Dates for Real Salt Lake's 6 CONCACAF Champions League games announced

SANDY — The dates and times for Real Salt Lake's six CONCACAF Champions League games were finalized on Friday morning.

RSL's three Group A home games are Aug. 18 vs. Arabe Unido (Panama), Sept. 15 vs. Toronto FC (MLS) and Oct. 19 vs. Cruz Azul (Mexico).

Its three road games are Aug. 25 at Cruz Azul, Sept. 22 at Arabe Unido and Sept. 28 at Toronto FC.

RSL has six more games in August, seven in September and five in October. Late September in particular is shaping up to be a brutal stretch. Between Sept. 22 and Sept. 28 RSL will play three total games in three different countries and travel over 9,000 round trip miles.

Never before will the club's depth be tested more than during that seven day stretch. It plays a CCL game in Panama on Wednesday, returns to Utah for a Saturday league game against Colorado and then three days later plays another CCL game in Toronto.

Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis reiterated this week that his team plans on taking the CONCACAF Champions League just as serious as the MLS regular season, but also admitted that there's no way any of his players will be able to play in every game.

If RSL hopes to advance out of Group A and into the CCL quarterfinals next February, it's imperative it wins its opener at Rio Tinto Stadium on Aug. 18.

Here's a closer look at Real Salt Lake's remaining schedule in all competitions:

Date Opponent Competition

Aug. 7 at Kansas City MLS

Aug. 11 at Philadelphia MLS

Aug. 14 COLUMBUS MLS

Aug. 18 ARABE UNIDO CCL

Aug. 25 at Cruz Azul CCL

Aug. 28 at Toronto FC MLS

Sept. 4 NEW YORK MLS

Sept. 9 at Seattle MLS

Sept. 15 TORONTO FC CCL

Sept. 18 CHICAGO MLS

Sept. 22 at Arabe Unido CCL

Sept. 25 COLORADO MLS

Sept. 28 at Toronto FC CCL

Oct. 2 at New England MLS

Oct. 9 at New York MLS

Oct. 16 FC Dallas MLS

Oct. 19 CRUZ AZUL CCL

Oct. 23 at Colorado MLS