Open Cup galvanizing Real Salt Lake's season, even against Galaxy team that just beat them
Open Cup galvanizing Real Salt Lake's season, even against Galaxy team that just beat them
The Magic of the Cup may be spreading to Real Salt Lake's regular season as the club prepares for an Open Cup quarterfinal Wednesday against LA Galaxy.
For a look at every Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal, check out TheCup.us, the leading news provider of the Open Cup.
Even through the Magic of the Cup and the club’s furthest run in the Open Cup since advancing to the semifinals in 2015, Real Salt Lake players and coaches admit it’s still a little weird.
No, not the tournament itself, the FA Cup-style bracket that is the oldest tournament in modern soccer and among the oldest in world football.
But in each of RSL’s last three Open Cup matches, the club has faced the same team within a week — sometimes back-to-back, as it did against Colorado — in both Cup play and MLS play.
“It’s a little bit different,” RSL goalkeeper Gavin Beavers said. “The preparation is the same, but the way you look at film and what-not is a little different. It’s the same mentality, though, and we want to win and make it to the semis.”
After a wild road win over USL Championship club Las Vegas Lights FC, RSL has dispatched MLS sides Portland and Colorado on the road to advance Wednesday’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal, where Salt Lake will host for the first time against the Los Angeles Galaxy with a spot in the semifinals on the line (7:30 p.m. MT, B/R Football App and YouTube channel).
And with each passing win, the group has gained confidence — in itself, in its tactics, and in its ability to compete with each team in the league (and beyond) in the knockout-style, win-or-go-home stakes with a cash prize and a CONCACAF Champions League berth on the line.
That confidence didn’t subside after a 2-1 road win over Austin FC.
“Our confidence is high,” RSL defender Justen Glad said. “I think the group knew that Galaxy game before, we deserved more; it was just a couple lapses in focus. We’re in a good way right now. We’re playing well, and we knew if we just went to Austin and tried to play how we played minus those mistakes, we were going to come out with at least a point.”
The biggest key against the Galaxy is transition play, Glad said. Even minus Chicharito Hernandez, who missed last week’s match due to a red card, LA was still lethal in transition spaces and punished RSL through a combination of Riqui Puig, Lucas Calegari, Memo Rodriguez and Tyler Boyd — the last of which scored the match-winner in transition after entering as a halftime sub with a cast on his injured hand.
Whether those spaces would’ve been exploited otherwise is conjecture. But it may be telling that with Glad inserted back into the lineup, RSL fared better in closing down Austin’s transitionary spaces in that critical road win.
Halfway through the MLS season, Salt Lake is a fringe playoff team trying to make a run in the U.S. Open Cup.
As the scheduled has become more congested through midweek matches and a chance at a Cup semifinal with a win Wednesday, RSL has gotten stronger. The club is 7-3 with four draws in 14 games across all competitions since April 8, including a 5-2-4 record since a wild 3-1 extra-time win at Las Vegas Lights FC to open the Open Cup.
Confidence is high, and a road win over Austin will only bolster that confidence — even against the last team to beat RSL at home, a Galaxy team that hasn’t played since then.
“I think it’s just how we’re performing,” he said of the team’s Open Cup run. “Even those first five games we didn’t win, there were still good performances in there. The thing with this league is you have to ride those waves; there are going to be moments of playing well and not getting results, and there will also be moments where you’re not playing well and somehow getting results. It’s about making sure when you’re high, you’re not too high and when you’re low, you’re not too low.”
If nothing else, Glad admits he can’t wait to get a crack at LA. And not a moment too soon; the veteran RSL homegrown center back has risen to become one of the team’s most important players — and an argument can be made for the most important, after last week’s turnaround.
Maybe. We’ll save that debate for another day.
“He’s been great on the ball, marking guys, and just slowing the game down,” Beavers said of Glad. “When we slow it down, it’s been really nice having him there. The other boys have been great, too; it’s been a good mix of everybody coming in, doing your job, and just keep going.”
Here’s a quick look at the other Open Cup quarterfinal schedule:
Tuesday, June 6
FC Cincinnati (MLS) vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (USLC), 5 p.m. MT | B/R Football YouTube
Chicago Fire FC (MLS) vs. Houston Dynamo (MLS), 6:30 p.m. MT | CBS Sports Golazo Network
Wednesday, June 6
Birmingham Legion FC (USLC) vs. Inter Miami CF (MLS), 6 p.m. MT | CBS Sports Golazo Network
Real Salt Lake (MLS) vs. LA Galaxy (MLS), 7:30 p.m. MT | B/R Football YouTube