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SANDY — Real Salt Lake will close out its pursuit of the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Tuesday night and look to hoist some hardware as it hosts Major League Soccer opponent D.C. United in the championship match.
“This is the third, I think, really big time game we’ve had at Rio Tinto Stadium,” RSL defender Nat Borchers told ESPN 700 Monday. “For a big match here, we go back to 2011 against Monterrey for the Champions League final and then you go back to 2008 against New York in the semi-finals of the Western Conference Championships — you go back to those big games and we didn’t perform well, we didn’t get the job done so now it’s just a fantastic opportunity for this team to prove itself.”
The Salt Lake side landed its spot in the championship match off a 2-1 win over MLS opponent the Portland Timbers on Aug. 7, but its road to this season’s U.S. Open Cup began much earlier in the season for the Claret and Cobalt.
The Salt Lake club's pursuit of this season’s U.S. Open Cup began on May 28 when it hosted the Atlanta Silverbacks in a third-round match, winning 3-2 in extra time. The win took RSL to the fourth-round where it hosted the Charleston Battery, also taking the match in extra time, 5-2, on June 12. RSL hosted the Carolina RailHawks June 26 in a quarterfinal match, winning 3-0, landing it a spot in the semifinal round.
The Tuesday night match will be just the third final match in club history inside the walls of its fortress, Rio Tinto Stadium. The previous two matches haven’t gone the Salt Lake club’s way, but this time around, the club says, is different.
It’s a match the Salt Lake based MLS club has put emphasis in from the start of its season and says it’s ready for, learning from its past mistakes in big matches.
“You look back at the Monterrey game, I think that we had been on a 20-25 game undefeated streak at home, I think we thought we were invincible there — we didn’t put in the work we needed to put in to get that result and we made one mistake at the end of the first half and it cost us that game,” said Borchers.
“I think if you fast forward to today and you look at this team and you know how dynamic we are offensively and how well prepared we are for this game, I think that we did take a lot out of that Monterrey game and we’re really looking forward to tomorrow night.”
The Salt Lake side enters the match off a big weekend road victory over MLS Western Conference opponent the Vancouver Whitecaps. The RSL side, largely made up of reserve players, ousted the Whitecaps 1-0 and added three points to its season in its pursuit of a playoff slot and the Supporters' Shield.
D.C. United enters the match on an eight-game winless skid in MLS play and currently carries a 3-21-6 record with only 15 points on the season. The last victory the D.C. United club saw was its Open Cup semifinal match 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire Aug. 7, and RSL knows D.C. will come to Rio Tinto to fight for a trophy.
“They’ve been preparing for this game for months and this is it for them, this is their World Cup of this season, and they’ve got to throw everything at it,” said Borchers.
Even though D.C. United has been unsuccessful in MLS play this year, the RSL side says it’s ready for what D.C. United will bring, and the Salt Lake club also knows what’s on the line.
“There’s no tomorrow in this competition, it’s a championship game, this is what every player waits to play this game and sometimes you only get one crack at it in your entire career so we’re going to throw everything at it and we’re going to give it our best,” said Borchers.
The winner of Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup will receive a berth into the 2014-2015 CONCACAF Champions League and a $250,000 cash prize, while the losing side will receive a $60,000 cash prize.
RSL will have a short turnaround following Tuesday night’s matchup with D.C. United and will return to MLS play Saturday, Oct. 5, as it hosts Western Conference opponent F.C. Dallas for the third and final matchup during this regular season. Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
