Real Salt Lake did an awesome job in CONCACAF and made it to the Champion's League finals along with Monterrey. Matt had asked me, if RSL made it to the finals, if I was okay with him buying tickets. I, of course, said yes :) Well, season ticket holders got a super long time to buy tickets, and they could buy their seats times like 4 or something. Tickets were supposed to be opened to the public April 15 at 5pm. In Vegas, we got online, but tickets weren't available for purchase. On our way home Monday, April 18th, I got an email from RSL saying those who had purchased tickets to at least one game during the season so far were eligible to purchase CONCACAF tickets before they went public, but you had to call them. So I called, and got an answering machine. Fail, RSL. So Tuesday, I called again, got a real person, and bought tickets!
The day of the game, Wednesday, April 27, I was working 10am to 6pm so we could get there by 7pm for the game that was starting at 8pm. Well, it was a super slow day at work, so I got off at about 5:15pm and met Matt at the park and ride. We stopped at Arby's for some dinner and headed north :) This time, we parked at the free lot at the Sandy City Center and took a shuttle up to Rio Tinto Stadium. When we got there, there was much music (or at least banging on drums) and confetti everywhere. Shortly after, the gates opened, and we headed into the stadium and walked around half of it to get to our seats :) I had brought a book, but I didn't really read much, even though we had 1 1/2 hours before the game started.
Long before the game started...
We were told to wear read in support of RSL - Matt doesn't own red, so he wore yellow (the color of their away unis)
View from our seats
We were just to the west of the support section, and it was fun to watch all of the crazy people :) It was also enjoyable to watch the different fans coming out to support their teams, watch the media wander around, and watch the teams warm up. This is why I didn't get much reading done :)
Warming up
Bouncing confetti on the giant flag
More warming up
My favorite part of the warm up was watching the referees warm up - it was like they were dancing ;)
Right before kick off - the energy was AWESOME. Everyone was so excited to cheer on our boys in the finals! It was great fun as the whole stadium sang. (I took video, but it's super shaky, so I'm not posting it because I don't want to make anyone sick :) )
Nasty mess of streamers :)
Shaking hands before the game
An action shot
Corner kick from our corner :)
Alas, Monterrey scored a goal during stoppage time of the first half. Try as we might, we were unable to score a goal. Monterrey won the game 1-0, and subsequently won the trophy. It was a sad night, and emotions were super high (especially from the drunk guy in front of us), but it was such an awesome accomplishment for our boys to make it to the finals and come so close. We didn't stay for the awarding of the trophy. Instead, we made the long walk back to our car. It was an exhausting night, but it was worth it.
Our goalie after the game
More dejection of our team over the loss
Setting up to award Monterrey the trophy
