Real Salt Lake put up a valiant effort, but could not find the result it was looking for at home on Wednesday.
Tigres UANL tied the MLS club, 1-1, securing advancement to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with a 3-1 aggregate win across two legs.
RSL scored first, and it had two clear opportunities to level the score, 2-2, on aggregate throughout the 90 minutes. Yura Movsisyan provided the assist on Joao Plata’s sliding conversion in the first half, and it was Movsisyan who had one of the two chances to tie the game.
The 28-year-old Armenian forward had a point-blank chance on the doorstep after receiving the ball near the left post, but he drilled his shot off the crossbar in the 55th minute.
Almost 20 minutes later, Javier Morales had the best chance to score the all-important second goal from the penalty spot. However, Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman saved the shot and the Liga MX club’s advancement.
André-Pierre Gignac scored the dagger in second-half stoppage time. Despite conceding, RSL proved to be a formidable opponent for Tigres on the evening, though. The MLS side outshot the Tigres, 12-4.
RSL will begin its MLS campaign against Orlando City SC on Sunday.
Here are the highlights to Wednesday’s second leg:
What do you think of RSL’s performance? What are you expecting from the MLS side in 2016?
Share your thoughts below.
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In the last 4 games MLS teams had 2 PK’s and missed both. Not good, since something like 80% of PK’s are scored on average. The one here was especially important. BTW, I will renew my idea that soccer should change the rules so that the person drawing the foul has to be the one taking the PK. Like in basketball; it only seems fair.
It’s not like they weren’t close to pulling out a result. If they could have put their pk home they had a real chance of moving on.
I agree with you, they were close, but they really didn’t deserve the PK
It’s CONCACAF, when is a PK ever called correctly?
When MLS or US fans have one called their way… right? You don’t hear anyone saying that the foul that led to that penalty was clearly outside the box. Nope. Why? Cause an MLS or UNMNT player would never sully their moral superiority by benefiting from bad calls. Or would they?
Movsisyan really struggled in both games
I think that this is the only team that had any teeth, and across this competition that is what a team needs. There is a general stoicness and lack of nastyness with MLS teams. Physical yes. But, the ability to gain some emotional capital on the field no. Scott Dio93… Whatever man. It’s just as entertaining to be hating. You’ll be back.
RSL definitely looked the best among the MLS across both legs and had arguably the toughest competition. They were probably the best positioned to handle a preseason tournament given they didn’t have too much turnover or a change of formation to work out. I expect good things from them this year.
Valiant effort against a good Tigres team, but still not enough… again. Too bad CCL doesn’t hand-out participation trophies.
Mr. Garber, you just a lost a viewer and supporter.
I get your frustration but there really is no reason to expect differently. MLS sides will continue to come up short unless either the league or the competition committee changes their scheduling.
You are aware this was RSL, right? The 9th team overall in the West (2nd to last) who had 15 teams finish the MLS season with more points. There were only 2 teams last year in MLS with a worse goal differential than RSL!
Bye.
MLS starts on Sunday !!!!
What does Don Garber have to do with this? A classic example of a non sequiter.
Garber, apparently, has a lot more to do with it then you realize. We are hamstrung by two major things when it comes to CCL; salary to provide depth, and a will to push to reschedule the tournament rounds.
The teams that played last night did so by qualifying back in the 2014 season. Salary caps specifically work against holding a team together for more than a couple of years. We are also playing against teams that have an average starting salary in the millions.
If we can shorten the tournament, as well as move the knockout round out of preseason it would bring the playing field closer to level. Both are viable without screwing other CONCACAF leagues, it just takes the political will to make it happen.
i.e. Don Garber
Sorry, Gary. Garber isn’t immune to shouldering the blame when he’s awarded the majority of praise when it’s convenient.
This round of games is always the crux of the tournament for MLS. If they can get past this round, the next round they have some regular season play under their belts, even though it’s still pretty early in the season. Montreal so far though, is really the only team to do all they could to take this tournament seriously.
Definitely awaiting a big bump in salary cap and some tournament rescheduling – both are way overdue.