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A thrill a minute.

Those are descriptive words for Real Salt Lake's 2-2 draw with Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League final at Estadio Tecnologico on Wednesday night.

And they are words I typically wouldn't use to characterize 1) every soccer game, or 2) any soccer game without a winner.

But these are evolving times around here, and what I saw on television — I watched the entire game on the tube, another personal first — was absolutely captivating. The match offered everything any sports fan could hope for in any kind of competition.

It had drama. It had physicality. It had skill. It had bad calls. It had strategy. It had failed strategy. It had arrogance. It had tenacity. It had controversy. It had fatigue. It had emotion. It had meaning.

It just didn't have a decisive winner.

Although, even if one team had won, under the aggregate format, everything would yet depend on total goals scored in the second leg of the home-and-away set at Rio Tinto Stadium next Wednesday night. In simplistic terms, the clubs have played what amounts to the first half. Whichever team has the most goals, or failing that, the most road goals, in total, moves on to the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December to face six other regional champions, along with a team from the host country, for the Club World title.

That competition, as always, will include some of the best teams on the planet. The past three champions were Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, and Manchester United.

Here's the thing: RSL is playing high-level soccer, and they have a chance to do something no other American club has ever done — if they win or play to a 0-0 or 1-1 draw next week.

Since they almost never lose at home — their record stands at 25-0-9 in the last 34 games here — and they are playing with such toughness and confidence, Real has a real shot at making history.

But that's only part of it. What's actually happening on the playing surface is as noteworthy as the consequences. And I noted as much in Wednesday's column, and, again, as I watched the game on Wednesday night. Look, I'm no soccer expert, but I've seen enough of the game through the years and, specifically, over the past six years to track what's gone on with RSL, to notice the club's progress.

I do chuckle at some of the terminology used in reports about Real games, so many trying so hard to sound so … foreign. Stuff like: conceding early, glorious opportunities, great build-ups, pulling goals back, throwing bodies into the attack, men or a man of the match, equalizing, square balls, and shape of the back four.

What we all saw Wednesday night, in strictly American terms, was Real getting punched in the mouth at the start, giving up a sloppy early goal, and then fighting back like a badger in a burlap sack on a sweet kick/feed from Will Johnson to Nat Borchers, who jumped high to head the ball into the net.

Most impressively, RSL's players worked their tails, even in the moments where they weren't all that efficient or effective. They appeared neither afraid nor intimidated, two shortcomings American sports fans hate.

No fear and loathing here.

In the second half, Monterrey controlled the ball much more consistently than RSL, and eventually that pressure paid off for the Mexicans, who scored on a penalty kick when Jamison Olave was called for a handball in front of Real's goal.

A tiring RSL — it was hot and humid in Monterrey — was hanging on for dear life down the stretch, with the home guys earning a couple of "glorious opportunities," but not converting them. Over that stretch, Real also got hosed on an undeserved yellow card to captain Kyle Beckerman, who now will be disallowed from playing in the second leg at Rio Tinto, which was a concern for another day.

Ultimately, all of it was a run-up to a bit of brilliance by Javier Morales in the 89th minute, when the Real midfielder took a pass, then made a couple of Monterrey defenders look silly as he faked a shot, nudged the ball right, then cranked a bomb into the far end of the goal, tying the score at 2, and setting the table for some potential fun — for soccer purists and newcomers, alike — next week in Sandy.

In the sports world in which we all live, some residents want to go on trashing soccer. I don't really get that. I've never loved the game, but I've never hated it. Granted, there are some dog games in the mix, and sometimes some things that seem weird, but when we watch a bad football or basketball game, does anyone condemn the entirety of football or basketball?

That tied game Wednesday night had a lot of everything.

Come to think of it, it even had a winner.

The sports fan who watched it.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Gordon Monson Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 104.7 FM/1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com. —

Monterrey at RSL

P CONCACAF Champions League finals, second leg

Wednesday, 8 p.m.

TV • FSC, Telefutura