Real Salt Lake's Leagues Cup starts with 1-1 draw to Tigres, penalty shootout loss
SANDY, Utah — Real Salt Lake dropped the penalty shootout tiebreaker to Tigres UANL after a 1-1 draw in the Leagues Cup opener for both teams Tuesday night at America First Field
After Juan Brunetta gave Tigres the lead in the sixth minute of play, Pablo Ruiz equalized with his first goal since June 2023 just 10 minutes later to pull both sides to 1-1 at halftime.
RSL out-shot the visitors 16-13 and held Tigres to just four shots on goal, but couldn’t find the go-ahead score in regulation — forcing the penalty shootout tiebreaker under current Leagues Cup rules.
Juan Manuel Sanabria, Sergi Solans, Diego Luna, Noel Caliskan and Lukas Engel all converted from the spot for Real Salt Lake before Tigres’ Jesús Garza scored the decisive penalty in sudden-death extra kicks to clinch the extra point.
Salt Lake returns to Leagues Cup play Saturday with the second of five games in 15 days, hosting Atlante FC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MT on Apple TV.
Derick Fox is a news reporter and photographer for Salt City Soccer, taking photos of Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals FC, and soccer at all levels of Utah. Follow him on Instagram: @jderickfox, and leave a tip on Venmo if you feel so inclined.
