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Old Posted Apr 24, 2011, 10:20 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Salt Lake City
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Guess this would fit in here in this thread......

As you may or may not know, Real Salt Lake has made it all the way up to the finals in CONCACAF.

For those who don't know much or anything about CONCACAF.

CONCACAF (pronounced /ˈkɒn.kəkæf/, KON-kə-kaf) (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) is the continental governing body for Association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Three South American entities, the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana, are also members.[1]
(From Wikipedia)

Here is a rundown of how RSL ended up in the finals.

2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League

As MLS Cup champions, Real Salt Lake were placed in Group A of the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League with Cruz Azul of Mexico, Toronto FC of Canada and Arabe Unido of Panama. Real Salt Lake started their CONCACAF Champions League tournament on August 18 at Rio Tinto Stadium playing the Panamanian champions, Árabe Unido. Real Salt Lake won the game 2–1 with both goals scored by Alvaro Saborio. Next, Real Salt Lake went down to Mexico City to take on Cruz Azul on August 25. No American team had ever won in Mexico City before, and RSL looked to be the first. Late in the game, RSL had a commanding lead of 3 goals to 1 over Cruz Azul. However, Cruz Azul wasn't about to go down quietly, and within 12 minutes they put four goals on RSL to defeat them 5-4.

On September 15, 2010, Real Salt Lake took on Toronto FC at home, in Rio Tinto Stadium. Toronto struck early in the ninth minute, with a goal by Santos. However, Kyle Beckerman scored in the 21st minute, leading to three more goals throughout the match. RSL won the match, 4–1.and took second place in Group A, behind Cruz Azul. Later that month, on September 22, Real Salt Lake went down to Panama to take on Árabe Unido for the 2nd time. This time, Real Salt Lake defeated Árabe Unido 3–2 on their home soil. Cruz Azul tied with Toronto FC the same night, and so RSL was on top of Group A with 9 points. Cruz Azul had 7 points with two more games for both teams to play.

On September 28, Real Salt Lake went north up to Canada to take on Toronto FC for a second time. RSL needed at least one more point to clinch one of the two top spots in their group in order to move on to the next round. The game ended up tying 1-1, giving RSL enough points to clinch the spot.

The 6th and final game for the first round of Group A came on October 19, when Cruz Azul came to Rio Tinto Stadium to take Real Salt Lake on. Both teams stood on top of Group A with 10 points each, and the winner would take top of the group. With mostly second-tier players on the field, Real Salt Lake ended up beating Cruz Azul 3–1 in front of a record crowd of 20,463 fans, with two goals coming from rookie Paulo Araujo Jr. Real Salt Lake ended the first round at first place in Group A. This win also made Real Salt Lake the first ever MLS club to win its group in the CONCACAF Champions League.

After a lackluster 0-0 tie against the Columbus Crew in Columbus, Real Salt Lake defeated the Crew 4-1 back home on March 1, 2011 at Rio Tinto Stadium to advance to the semifinals. The win over Columbus made Real Salt Lake the first ever American team to advance past the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, although two American have previously won the CONCACAF Champions Cup(LA Galaxy and DC United).

On March 15, 2011, Real Salt Lake beat Saprissa 2-0 in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Semifinals at Rio Tinto Stadium and then lost 2-1 in Costa Rica on April 5, 2011. However, this was enough to secure advancement to the CONCACAF Champions League Final by an aggregate score of 3-2. Also, in doing so Real Salt Lake became the first MLS team to ever reach the CONCACAF Champions League Final.

Thanks in part to their performance in the Champions League, RSL became the first American club ever to crack the Top 25 World Rankings at WorldClubRankings.com (in April 2011).[11]

On April 20, 2011, Real Salt Lake played their first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Final in Monterrey. RSL's Javier Morales was able to make the match a draw after his equalizing goal in the 89th minute. RSL tied Monterrey 2-2. The second leg of the final will be held on April 27, 2011 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(From Wikipedia)

Here is what the winner will win.....

CONCACAF Trophy


This one gives you a better idea of the size of the trophy

Photos from bigsoccer.com/forum

The winner would also play for the club world championship ( 7 top teams ) to take place in Japan December 2011.

The first leg has already been played at Monterrey with a 2-2 draw. This Wednesday will be the final leg of the finals that will take place HERE at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy Utah. One way or another a champion will be crowned right here.
Right now RSL has a home unbeaten streak to 27 games (currently 37 in all competitions)
As a RSL fan I will be at this game and will give you all the details during these next few days. If Real Salt Lake wins......they will be the First MLS team to EVER win CONCACAF in this format. Lets cheer on RSL as we hope they will raise the Trophy Wednesday night.

GO REAL SALT LAKE!!!
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