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SANDY — Real Salt Lake successfully took the first step in its pursuit of the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophy Tuesday night with a 3-2 overtime win over the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL in the third round of the tournament.
“This is just a tournament that I’ve been pretty clear about with the players and I think I’ve been pretty clear with everybody — I want to win this tournament,” said RSL head coach Jason Kreis. “And I want to win it in the worst way.”
His "want-to-win" message is one he has clearly delineated to his players this season after their U.S. Cup match loss to Minnesota last season. Kreis called the defeat “the worst night in the history of the club.”
“Realistically anytime you go out on the field, you want to put your best effort forward and especially in this competition, you’re playing for a trophy,” said RSL goalkeeper Josh Saunders. “There’s prize money. There’s a trophy on the line. There’s bragging rights. There’s Champions League. There’s so many aspects that go along with this game that we want to put a lot into it.”
This is just a tournament that I've been pretty clear about with the players and I think I've been pretty clear with everybody — I want to win this tournament. And I want to win it in the worst way.
–Jason Kreis
An early goal by RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman in the second minute put the Salt Lake club on the board. Beckerman tapped the ball in with his head off a corner kick from playmaker Javier Morales.
The Salt Lake club held a 1-0 lead until nearly the end of the match, but Atlanta fired a goal past Saunders in the 87th minute, tying it up and sending it into two 15 minute overtimes.
“A lot of these games, if you take these teams lightly, they’ll come at you and we withstood a lot of pressure and unfortunately gave up a goal kind of late," said Saunders. "Everybody wanted to get out of the rain and finish the game off, but we showed a lot of character to come back after taking that goal and scoring two in the overtime period. We want to move forward. We want to win this.”
With the victory, the Claret and Cobalt will return to Open Cup play June 12 as it hosts USL Pro side Charleston. The Battery defeated Major League Soccer club San Jose early Tuesday night 1-0, securing a fourth-round match against RSL.
“I’m happy that we’ve advanced,” said Kreis. “We’ve got three more games to win it and the next one is at home, so we’re going to need to put the same exact emphasis on that one.”
The Salt Lake club will return to the pitch and MLS play Saturday as it hosts San Jose in the second league match of a lengthy homestand.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
