Weather, schedule change lead up to RSL's lone home match in April


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SANDY — When Real Salt Lake takes to the field Saturday night, it will be the first time the side has played at home since March 29.

Saturday’s match against the Vancouver Whitecaps will also be the Rio Tinto Stadium finale for the month of April.

Add it up, and it feels like RSL’s next game has been a long time coming — making a result against the current leaders in Major League Soccer even more important Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MDT.

“I think it’s just been a long time since we’ve had a home game. It’s really good to be home,” RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. “I like our preparations this week. Obviously it was a little bit spotty with the conditions, but today and Tuesday were fantastic, and I think everyone is recovering the way we want to. I’m really pleased with the week.”

RSL’s practice schedule was also thrown off a bit by the midweek snowstorm that blanketed most of the Wasatch Front on Wednesday. The team moved its practice session from American First Field to indoors at the stadium, but resumed with two days outside Thursday and Friday to finish out a strong week that saw mainstay goalkeeper Nick Rimando and team captain Kyle Beckerman briefly away on international duty.

“You’re going to have days here with crappy weather,” RSL midfielder Luis Gil said. “But that’s part of the game. We’ve got decent weather now. We’ll look forward to taking advantage of it (Saturday).”

Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales (11) celebrates his goal against the Philadelphia Union during the season opener in Sandy on March 14, 2015. Morales, who has two goals and three assists in 2015, is questionable for RSL's match against Vancouver on Saturday. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales (11) celebrates his goal against the Philadelphia Union during the season opener in Sandy on March 14, 2015. Morales, who has two goals and three assists in 2015, is questionable for RSL's match against Vancouver on Saturday. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

RSL will need to take advantage of a high-flying Whitecaps side that is 4-2-1 on the season and with a three-point lead on the top spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver is averaging a league-best 1.86 points per game, but RSL sits right behind at 1.8 ppg and a game in hand on the Whitecaps.

Saturday’s match, the first of three between the two West rivals and the only one in Sandy, could be a big three points earned for RSL.

“They’ll come flying. They’ve started pretty good,” Gil said. “But at the same time, we’re trying to find ourselves. That’s got to be our thing, especially here at home. We’ve got to bring the level up every game.”

INJURY REPORT — RSL midfielder Javier Morales was not at Friday morning’s brief training session, as Cassar said the team’s playmaker was nursing a minor groin injury earlier in the week.

The 35-year-old midfielder hasn’t been ruled out for Saturday, but Cassar said the club is taking a cautious approach to Morales’ injury.

“We’re still looking at him,” Cassar said. “He’s been messing around with a little bit of a groin issue. We’re going to make sure how he acclimates in the next 24 hours.”

Beckerman, who went off around the 55th minute with a mild knee/thigh injury Wednesday in the U.S. men’s national team’s 2-0 win over Mexico in San Antonio, practiced Friday and could be available for selection against the Whitecaps.

“He feels fine, he looked great today, so we’ll go from there,” Cassar said of Beckerman.

Sebastian Jaime, who suffered a bone bruise two weeks ago, also practiced for RSL, and Cassar said his return is based on pain management for the Argentine striker.

ALLEN CALLED UP — RSL homegrown striker Jordan Allen was called up to the U.S. Under-20 national team by head coach Tab Ramos for training camp April 18-26 in Linz, Austria.

Allen, one of eight midfielders on the U-20 side and one of eight players from MLS, is the fifth player called up by U.S. Soccer in 2015, joining Beckerman, Rimando, Gil and rookie defender Boyd Okwuonu. The 19-year-old native of Rochester, New York, received his first international call-up since a season-ending knee injury during his rookie campaign, but he was called to camp with the U-20s in December 2013.

Allen has one goal on two shots in 150 minutes played for RSL in 2015, including one start. He’ll be available for selection against Vancouver and will depart for Austria on Sunday, according to an RSL spokesman.

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