U.S. Open Cup presents golden opportunity for Real Salt Lake
With only eight MLS teams participating in the U.S. Open Cup, RSL has a golden opportunity. Can RSL finally lift the trophy?
Real Salt Lake kick off their U.S. Open Cup campaign on Wednesday, traveling to Albuquerque to face USL Championship side New Mexico United.
Anyone who closely followed Real Monarchs will be familiar with NMU; for old RSL fans you may recall it was a team that featured some former RSL players, notably Devon Sandoval, Justin Schmidt and Justin Portillo.
Historically, New Mexico hasn’t had great success in the USOC, winning only 4 of their 11 home games, however RSL’s record is really nothing to boast at either; 4-4 vs lower division sides, and we’re 3-6 on the road in USOC. This year does present a golden opportunity for RSL that hasn’t existed before.
The USOC winner will still get a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup, but before the MLS Season began the league announced that the reserve teams will take part, with the main teams sitting out. This, they argued, was due to fixture congestion with Champions Cup, Leagues Cup, and friendlies with European teams over the summer. The league argued they needed to rest players.
USOC cried foul, and the U.S. Soccer Federation agreed — at least in part. Closed door negotiations resulted in an agreement that MLS will field eight teams that were not previously playing in the 2023-24 Concacaf matches. RSL was one of the eight, along with Atlanta United, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles FC, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City.
If RSL beats New Mexico, they again will go on the road to face the winner of New York City’s reserve team, NYCFC II, and Colorado Springs Switchbacks. After that there will be another draw from the teams remaining to determine hosting teams for the finals.
The match will be streamed online at MLSSoccer.com, USL team sites, and the U.S. Open Cup website.
With only eight MLS teams it’s possible RSL may not face another MLS side until the final, and even if they do face an MLS side, most of the other seven teams are struggling in league play this year. RSL will be the team to beat.
The Open Cup is a fantastic tournament dating back to 1914 that deserves to continue, it’s appalling that Major League Soccer made the decision to effectively kill it for the money grab that is Leagues Cup. Many fans from other MLS teams have made a pact to boycott the Leagues Cup in protest and support the USOC to show the league and US Soccer Federation that they still value the tournament, which is the only chance some lower division teams will ever get to face professional players.
- New Mexico United vs Real Salt Lake
- May 8, 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight
