Real Salt Lake's return to the CONCACAF Champions League tournament will take it to the heart of Central America. The club was pitted into Group G during Monday evening's 2015-16 CCL draw held in Miami Beach, Fla., alongside El Salvador's Santa Tecla FC and Guatemala's C.S.D. Municipal.
The group stage of the tournament is scheduled to start in August and run through October, with dates of the home-and-home matches against both Santa Tecla FC and Municipal still to be determined. On the surface, the draw could've gone much worse for RSL, which along with fellow Major League Soccer clubs L.A. Galaxy, Seattle Sounders and D.C. United were in the final pot to be drawn into one of eight groups.
"[These matches] test your mettle," said RSL technical director Craig Waibel. "And it's exactly what these games should do."
Waibel knows Municipal, the most-followed soccer club in Guatemala, better than most in MLS. As a player, he faced the Diablos Rojos twice in CONCACAF Champions League play, once in 2003 with the San Jose Earthquakes and once again in 2008 with the Houston Dynamo.
He still has the souvenirs that each club's captain exchanged before the match in Guatemala City.
"That's a really unique club [and] it's a fun environment to play in," Waibel said. "When you grow up as an American soccer player, it's a little bit of everything you anticipate when you travel to play soccer. It's an intense environment; the fans are great down there. It's awesome."
Santa Tecla FC is in its eighth year of existence playing in the Primera Division of El Salvador and is coming off its most successful season to date. The club won its first championship in 2015, qualifying for its inaugural CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
Waibel also played in El Salvador during his CCL days and says the country's professional leagues are more difficult to scout than most in Central America.
"[Santa Tecla's] history isn't as easily accessible," he said due to the infancy of the club. "We will do our best to collect as much information and video as we can and we'll be ready and prepared for the game."
This marks RSL's third entry in the CCL tournament, following back-to-back qualifications in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. RSL's initial CCL run remains one of the highlights of the club's history as it moved by Mexican club Cruz Azul and Panamanian club Arabe Unido before knocking out Costa Rican giant Saprissa in the semifinal.
RSL lost the two-leg CCL final against Mexico's Monterrey in a 1-0 home loss in April 2011.
Waibel said he shutters when he hears his club being on the end of a "good draw" in such a high-profile tournament.
"Much like anything, in order to win, you have to have the ability to beat anyone and matchups can matter," he said, "but we're a different team than we were last November when we qualified."
ckamrani@sltrib.com
Twitter: @chriskamrani
