Preseason games in Tucson can be found at www.FCTucson.com .

19 REAL SALT LAKE-ARIZONA ACADEMY GRADUATES ADVANCE TO 2013 MEN'S COLLEGE CUP

Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy graduates will be well represented in the 2013 NCAA College Cup, with 19 RSL-AZ grads from 14 different Division I programs set to participate in the tournament, which will begin this Thursday.

Nine RSL-AZ graduates - Coco Navarro (Marquette; Big East Conference), Danny Gavin (Washington; Pac-12), Brian Hoyt (Denver; Summit League), Miggy Salazar (Elon; Southern Conference), David Flores (Loyola Marymount; West Coast Conference), Elliot Farmer (UCI), Kostas Kotselas, Isaias "Junior" Juarez and Augustine Rey (Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Horizon League) - clinched an automatic College Cup berth by winning their respective conference tournament.

The remaining ten Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy graduates had to anxiously wait until Sunday to learn their tournament fate, with Phanuel Kavita (Clemson), Riggs Lennon, Jordan Allen (Virginia), Trevor Hyman (Stanford), Josh Goss, Lucas Seligman (New Mexico), Andrew Brody, Ricardo Velazco (Louisville), Cole Nagy (UCLA) and Brandon Marquez (Seattle U) entering the tournament as at-large selections.

The first round of the College Cup is on Thursday night. Three matches will feature Real Salt Lake Academy-AZ graduates playing against each other. RSL Academy graduates at UCLA, Marquette, Virginia, UCI, New Mexico and Stanford have earned a first-round bye and may eventually face a former teammate in the later rounds.

REAL SALT LAKE INJURY REPORT

OUT: GK Josh Saunders (L ACL reconstruction), DF Kwame Watson-Siriboe (R ACL reconstruction),

QUESTIONABLE: Alvaro Saborio (R hip flexor strain), Chris Wingert (Fractured rib; Pneumothorax)

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