SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake (5-10-5, 20 pts) enters the MLS All-Star break with an equal number of wins, draws and points as the 2005 team earned during its expansion season last year, following Saturday night's dramatic, come-from-behind 2-1 win over MLS leaders D.C. United.
CUNNINGHAM NAMED MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RSL FW Jeff Cunningham helped lead his team to a 1-0-1 record and tallied three goals and two assists during Week 18, for which he earned Player of the Week honors for the third time this season. RSL earned four points last week and enter the All-Star Break only six points behind fourth-place Chivas USA in the Western Conference.
Last Wednesday, Cunningham had a goal and two assists in an exciting back-and-forth matchup with Chivas USA that ended in a 3-3 draw. In the 34th minute, MF Chris Klein delivered a free kick from the right side of the field that was headed up and out, but only to the chest of Cunningham. The RSL striker settled and then volleyed a dipping rocket from 12 yards out into the right-side netting. Cunningham's two assists in the game came on goals from MF Carey Talley and MF Andy Williams. All three RSL goals from Wednesday night are available for selection at www.MLSnet.com or www.RealSaltLake.com for Sierra Mist Goal of the Week.
On Saturday, Cunningham notched two goals on penalty kicks in the waning moments of the game to help lead Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 come-from-behind upset of D.C. United. Real Salt Lake became only the second team to defeat D.C. United this year and ended United's 14 game unbeaten run.
During this season, his ninth in the league, Cunningham has racked up 11 goals and five assists in twenty games this year. He's scored 85 career goals and has 51 assists in nine seasons, now ranking fourth all-time in career MLS goals, behind teammate Jason Kreis (106), D.C. United's Jaime Moreno (104) and Roy Lassiter (88).
This marks the third time during the 2006 Regular Season that Cunningham has been named Player of the Week, also receiving the honors in Week 7 and Week 10. With 11 goals this season, Cunningham finds himself trailing only Chivas USA forward Ante Razov by one goal for the league lead. The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from the Professional Soccer Reporters Association (PSRA).
RSL TO HOST FOURTH ROUND OF "LAMAR HUNT U.S. OPEN CUP": Real Salt Lake is pleased to host MLS Western Conference foe and Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Wednesday, August 2nd at 7:00 PM MT for a fourth-round match in the 2006 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The rivals play for the first time ever in the U.S. Open Cup when the Colorado Rapids come to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake, which won its first-ever game in the competition on July 11 with the 2-1 win over Virginia Beach. The Rapids, however, have lost their opening game in the Cup each of the last two seasons.
KIDS 10 AND UNDER GET IN FREE!: For this special occasion, Real Salt Lake is allowing all kids 10 and under to get in free to the U.S. Open Cup game Wednesday night, with the paid admission of an adult paying regular price. To take advantage of this special offer, please visit the RSL front office at 515 South 700 East, Suite #2R, or visit the Rice-Eccles box ofice after 4:00 p.m. MT on Wednesday!
IN THE OPEN CUP: RSL has already started off its second Open Cup experience better than its first, after winning the third-round match this year. Last year, they were dumped out in their first time of asking in the second round, falling 6-4 to the Minnesota Thunder of the USL First Division in a wild match in St. Paul, Minn. (Tarley 15, 66; Menyongar 17, Paye 88, 108; Schmidt 98 - Kreis 9 pen, 50, 70; Watson 38).
THIS YEAR: RSL overcame a game Virginia Beach Mariner squad of the USL First Division 2-1 in extra time at Rice-Eccles Stadium. FW Jeff Cunningham gave RSL a lead after 28 minutes when he converted from the penalty spot (after Jamie Watson was taken down in the area) but Tim O'Neill pulled the Mariners level nine minutes later. In the third minute of extra time - after a half-hour weather delay - Andy Williams drilled home an indirect free kick, assisted by Mehdi Ballouchy, to send RSL into the fourth round for the first time ever. ... Here's Ellinger's team: Jay Nolly, Kevin Novak, Nikolas Besagno, Cameron Knowles, Willis Forko, Chris Brown (Ryan Johnson 83), Kenny Cutler, Carey Talley (Mehdi Ballouchy 61), Andy Williams, Jamie Watson (Atiba Harris 72), Jeff Cunningham (Joey Worthen 61).
RAPIDS IN THE OPEN CUP: The 1999 U.S. Open Cup Finalists haven't had much success over the recent past, losing their first match in the competition in four of the last six years, including a 4-1 defeat by the USL First Division Minnesota Thunder last year ... It was the third time in that stretch the losses came to second-tier competition ... In 2000, Colorado lost to the Richmond Kickers 3-0, and in 2001 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2-0 ... In 2004, they were thrashed 3-0 by the Dallas Burn in the fourth round ... In 1999, the Rapids faced A-League competition in three of their four ties, but fell in the final 2-0 to the Rochester Raging Rhinos. They knocked off the Seattle Sounders in the third round and the Charleston Battery in the semifinals, defeating the Tampa Bay Mutiny in between ... Each of the first five years the Rapids were in the competition they were defeated by lower-division competition, losing twice to Rochester (1996 semifinal, 1999 final), to Richmond and Pittsburgh, and in 1997, to the D3 Pro League Chicago Stingers in the third round.
LAST YEAR: The Minnesota Thunder continued their giant-killing ways in the U.S. Open Cup, dumping Colorado out of the competition in the fourth round with a 4-1 victory at James E. Griffin Stadium in St. Paul ... Former RSL FW Melvin Tarley scored all four goals for the Thunder, giving him six goals against MLS clubs in the competition, after he scored twice in the Thunder's 6-4 third-round win over RSL ... Tarley gave the Thunder the lead in the 38th minute when he beat Joe Cannon from the top of the penalty area, then doubled the lead two minutes after the break when he knocked him his own rebound of a saved shot. Alain Nkong halved the Minnesota lead when buried a shot off a pass from Eric Denton in the 69th minute, but Tarley capped off his spectacular night with two goals in five minutes in quick response to the Colorado goal (72, 76) ... Tarley became the fifth player to hit for at least four goals in the Open Cup since the MLS era began in the tournament, and the only lower division player to ever do it against top-flight competition ... Josh Wolff hit for four goals for the Chicago Fire against the Dallas Burn in the quarterfinals in 2000 ... The single-game record holder is six goals by Mugurel Dimitru of the San Diego Flash (A-League) against the Arizona Sahuaros (D3 Pro) in the second round in 1999 ...
RONALDO DELIGHTED WITH FIRST TRAINING SESSION AFTER OPERATION: (July 31 - MADRID - AFP) Brazil's World Cup finals goalscoring record holder Ronaldo came through his first training session since undergoing an operation on his left tibia and declared himself delighted at how he felt ... The 29-year-old Real Madrid striker trained for an hour primarily to see how his tibia reacted to the effort, just over two weeks since he went under the surgeon's knife ... "I feel really good," said Ronaldo, who broke Gerd Muller's mark of 14 World Cup finals goals when he scored in the 3-0 second round win over Ghana ... "Everything is coming along really well." ... Ronaldo, who scored three goals at the World Cup finals as Brazil surrendered their title bowing out in the quarter-finals to France, had been suffering from the problem for the past eight months.
REAL MADRID AUTOGRAPH SESSION NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH "GROUP FLEX PLAN": Real Salt Lake is pleased to announce that on Friday, August 11th Real Madrid will host an exclusive team autograph session, which will include David Beckham. (All members of the Real Madrid roster, effective August 9, are expected to travel)! This private event will be tightly restricted to the first 200 people who order the following:
$300.00 - 1 ticket to the Real Madrid Practice Session on Friday, August 11th
1 ticket to the Autograph Signing on Friday, August 11th
20 VIP/Premium level tickets to any remaining 2006 RSL home game
In order to become one of the 200 lucky participants, please RSVP to kkat@realsaltlake.com or call detailing your interest in being contacted about this event (please include a good contact number for us to reach you at). You may also call 866-9-SOCCER and ask for Kris Katseanes. Payment will be required in full at the time of the call. No tickets to this event can be reserved or held for a later time without payment! You will receive a call in the order that your RSVP is received.
Real Madrid is among the most famous soccer clubs in the world, with a roster full of some of the more recognizable names in all of international sport. Among the players that are expected to be traveling with the club when they arrive in Salt Lake are: David Beckham, Ronaldo, Raul, Emerson, Fabio Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.</p>
The "XanGo Cup" featuring Real Salt Lake vs. Real Madrid, will be taking place on Saturday, August 12th at Rice-Eccles Stadium, with a kick-off time of 7:30 PM MT. For more information on this historic event, please all 866-9-SOCCER, or log onto www.RealSaltLake.com. </p>
