OT: CONCACAF Champions League Championship RSL vs. Monterrey - GO USA
Although a SI writer tried to compare this game to American soccer's version of the Miracle on Ice, a win by Real Salt Lake against four time Mexican league champion Monterrey or even a 0-0 or 1-1 tie sends RSL to the six team FIFA Club World Cup which no American team has ever participated in. Definitely a big win.
Not sure where the TV coverage is but its streaming live at https://secure-concacaftv.premiumtv.co.uk/page/secure/loginOrRegister/0,,12907,00.html if you register.
It's on Fox Soccer Channel in 10 minutes.
This is such a big game that is huge for US Soccer. Not a RSL fan, but MLSsoccer.com has a great video series thoughout each of their champions league matches, and it has a lot of behind the scenes looks at the journey RSL has gone through (kind of like the Jets Hard Knocks series). Representing MLS at the club world cup would be incredible.
Wow. Lets Go RSL.
Who would they play if they make it, i.e. who else is in this tourny?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIFA_Club_World_Cup
Only 1 team has sealed their bid so far.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
If they win, they get to go to the club world cup (I believe is in the summer). Every winner of each of the FIFA leagues will play in the tourny. Those haven't been decided yet. For instance, the winner of the UEFA champions league will be decided in May (either Schalke/Man U or Real Madrid/Barca).
This is a big deal.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
I just finished watching today's DVR'd Barcelona vs. Real Madrid match. What a disappointing spectacle. A couple brilliant Messi goals late couldn't even save it for me.
Hoping that the RSL vs. Monterrey match is better!
Messi's goal was amazing. He is the best player in the world at this moment.
but i also feel like he still needs to go play in england to cement his status, or contend as being the best of all time. BBVA is a good league, i just dont think its depth is nearly as complete as on the other side of the pond
April 27th, 2011 at 10:02 PM ^
Apparently the temperature is in the 40's. Got a feeling the Monterrey guys will not dig that.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
On Telefutura.... I have to watch it in Spanish, because I don't have cable to watch it on Fox Soccer....
April 28th, 2011 at 12:16 AM ^
This Telefutura HD is a little sketch. It looks like something from the 80s
April 27th, 2011 at 10:14 PM ^
As I've started to get a little more into soccer, I've gotten kind of annoyed by the names of some of the MLS teams. They just seem kind of poser-ish. Real Salt Lake - what's Royal? Four teams with "FC?" DC United... just a straight rip off. Probably petty on my part, but I think it's kind of lame.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
A little poser-ish but I can live with the F.C.'s since they do make sense (Football Club after all is what they are and its a tip of the hat to the rest of the soccer playing world). I agree with you though that the Real doesn't make much sense.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
The U.S., Canada (Quebec included), Ireland, Australia and New Zealand - in short, most of the native English-speaking world outside the UK - more commonly call it soccer. A blog post on the topic:
http://thelousylinguist.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html
I'm pretty sure Real Madrid has some sort of ownership or give financial support to Real Salt Lake. Maybe same ownership group. They both wear the same colors.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:45 PM ^
It's a lame attempt at manufacturing a sense of tradition. "Real Salt Lake" is the worst. A bit of Spanglish with an incongruous royal allusion. It may make sense in the capital of a constitutional monarchy (Spain) for a team to be called Real Madrid, but not so much here.
The "FC" stuff is pompous. I'm not a soccer-hater, but I do hate it when American fans ridicule that name and insist on calling it "football" (or "futbol," etc.) Look, In the U.S. (and much of the English-speaking world, actually) the sport is called soccer. There's nothing wrong or insulting about that. That's just its name. In Italy the sport is called calcio. Should we ridicule them for "not understanding the beautiful game" also?
April 27th, 2011 at 11:00 PM ^
...is it's original name and they're an original MLS club. Plus DC and United do go together - if you put a little thought into it.
/DC United supporter from the start
April 27th, 2011 at 10:23 PM ^
MSL team names may be a bit lame, but at least we don't have "BIMBO" enblazened across our chests.
I haven't bought my Dynamo jersey yet just because of the "Amigo Energy" logo that's been on the front the last 4 years. I'll hopefully be picking up this year's sometime this season.
vs
April 27th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
1-0 Monterrey on the last kick of the first half. :(
Now lead 3-2 on aggregate.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
Wow. RSL defender #4 just gave up on the play, stopped running, and let his man score. Weak.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:58 PM ^
It was pretty lame.
April 28th, 2011 at 12:04 AM ^
RSL loses 1 nil.
Real Madrid and Youth Academy
As of September of the 2006 season, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid have signed a 10-year co-operative agreement. Among the provisions of the deal are a biennial friendly match between the two teams to take place in Salt Lake City, annual February training for RSL at the Real Madrid practice facility in Spain, and, perhaps most importantly, the creation of a $25 million elite youth academy in SLC that will train up to 200 players from ages 12 to 18.[25] The academy, a co-operative project for which Real Madrid will pay half the cost, will include academic facilities and dormitory housing, arguably becoming the first true soccer "youth system" in MLS, along with the Red Bull Academy effort of Red Bull New York. In this sense, it is part of a growing league-wide trend toward the emphasis of youth development, a trend which has been encouraged by the main office and jump-started by the league's decision to allow individual teams to maintain rights to the products of potential youth development systems.
Taken from Wikipedia