COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Coming from Estadio León at just over 5,000 feet above sea level in Guanajuato, Club León had to feel right at home in the Mile High City.
The well-traveled Liga MX side certainly looked it Tuesday night.
Díber Cambindo scored a brace as red-hot León won its fourth-straight Leagues Cup match away from home, blowing past Real Salt Lake 3-0 in a quarterfinal Tuesday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado.
Óscar García made six saves to earn the shutout for León, which advanced to the Leagues Cup semifinals after group-phase wins over Nashville, Orlando and Miami as part of a now-seven match winning streak across all competitions.
The top-seeded Liga MX side of the competition out-shot RSL 19-12, held the visitors playing just over 500 miles from their home stadium to two shots on target in the second half, and converted three of their eight attempts on frame to pull within one win of a CONCACAF Champions Cup berth.
“In the locker room, the word ‘pride’ came to mind,” León manager Javier Gandolfi told reporters in Spanish after the match. “To win seven-straight games in different venues is a huge accomplishment, and I wanted to congratulate the whole group.”
Real Salt Lake, meanwhile, will go home searching for answers with a return trip to the Denver metro area Saturday to face Rocky Mountain rivals Colorado Rapids in MLS play.
The group rested its starters on Saturday — all of them — during a 2-1 loss to Orlando City SC before flying directly to Denver for a quarterfinal it was certainly taking seriously.
Instead, RSL returns home empty-handed within the competition and sliding down the MLS western conference standings with a seven-match winless streak in league play.
“In football, there are moments in the season where you feel like you are dancing through the game,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “There are other moments where you have to roll up your sleeve; I think we saw a little bit of that in Orlando.
“I don’t know if it’s fatigue, or can put a finger on the why,” he added. “But the structure is fine, and that’s maybe the biggest thing. The last three weeks to a month, we’ve done all of our coaching on video. But we haven’t touched the grass in such a way that allows us to show what the nitty gritty feels like.”
RSL rotated heavily to start, a total replacement of the Starting XI that included Saba Lobjanizde’s first start since moving from Atlanta United to Real Salt Lake on July 1 following the FIFA men’s World Cup.
But Leòn struck first in the 22nd minute through Cambindo. The 30-year-old Colombian scored his first goal of the tournament on a cross by Iván Moreno, who slid a ball into the box that DeAndre Yedlin attempted to clear before Cambindo redirected the play from a prone Yedlin into the back of the net.
The goal snapped Salt Lake’s 284-minute shutout streak in Leagues Cup play, the first goal allowed since the sixth minute of the club’s phase-one opener Aug. 4 against Tigres.
RSL was forced to make an early sub moments later, replacing midfielder Stijn Spierings with Pablo Ruiz in the 27th minute after the former left right a right ankle sprain.
Sergi Solans nearly equalized in the 37th minute with back-to-back attempts, but the newly extended striker from Lleida, Spain had both attempts blocked as the Guanajuato side took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Noel Caliskan found the back of the net less than four minutes into the second half for Real Salt Lake, but the offside flag was raised to keep León in front.
Instead, Sebastián Vegas doubled the advantage after finishing León’s seventh corner kick of the night in the 66th minute.
Cambindo added a third with a left-footed shot as he ran past Rafael Cabral in the 72nd minute to send León to the Leagues Cup semifinals.
“We created some chances tonight,” Mastroeni said. “But we didn’t score, and that’s not going to help … The effort was top. The guys will give maximum effort. But the game of football is a game of moments; it’s not 90 minutes, it’s 5,400 moments. And if you don’t get all of those right, you put yourself in position to not get the results you want.”
RSL will return to Salt Lake City on Wednesday, take a day to “decompress,” and return to training Thursday with full sights on a return to Colorado and snapping a dubious skid that saw the club slip from third in the West to eighth with an 8-8-4 record.
“We need to roll up our sleeves,” Mastroeni said, “bring our lunch pail, and get to work.”
Great reporting, as usual. Tried to watch the match but was completely turned off by the referee’s inability to call out issues and card those needing to be carded. Nothing against Leon, but the play was trashy as was the officiating. I’ll stick with the Premier League and Ted Lasso.