XanGo Cup 2.0
- July 31, 2007
Only one team wears XANGO across its chest to every match. Only one team trains on the grass of XanGo Soccer Field. And only one team hosts the XanGo Cup. The team, of course, is Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake—they just hosted their second annual XanGo Cup in Salt Lake City, this time bringing in two opponents from two different countries. The two century-old teams to challenge our squad were Everton FC and Boca Juniors:
On the first leg, Saturday July 21, Real Salt Lake fans saw a confident and fresh team take the legs out from under one of England’s finest. They looked to be running on all 11 cylinders as they knocked in 2 loud goals within the space of a minute, hardly giving anyone the chance to finish celebrating the first before the second hit. Real’s newest acquisition, Kyle Beckerman, was the lynchpin as RSL played a clinical game of possession, moving the ball with pinpoint accuracy. In the end, fireworks burst upon a victorious RSL side and their 12,000 supporters. The score: 2-0.
For the second leg, Freddy Adu was back in action on July 24 against the pride of Argentina: Boca Juniors. The match played evenly from the beginning, giving the 16,000 XanGo Cuppers plenty of action to take in, seeing shots on both ends, and some heart-stopping saves—especially from RSL’s Nick Rimando, who got some serious hang time knocking shots out of the atmosphere. For the closing half, Coach Kreis sent out the young’uns and second-stringers for some real match experience. Boca laid it on pretty thick and quick, constantly pressuring our half. They succeeded in heading one past Rimando to set the score at 1-1. That’s how the match would end, too: an action-packed draw.
The XanGo Cup served as a stage for original international material, showing players and fans a new experience and a taste of the bigger world of soccer. The Cup also formed the perfect springboard into the second half of Real Salt Lake’s MLS season, closing with 3 goals, a win and a draw—and some fireworks for good measure.
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