This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Jason Kreis was correct in describing Real Salt Lake as a trailblazer.Before Kreis, the RSL coaching staff and front office decided to take the CONCACAF Champions League seriously, teams from Major League Soccer were pretty much an afterthought."We were the first team in the league to put more emphasis on CONCACAF than league games," Kreis said. "The majority of the teams weren't doing it."As we know, RSL fell a game short of playing against the big clubs of Europe in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, losing 1-0 to Monterrey, Mexico, at Rio Tinto Stadium. But until then, no MLS team had even advanced to the semifinals.RSL changed everyone's perception. The league and its players took notice of not only what RSL was doing but the attention it brought to Salt Lake and MLS."For us, we didn't know too much about it," RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "The coaches put emphasis on it even before the players knew what it really was."
This is relevant because MLS teams have followed the RSL plan. Teams decided that the tournament was worth planning for.
MLS representatives have performed well in the latest incarnation of the tournament, having won seven of eight matches and leading the four groups.The LA Galaxy leads Group A, three points ahead of Morelia. The Colorado Rapids lead Group B with a one-point advantage over Santos Laguna. Dallas and Toronto are one-two in Group C and Seattle, RSL's opponent Saturday, is three points in front of Monterrey. The Sounders also won their tough away game.Round 3 is scheduled to begin Sept. 13.(The CONCACAF Champions League is the annual international club football championship for teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean).The 16-team Champions League begins play in late July with a two-legged preliminary round, which cuts the field to eight surviving teams which join the eight seeded teams in the group stage. The four group winners and four runners-up enter the Championship Round.Quarterfinals begin in February or March with the semifinals in late April. Mexican Primera Division teams have won every year. RSL was so close to changing that streak."[The MLS teams] are doing what they should have been doing all along," Kreis said.The competition broadened the RSL players horizons and the team's profile. The media, once it caught wind of what was going on, also jumped on board."For us, it was a chance to go to some new places and play different teams other than MLS," Beckerman said. "We enjoyed it. So we wish them the best."And hopefully it will tire them out for the [MLS] playoffs."martyr@sltrib.comTwitter@rsltribune.com