This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
The CONCACAF Champions League is a tournament separate from Major League Soccer for championship-level teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and its winner this year qualifies for the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.
Teams qualified for the tournament by winning certain titles in their domestic leagues — RSL qualified by winning the 2009 MLS Cup — and they began by playing group-stage games last year that whittled the field from 24 teams to eight for the quarterfinals.
RSL beat the Columbus Crew in the two-game quarterfinal series, before dispatching Costa Rica's Saprissa in the semifinals. Its opponent in the finals is Monterrey of Mexico, which has not lost in the tournament and beat Mexico's Toluca in the quarterfinals before eliminating Cruz Azul in the semifinals.
Michael C. Lewis —
Path to the finals
Monterrey
Country • Mexico
Champions League record • 8-0-3
Quarterfinals
Feb. 23 • Monterrey 1, Toluca 0
March 2 • Monterrey 1, Toluca 0
Semifinals
March 16 • Monterrey 2, Cruz Azul 1
April 6 • Monterrey 1, Cruz Azul 0
Finals
April 20 • Monterrey 2, Real Salt Lake 2
Real Salt Lake
Country • United States
Champions record • 6-2-3
Quarterfinals
Feb. 22 • RSL 0, Columbus 0
March 1 • RSL 4, Columbus 1
Semifinals
March 15 • RSL 2, Saprissa 0
April 5 • Saprissa 2, RSL 1
Finals
April 20 • RSL 2, Monterrey 2