Sun Cup: Galaxy & Colorado play to 2-2 draw; RSL downs Rising 1 - 0

Wednesday afternoon and evening saw the second day of Visit Tucson Sun Cup preseason soccer action at Kino North Stadium. Pima County’s COVID-19 restrictions meant a relatively small crowd saw the five goals scored on the day.

LA Galaxy 2 (Lletget 25’, Harvey 54’) - Colorado Rapids 2 (Barrios 17’, Bassett 63’)

The stands were peppered with jerseys for the Galaxy, as well as Mexico and Chivas jerseys bearing the name Chicharito. The Mexican star known to his mother as Javier Hernández was their draw, and it looked like he’d have an impact after he had a strong look at goal before 10 minutes was up. The shot went wide.

The job of opening the scoring fell to Colorado’s Michael Barrios, who was a consistent goal scorer for FC Dallas before he was traded earlier this year. A cross from Sam Vines got it right to the feet of Barrios who waited by the far post and tapped it in with seeming ease.

Sebastian Lletget responded moments later and LA got the lead in the second half with a strike from Panamanian defender Carlos Harvey, newly promoted from the Galaxy’s USL affiliate. Jon Lewis, who has returned to camp after playing in U.S. Olympic qualifying, set up a goal for Cole Bassett.

The match also marked the return from U.S. national team camp for Kellyn Acosta.

Real Salt Lake 1 (Rusnak 26’) - Phoenix Rising FC 0

The match marked a return to Kino for Rising coach Rick Schantz, the Salpointe Lancer who had coached FC Tucson in its first years. It was also a return for former FC Tucson players Aaron Herrera and Justen Glad, who got significant time on the field for RSL.

Honduran international Douglas Martinez voiced some resentments about a perceived lack of service on a few occasions (mostly through allegations in Spanish about someone’s mother’s choice of occupation), but was a bit more generous in minute 26 when he got into the box after battling the Rising back line and served the ball to Albert Rusnak, who scored with a quick touch.

For much of the match, Rising’s line-up consisted of newer players and trialists. At the 70th minute, Schantz played a line-up of veteran players from last season. Although the team performed better, they still were not able to score.

As the final moments of the match ticked down, a Rising player fouled a Real Salt Lake player. The foul was only a few feet from the RSL bench, which quickly cleared to confront the Rising player. It took a few minutes for staff and the referees to calm things down. Since the clock had already hit 90, the referee decided to ditch stoppage time and call the game finished at 1 - 0.

Saturday

Wednesday’s matches left RSL on top of the Sun Cup table with six points. The final two matches are on Saturday. LA Galaxy plays against RSL at five, followed by Colorado and Phoenix at 7:30 p.m.