sam stejskal
Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil notched an assist in the U.S. Under-20 national team's 1-0 win over Costa Rica in the Group Stage of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Friday night.
Gil delivered the corner kick that L.A. Galaxy attacker Jose Villarreal nodded home in the 63rd minute. Friday night's win moved the U.S. to 2-0-0 in the Group Stage, giving the Stars-and-Stripes the Group A title.
The U.S. will now face Group B runners-up Canada in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship Quarterfinals on Feb. 26. The winner of that match will advance to this summer's 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.
Luis Gil and the U.S. Under-20 national team got some good news on Wednesday night, when Costa Rica beat Haiti in Group A action at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship to book the U.S.’s passage into the Quarterfinals.
The U.S. now sits in first-place in Group A, ahead of second-place Costa Rica by virtue of the goals scored tiebreaker. The U.S. and Costa Rica will both advance out of Group A, as Haiti concluded its Group Stage schedule with zero points and cannot finish as one of the top two teams in the group.
Gil and the U.S. beat Haiti 2-1 on Monday night, with Gil scoring the opener on a penalty kick and starting the play that led to the U.S.'s second goal.
The U.S. will play Costa Rica on Friday with the Group A title on the line. The Stars-and-Stripes need just a tie against Los Ticos to win the group. The Group A winner will play either Canada or Nicaragua in the Quarterfinals, while the Group A runner-up will take on Cuba in the Quarters.
The four teams that advance out of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship Quarterfinals and into the tournament Semifinals will qualify for this summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Real Salt Lake will play its final FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup Group Stage match on Wednesday night, taking on the New England Revolution at 5:00 p.m. MT at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.
The Claret-and-Cobalt is currently 0-1-1 in the Desert Diamond Cup after tying New York 2-2 last Wednesday and falling to Seattle 1-2 on Saturday. That mark puts RSL in a tie for third-place with the Red Bulls, two points behind second-place New England and five points back of first-place Seattle, which has already clinched a spot in Saturday's DDC Final.
RSL still has a good shot to qualify for the DDC Final against the Sounders. A win over New England on Wednesday night combined with a New York loss or tie to Seattle on Wednesday night would put the Claret-and-Cobalt through. If New York beats Seattle, RSL would need to beat New England and maintain its one goal edge over the Red Bulls in goal differential to advance to Saturday's DDC Final. Should RSL and New York finish tied on points and on goal difference, the team with the most goals scored would advance to the Final.
RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis won't be too worried about that, though. He'll be more interested in seeing how his players perform in their penultimate preseason match than he will be in the result.
If he sticks to pattern, Kreis will run out a reserve-heavy starting lineup on Wednesday, playing the group about 60 minutes before bringing in first-teamers to close out the match. The Claret-and-Cobalt regulars should start again on Saturday.
Wednesday's RSL-New England match will be streamed live on both RealSaltLake.com and MLSsoccer.com. The New York-Seattle match will kick off at 7:00 p.m. MT and will also be streamed live on MLSsoccer.com.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Real Salt Lake announced earlier on Tuesday that rookie forward Devon Sandoval has signed with the first team. Sandoval, who trained with RSL for a week last summer, was absolutely thrilled to join the Claret-and-Cobalt, calling signing with the team "a dream come true."
Sandoval had another good anecdote about signing that didn't quite make it into the release:
"I was actually FaceTiming with my girlfriend when I [put pen to paper]," he said. "She wanted to take pictures and everything, so I got my iPad set up and took some pictures of it when I signed."
A self-described family guy, this isn't the first time that Sandoval has used technology to share a big moment with his loved ones. There was a camera rolling at the Sandoval home during the broadcast of MLS SuperDraft and - predictably - the place went nuts when RSL selected Devon. We're still trying to track down that video. Figure it'd make for pretty good viewing.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Injured Real Salt Lake defender Nat Borchers did his first on-the-ball work of the preseason on Monday, putting his cleats on for the first time and running through some simple cutting and passing drills with RSL's training staff.
Borchers, who had surgery on a tendon in his left quad this offseason, traveled with the Claret-and-Cobalt to Tucson on Feb. 11. Conservative estimates have the veteran center back returning to game action by mid-April. Chris Schuler and Kwame Watson-Siriboe have been the first choice center backs in Borchers' absence, with the pair expected to start RSL's 2013 MLS regular season opener at defending Supporters' Shield winners San Jose on March 3.
RSL next plays on Wednesday night, when it will take on the New England Revolution at 5:00 p.m. MT at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in the club's final FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup Group Stage match. The match will be streamed live on both RealSaltLake.com and MLSsoccer.com.
Real Salt Lake midfielder Luis Gil and the U.S. Under-20 national team will kick off the CONCACAF U-20 Championship with a Group A match against Haiti on Monday. U.S. Soccer produced a solid video preview of the tournament featuring Gil and U-20 Head Coach Tab Ramos.
Check out the video above and make sure to tune in to Fox Soccer Channel at 4:30 p.m. MT to see Gil and the U-20's take on Haiti.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Real Salt Lake will take on Seattle Sounders FC in Round 2 of the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup on Saturday. The match will kick off at 4:00 p.m. MT at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and will be streamed live here on RealSaltLake.com and on MLSsoccer.com.
RSL drew its first Desert Diamond Cup match, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead on Wednesday against New York before letting the Red Bulls claw back for a 2-2 draw. Seattle won its first DDC game, beating New England 2-0 in Wednesday's early match.
Both RSL and Seattle are expected to run out strong lineups on Saturday. It should be a good match between the Western Conference rivals - they're certainly won't be any love lost. RSL and Seattle matches are traditionally chippy, and the Sounders already seem to be in a bad mood. Seattle got into it on a pair of occasions on Wednesday against New England, recieving six total cards and one ejection against the Revs.
Oh, by the way, a certain "Striker X" may feature for RSL on Saturday afternoon. Tune in at 4:00 p.m. to find out.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Former Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy standout Jordan Allen will return to RSL preseason camp on Friday. Allen, a University of Virginia commit, trained with the Claret-and-Cobalt first team during the team's camp in Casa Grande, Ariz. from Jan. 21-28.
Allen left the RSL-AZ Academy in December to return home to Rochester, N.Y. The 18-year-old forward/defender is scheduled to remain with RSL for the duration of the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup, which will run until next Saturday, Feb. 23.
The Claret-and-Cobalt will take on Seattle Sounders FC in both sides' second Desert Diamond Cup match on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. MT at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. The match will be streamed live on RealSaltLake.com and MLSsoccer.com. RSL drew New York 2-2 in its tournament opener on Wednesday night.