SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake hosts its first-ever international friendly against South American powerhouse CD Universidad Católica on Wednesday, June 8 at Rice-Eccles Stadium at 7:30 p.m. MT. In its first stop in Columbus on Saturday, Católica lost 4-1 against the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium, before arriving in Salt Lake City last night and training at Rice-Eccles Stadium today.
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Católica, who will train at Rice-Eccles on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., ended its regular season with a 3-1 victory over Rangers on Sunday, May 29, capturing the Chilean First Division title with a 14-2-3 record, outscoring its opponents 39-13. The team qualified for the Copa Sudamericana tournament and will battle Deportes Concepcion in the quarterfinals of the playoffs this coming weekend.
Wednesday's game is included in RSL's 2005 full season ticket plan and is marked as "Bonus Game A" in season ticket packages. Ticket prices for this international match are consistent with single-game prices ($14 for north goal, $18 for corner flag, $25 for premier east and $32 for VIP west), and can be purchased by visiting the Utah Ticket Office at 451 South 1400 East, logging onto www.utahtickets.com or by contacting the Rice-Eccles Ticket Office at (801) 581-UTIX. Groups of 20 or more should contact Real Salt Lake by calling (866) 9-SOCCER.
RSL HEADING TO LOS ANGELES: Real Salt Lake (3-6-2, 11 pts., 4th West) resumes training at Rice-Eccles Stadium this week in preparation for its third visit of the season to The Home Depot Center and its second road match against the Los Angeles Galaxy (6-2-2, 20 pts., 3rd West) on Saturday, June 11, at 8:00 p.m. MT, live on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. Beginning this week, RSL plays six of nine games on the road heading into the July 30 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game in Columbus.
During the teams' first meeting at the Home Depot Center on April 9, FW Jason Kreis scored the first goal in team history (also RSL's only goal on grass this season). The 29th-minute strike briefly equalized for RSL, but ended up being sandwiched between two Landon Donovan goals scored in the ninth and 44th minutes. The game-winning goal was scored by MF Cobi Jones in the 72nd minute, leading the Galaxy to a 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake during the second week of the 2005 MLS season.
On May 14, RSL evened the season series at 1-1 with Los Angeles with a 2-1 win over the Galaxy, as DF Eddie Pope and Kreis each notched second-half goals in the come-from-behind victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
POPE WITH USMNT FOR U.S.-PANAMA WCQ: RSL DF Eddie Pope started and played a full 90 minutes for the U.S. Men's National Team in Saturday's 3-0 victory against Costa Rica at Rice-Eccles Stadium and departed with the team today via charter to Panama, preparing for Wednesday's qualifier. The U.S.-Panama match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN2 at 11:00 p.m. MT and on Telemundo 11:30 p.m. MT.
TRINI DUO CONTINUE INTERNATIONAL DUTY: RSL MF Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick and DF Marlon Rojas continue their international duties with Trinidad & Tobago's National Team this week as it prepares for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier against Mexico on Wednesday. T&T defeated Panama 2-0 on Saturday in Port of Spain, Trinidad, but Fitzpatrick and Rojas did not play. The duo missed RSL's 2-0 loss against FC Dallas on Saturday and will rejoin their RSL teammates in time for Saturday's contest against Los Angeles.
SELOLWANE BACK WITH RSL: RSL FW Dipsy Selolwane started and played 77 minutes for the Botswana National Team in its 3-1 home loss to Tunisia in African World Cup Qualifying on Saturday. Selolwane returns to the U.S. tomorrow morning and is expected join his RSL teammates for this week's game against the Galaxy. Botswana's next World Cup qualifier is against Malawi in Blantyre, Malawi at 2:00 p.m. MT on Saturday, June 18.
SALT LAKE CITY FEATURED ON USMNT ALL ACCESS: The U.S. Men's National Team visited the Beehive State for the first time ever in its 3-0 win against Costa Rica on Saturday. Listen to a host of U.S. post-game comments on the U.S.-Costa Rica match and their effusive praise for host Salt Lake City as All_Access Video brings you highlights of the MNT's media session. Bruce Arena, Landon Donovan, and DaMarcus Beasely are just a sampling of the sound you can pick up in today's edition of ussoccer.com's exclusive video content. For a look at all of the clips from this weekend go to www.ussoccer.com.
UTAH ON THE NATIONAL SOCCER MAP: Real Salt Lake and Rice-Eccles Stadium recently hosted the biggest sporting event to hit Utah since the 2002 Winter Olympics on Saturday in the form of an international soccer doubleheader. A crowd of 40,589, the largest professional sports crowd in the Utah history and the sixth-largest home qualifier for the U.S., witnessed the United States' 3-0 win over Costa Rica. Ticket buyers for the event hailed from 46 states plus Washington, D.C., with only Rhode Island, Iowa, Mississippi and West Virginia NOT represented among the 40,000+. A total of 77% of the June 4 ticket buyers hailed from the state of Utah. Fan surveys conducted at the game are currently being analyzed, with the results of the economic impact of the event to be released in the coming weeks.
JOIN THE JUNIOR LOYALISTS: RSL invites local youth fans ages 14 and under to join the RSL Kids Club, known as the Chevron Junior Loyalists! The next replica giveaway will be on Wednesday, June 22 where kids 14 and younger will receive FREE replica Real Salt Lake shorts! The Los Angeles Galaxy game represents the second of five Junior Loyalist "build-a-uniform" dates, with the other RSL memorabilia nights as follows:
DAY/DATE GIVEAWAY
Wednesday, June 22 Replica shorts
Saturday, Aug. 13 Replica socks/shinguards
Saturday, Sept. 3 RSL soccer ball
Saturday, Sept. 24 RSL uniform/bag
Pick up a registration form at any of the more than 90 Wasatch Front Chevron locations!
TRAINING SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF June 6, 2005: **All practices are open to Media members. All times and locations are subject to change.
DAY/DATE SITE/TEAM TIME (MT)
Tuesday, June 7 Real Salt Lake 10:00 a.m.
Universidad Catolica 6:00 p.m.
(both @ Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Wednesday, June 8 GAME vs. Universidad Católica 7:30 p.m.
@ Rice-Eccles Stadium
Thursday, June 9 Rice-Eccles Stadium 10:00 a.m.
Friday, June 10 TRAVEL to LA 10:15 a.m.
Saturday, June 11 GAME @ Los Angeles Galaxy 8:00 p.m.
@ The Home Depot Center
RSL INJURY/NATIONAL TEAM DUTY REPORT:
PLAYER STATUS INJURY
DF Brian Dunseth PROBABLE L calf strain
DF Rustin Pierce OUT R hamstring strain
DF Michael Lookingland OUT MCL knee sprain
DF Eddie Pope OUT (Wed., 6/8) U.S. National Team @ Panama
MF Leslie Fitzpatrick OUT (Wed., 6/8) T&T National Team @ Mexico
DF Marlon Rojas OUT (Wed., 6/8) T&T National Team @ Mexico
FW Dipsy Selolwane OUT (Wed., 6/8) Botswana National Team
All RSL players are expected to return from international duty and be available for the next MLS contest on Saturday, June 11 @ Los Angeles
VOTING FOR 2005 MLS ALL-STAR GAME NOW LIVE ON MLSNET.COM: Fans can now cast their votes for the MLS All-Stars who will take the field against English Premier League club Fulham FC in the 2005 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game. On July 30, "MLS All-Stars Take on the World" as Major League Soccer's best take on Fulham FC at Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH in a game televised nationally on ABC Sports (1:30 p.m. MT). Fans can vote for the starting XI by filling out the online ballot on the League's official website www.MLSnet.com until Friday, July 8, 2005. Fans can vote for 11 starting players from a pool of 144 total candidates via the online ballot - one goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. A maximum of 10 ballots may be submitted per person per day and there are no limits on how many days fans can vote. The online fan balloting will comprise 25 percent of the total, with MLS coaches and GMs (25 percent), media (25 percent) and players (25 percent) accounting for the remainder. The following eight RSL players are under consideration for the midseason game:
POSITION PLAYER
GK DJ Countess
DF Eddie Pope
DF Brian Dunseth
DF Rustin Pierce
MF Chris Brown
MF Marlon Rojas
MF Brian Kamler
MF Clint Mathis
MF Andy Williams
FW Jason Kreis
FW Dipsy Selolwane
SEASON TICKETS ON SALE UNTIL FRIDAY: Real Salt Lake season ticket packages, now pro-rated following the first six games, will remain on sale until Friday, June 10. The RSL 2005 season ticket package now features 15 games, including the remaining 10 MLS regular season games and four special bonus games including this week's international match against Chilean powerhouse Universidad Católica. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the RSL Ticket Office at 515 South 700 East, #2R, SLC, UT 84102, by logging onto www.RealSaltLake.com or by contacting the Real Salt Lake Ticket Office at (866) 9-SOCCER.
GET YOUR FLEX ON WITH CONVENIENT SEASON TICKET OPTION: To add more options for fans, RSL now offers the Flex Season Ticket Package, which is comprised of twenty vouchers of the same price category (North Goal, Corner Flag, Premium and VIP) that allows the purchaser to determine which games they would like to see in the regular season and how many tickets needed for that game. Prices for the 2005 Flex Package are $260 for the North Goal, $320 for the Corner Flag, $440 for the East Sideline and $560 for the VIP seats. Tickets can be redeemed in the following way: one could use all the vouchers and bring 20 people to one game or 4 people could attend five games. Flex vouchers are discounted from the day of game pricing making it an even greater value. Vouchers can be redeemed in advance through the Real Salt Lake Front Office by mail or in person or on the day of the game at the Real Salt Lake Customer Service Window. Seating is best available per price category at the time of redemption.
SINGLE-GAME TICKETS ON SALE: Real Salt Lake single-game tickets for its inaugural 2005 season at Rice-Eccles Stadium continue to be on sale both online and at the University of Utah Ticket Office, located at the Stadium's south end. Individual game prices are $14 for north goal, $18 for corner flag, $25 for premier east and $32 for VIP west. Individual game tickets can be purchased by visiting the Utah Ticket Office at 451 South 1400 East, by logging onto www.utahtickets.com or by contacting the Ticket Office at (801) 581-UTIX. Fans are continued to be encouraged to purchase in advance.
ACCESS REAL: Real fans can now receive up-to-date information on the team by signing up for the RSL Weekly Newsletter at the fans section of RealSaltLake.com.
REAL ELITE TRAINING PROGRAM: The Real Elite Training Program is a progressive summer training program for boys and girls ages 8-16 with previous playing experience and a strong desire to reach their maximum potential. There are a total of 20 sessions, three days a week and two hours per day. The benefits of the program include: exposure to the highest level of training; specializing in technique, tactic, fitness and teamwork; training from RSL soccer players and coaches; and adidas training shirts and ticket voucher to a select game. For more information, contact Teresa Nelson by phone at (801) 924-8565, by email at tnelson@RealSaltLake.com or by logging onto http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/MLS/rsl/player_development/.
MLS CAMPS: MLS Camps, the Official Camp and Clinic of Major League Soccer, has partnered with Real Salt Lake to provide Packaged Camps, Clinic & Training Services and Supply Opportunities to the Greater Utah Community. To host a Program in your community, call (800) 680-6272 or by logging onto www.MLScamps.com and register for a program near you.
