RSL opens 11th preseason with plenty of changes


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SANDY — Only 74 days after Real Salt Lake’s season-ending loss to the L.A. Galaxy in the Western Conference semifinals, head coach Jeff Cassar reported to Rio Tinto Stadium for his first meeting with the media of his second season as the top man in the organization’s technical staff.

The building was the same, the media faces were mostly the same, and Cassar once again stood next to RSL president Bill Manning to address a plethora of questions.

There was plenty changing around him, though.

“I’m looking around the league, and there is massive change everywhere when they didn’t even have to do it. Where change is tough at times, it’s exciting, too,” Cassar said. “I think we’re well prepared. We lost two experienced defensive positions, but we replaced them with more experience or at least the same. We got a little bit faster and a little more dynamic in the back.”

RSL will open the 2015 preseason with its first practice on Friday, followed by an open house at Rio Tinto Stadium from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday. The club will open its preseason training camp Monday at RSL’s Arizona academy in Casa Grande, Arizona.

The team will scrimmage against the MLS Cup runner-up New England Revolution on Jan. 30 in Arizona, then play a pair of preseason road friendlies against UC Irvine and the Orange County Blues of USL Pro on Feb. 7 and Feb. 12, respectively, in Irvine, California. The annual FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup kicks off Feb. 18 in Tucson, Arizona.

RSL's Luis Gil battles for the ball with Baggio Husidic as Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy play Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)
RSL's Luis Gil battles for the ball with Baggio Husidic as Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy play Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)

For 2015, gone are the likes of defenders Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert and midfielder Ned Grabavoy, three staples of RSL’s team for nearly a decade. Instead, the Salt Lake club welcomes back center back Jamison Olave after two seasons in New York, and he’ll partner with Chris Schuler, the 27-year-old who now becomes one of the more seasoned players on the squad in his sixth year.

The club also added Jamaican international Demar Phillips, a 31-year-old left-sided defender who joins the team after five years with Norway’s Aalesunds FK, and NASL standout Pecka, the 25-year-old Brazilian midfielder from the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

One part of the field that remains mostly unchanged is the forward corps. RSL waived Phoenix native Robbie Findley in the offseason, and officially added Homegrown striker Sebastian Saucedo to its roster to join designated players Alvaro Saborio and Sebastian Jaime, as well as the team’s leading scorer last year in Joao Plata. Olmes Garcia and Devon Sandoval round out the club’s striker pairings.

With six strikers on the roster and seven midfielders, Cassar addressed the notion that change may be coming to RSL’s trademark 4-4-2 diamond formation. Each of the players with whom the former RSL goalkeeper coach has spoken agrees with any potential changes that may occur in 2015.

“We want to do new things at times; it’s how we deal with (change),” Cassar said. “Will we be scared of it, or accept it and grab it and run with it? I think from all the players I’ve spoken to about a potential formation change, they are really excited about it. It’s going to help us with a lot of areas and some of the deficiencies that the diamond can put you in.”

The extra depth will help RSL’s pursuit of another deep run in the CONCACAF Champion’s League, the regional tournament that RSL nearly won following its 2009 MLS Cup title. Between travel and matches in hostile Central American and Caribbean environments, RSL may need it.

“Without a doubt, that’s a huge priority,” Cassar said. “A lot of that goes to the sport science department, to preparing, and even more importantly, having a deep team. Even though we get younger, I still think we are extremely deep with experience, whether it’s with the youth national teams or games with the Monarchs.


I'm looking around the league, and there is massive change everywhere when they didn't even have to do it. Where change is tough at times, it's exciting, too. I think we're well prepared. We lost two experienced defensive positions, but we replaced them with more experience or at least the same. We got a little bit faster and a little more dynamic in the back.

–RSL coach Jeff Cassar


“I’m really excited with where our roster is at for having to deal with those issues.”

RSL’s preseason roster includes recent MLS SuperDraft picks Boyd Okwuonu of North Carolina, Jordan Murrell of Syracuse and Lucas Baldin of South Florida. Training camp invitees from the college ranks include Creighton’s David Abidor and Notre Dame’s Luke Mishu, and the team may also call up academy players for individual assignments.

While goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Luis Gil will miss part of the preseason while training with the U.S. men’s national team, mainstay midfielder and team captain Kyle Beckerman will fully participate with RSL as the team looks to blend its significant number of newcomers with the returning players.

“He’s an amazing leader, and very in tune with what is going on with the team,” Cassar said of Beckerman, adding the decision was “110 percent” the Maryland native’s decision. “He recognized that he needed to be here for the team. It was his choice, though obviously I loved it. His communication with (U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann) was fantastic; they are all on board together. He just wanted to be with the team because he knows this is a big year.”

Speaking of Gil, the 21-year-old midfield standout will don a new number in the RSL locker room. Gil was given the No. 10 jersey, a prominent symbol of a team’s attacking playmaker in most soccer clubs. Findley previously wore the No. 10 jersey before he was re-allocated to Toronto FC in the MLS re-entry draft.

“It’s exciting, it’s new, and it can give him a breath of fresh air. He deserves it,” Cassar said of Gil. “When you put that jersey on, there’s some responsibility that comes with it. Hopefully he grabs it and runs with it.”

“I think it’s just about being an impactful player all the time, both in the locker room, on the field, after games, taking care of yourself; it’s about taking that next step. I think he’s ready for it.”

RSL opens the 2015 season March 7 at the Portland Timbers, then turns around for its home opener a week later, March 14, against the Philadelphia Union.

RSL BROADCASTS GO REGIONAL — RSL and local television station KMYU also announced a partnership for the 2015 season that will see the Salt Lake club's local games broadcast on local affiliate KMYU (2.2 over the air/12 satellite/643 Comcast).

The games will also be broadcast in six cities in the West, including Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, Boise, Idaho, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as potentially Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.

"As the broadcast and technological landscapes change, this unique opportunity arose to allow the TV production experts at Sinclair and the American Sports Network to bring our games into the homes of not only the loyal fan base we have all over Utah, but into pockets of the InterMountain West, including Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and New Mexico — all without a paid subscription," RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen said in a statement.

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