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SANDY — Real Salt Lake faces the Colorado Rapids Saturday for the second time this season, and with a few more injuries added to the list as of late, the Salt Lake club’s depth from the young and new roster it built prior to this season may just come in handy at just the right time.
As of Wednesday, the RSL injury report listed forward Robbie Findley out with an injury suffered on his goal last weekend against the Seattle Sounders, a left adductor strain.
“All indications are not good,” RSL sideline boss Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 Tuesday during a radio interview. “We saw him (Monday) and he’s still in quite a bit of pain.”
Despite the injury to Findley and a handful of others on the RSL roster listed as questionable for this weekend in both the forward and midfield position, one thing the Salt Lake club does have on its roster is the right kind of depth.
Up top, RSL has forward Devon Sandoval, and although he generally has been used as a sub or replacement for RSL forward Alvaro Saborio, this Saturday may see him get a start with the Costa Rican striker.
“I think those two players have the answers,” Kreis said. “I think that they both have qualities that are similar to each other, but why not? I mean, why not play with both big forwards and involve our midfielders a little bit more in getting up and around those guys — if they can do a good job of holding up the ball, perhaps we can get even more numbers involved with our attack. It’s something that we’re considering right now for this weekend.”
In the midfield, RSL also has plenty of depth to choose from for this weekend if midfielders Javier Morales and Khari Stephenson, who as of Tuesday were listed as questionable on the RSL injury report, won’t be in the 18 for the match.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that are chomping at the bit to get opportunities in our midfield for sure,” Kreis told ESPN 700.
Some of the midfield depth includes rookie John Stertzer, who has seen two appearances this season for the Salt Lake club and has been a key piece in its reserve matches. Another part of the Salt Lake club’s midfield depth is young Enzo Martinez, who is yet to see minutes with the first team but was a significant piece during this preseason and also the reserve matches thus far this season.
The match is the second leg of this season’s Rocky Mountain Cup. With a 1-1 draw in the first leg just a couple weeks ago, each side sits with one point in the race for the cup.
Following Saturday’s match in Colorado, the Salt Lake club will return to Utah for a handful of days of training before jetting off to face the Vancouver Whitecaps April 13. The Claret and Cobalt will then return to its fortress, Rio Tinto Stadium, for a three-game home stint hosting Chivas USA, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Whitecaps.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
