By TRAVIS CLARK
Real Salt Lake has a chance to stake a strong claim on a quarterfinal spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, as they travel to Panama and face Arabe Unido (8pm/concacaf.com, 11pm/delayed on FSC).
Jason Kreis has a decision to make — either go for the jugular and field a starter-heavy lineup, or give some regulars a night off. Given the circumstances, and RSL's good standing in the league, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Alvaro Saborio and Kyle Beckerman play significant chunks of action.
RSL came out on top 2-1 when the two sides met back on August 18 at Rio Tinto, thanks to a brace from Saborio. Winning again tonight would see them climb to the top of Group A, with a two point gap over current leaders Cruz Azul.
SOUNDERS LOOK FOR FIRST CCL POINTS IN MEXICO
Will the Sounders be the first MLS side to win in Mexico? Anything short of that will essentially knock Seattle from the competition, as they've yet to put any points on board. A trip to Monterry, to face the Group C leaders (8:00 p.m., FSC) won't be an easy task.
Seattle's first half of CCL play hasn't been very promising — despite a decent performance at home against Monterry, they couldn't find the back of the net and lost 2-0. That, sandwiched with two losses on the road, leave very little to play for this evening.
With the Sounders in a precarious position, at least in terms of the playoffs, giving a few starters a night off would surely be beneficial. Only scoring 1 goal from their first 3 matches in CONCACAF play, gives every indication that Sigi Schmid will play it conservatively.
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What do you think of tonight's CONCACAF Champions League games? Can RSL pull it off without several starters? Think Seattle can win in Mexico with what is likely to be a B team?
Share your thoughts below.
Are y’all gonna start quoting scripture now?
Re:refs.
Aside from any home favoritism, shouldn’t that read: With Concacaf refs, the officiating may well be below par?
Salt Lake newspaper reports that “new striker Paulo [Araujo] Junior won’t accompany the team either because of injuries.”
Bringing a decent squad. Morales, Williams, Borchers and Wingert all stayed home and did not make the trip.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/50328843-77/league-arabe-champions-unido.html.csp
I believe that RSL should win this game easily even with a B squad if the refs do not become too involved. However, with the game being played in a latin American country, sketchy officiating is always a possibility.
Whatever the squad I really hope they beat the pathetic excuse for a soccer club arabe unido. Let Sarborio and Araujo play up top. Let’s go RSL.
interesting as I read somewhere that Kreis brought a full strength squad and wanted to go after the Panamanian squad and have no hiccups getting out of the group stages.
I’m pretty sure I saw somewhere that Kreis left a lot of his starters home for injuries and other reasons.