America First Field, Sandy, UT – It was a beautiful night at America First field for the first RSL match in the 2026 Leagues Cup with Tigris UANL as the visitors. The first half had all the regulation scoring with Tigris striking early in just the 6th minute. Pablo Ruiz leveled the score in the 16the minute and that is all the scoring until regulation ended and a PK shootout decided the winner. RSL looked strong on PKs but so did Tigris with the first 5 of each side finding the net but Zach Booth hit the side bar and Jesus Garza secured the win for the Liga MX side. It looked like it was anyones game through most of the match. It felt like RSL dominated posession but Tigris had a lethal counter attach that they used to their advantage all night long.
Real Salt Lake showed some great energy as the match started but Tigris was also in great form particularly on the counter attack. Tigris was able to strike early in just the 6th minute with a strike from Juan Brunetta and a deflated RSL. The Claret and Cobalt got back into their groove after a regrouping and Pablo Ruiz leveled the score in the 16th minute. From the beginning of the match the play was very physical and it was a bit surprising that there were no yellow cards before the clubs headed for their locker rooms at the half.
No substitutions were made as play resumed but the physical nature of the match did seem to escalate as both clubs fought hard to gain the advantage. It felt like Selvin Brown lost control of the match at multiple points in the second half and there was alot of play that really seemed to push the boundary of acceptable play but only 3 yellow cards were issued with Tigres getting two of those. At the end of regulation play the match was still level at 1-1 and in League Cup play we have to have a winner so we went to a shootout to decide tonight’s winner. If this is the style of play the Claret and Cobalt are planning on bringing to the Leagues Cup we should be in for a treat for the next match later this week.
Real Salt Lake was a bit short handed with Zavier Gozo still recovering from an injury and he was surely needed tonight. It is reported that Zavier Gozo is in talks to move to Crystal Palace in the English Premier League. This would be a huge loss or RSL but a great move for Zavier and his development as a player. RSL returns on Saturday August 8th when they welcome Atlante FC to America First field.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 0 0
Tigres UANL 1 0 0
Scoring Summary
TIG – Juan Brunetta – 6′
RSL – Pablo Ruiz – 16′
Misconduct Summary
TIG – Jesus Garza – 50” – foul
TIG – Diego Laniez – 78′ – foul
RSL – Lukas Engel – 86′ – foul
Officials
Referee: Selvin Brown
Assistant Referee: Garson Orellana
Assistant Referee: Roney Salinas
4th Official: Pierre-Luc Lauziere
Video Assistant Referee: Jesus Montero
AVAR: Yasith Monge
Attendence: XXX
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Rafael Cabral; Juan Sanabria; Lukas Engel; Philiip Quinton; Juan Arias; Dominik Marczuk (Zach Booth, 62′); Victor Olatunji (Serfi Solans, 62′); Stijn Spierings; Pablo Ruiz (Noel Caliskan, 76′); Saba Lobvjanidze (Diego Luna, 76′); Morgan Guilavougui (Aiden Hezarkani, 86′)
Substitutes Not Used: Sam Junqua; DeAndre Yedlin; Mason Stajduhar; Max Kerkvliet; Alex Katranis; Omar Marquez; Linker Rodrigues dos Santos
Head Coach: Pablo Mastoeni
Tigres UANL: Nahul Guzman; Vladamir Lorona (Francisco Reyes, 74′); Cesar Araujo; Fernando Fontes; Joan Brunetta; Jesus Garza Garcia; Diego Lainez (Isac Galvan, 87′); Rodrigo Aguirre; Romula Zwarg (Alan Franco, 74′); Joaquim Silva; Ozziel Herrera (Diego Sanchez, 66′)
Substitutes Not Used: Antonio Carrera; Mauro Lainez; Rafael Guerrero; Fernando Ordonez; Juan Pablo Vigon; Felipe Rodreiguez; Marcelo Salinas; Antonio de Maria y Campos
Head Coach: Hernan Elizondo
Tags: 2026 Leagues Cup, Major League Soccer, MLS, Real Salt Lake, RSL, Tigres