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RSL tapped again to compete in 2020 Leagues Cup

Tigres' Manuel Viniegra (15) and Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia (80) vie for a head ball during the second half in the second leg of a CONCACAF Champions League soccer quarterfinal, Wednesday, March 2, 2016, in Sandy, Utah. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, and Tigres won on aggregate. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

  | Feb. 20, 2020, 8:17 p.m.
| Updated: Feb. 21, 2020, 12:17 a.m.

Real Salt Lake will once again compete in the Leagues Cup.

The second annual tournament between Major League Soccer and Liga MX teams returns for 2020 with double the teams in both leagues. RSL was one of the four teams chosen in 2019’s inaugural installment of the tournament.

“It’s special when you can compete against someone from outside MLS,” RSL coach Freddy Juarez said in a statement. “It’s important for us to compete for trophies, and Leagues Cup gives us the chance to do that.”

RSL will play a Liga MX team still to be determined on either July 21 or 22 at Rio Tinto Stadium. Salt Lake is the second seed among the eight MLS teams.

“MLS is getting better and better every year and we've seen it in Champions League and now Leagues Cup,” RSL midfielder Albert Rusnák said. "Every team in this competition wants to win and that's what we're going to try and do.”

RSL lost 1-0 to Tigres UANL in the 2019 Leagues Cup. After that game, former RSL coach Mike Petke screamed a Spanish-language homophobic slur to a referee, leading to his eventual firing.