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SANDY — With leading scorer Alvaro Saborio out with a quad injury for the next several weeks, the deep roster Real Salt Lake built prior to the 2013 season may be utilized more than it has been in the coming weeks, starting Saturday at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“There’s going to be times that we’re going to need to be able to rest Sabo if we want him to be the best at the end of the year,” said RSL coach Jason Kreis to ESPN 700 on Tuesday. “We need to look at this as a little bit of a positive. This will mean less miles on his legs and less wear and tear. Hopefully for the end of the season it will be a better thing. This is opportunity for other players to show what they’re about (and) maybe an opportunity for us to even look at a different shape.”
With two other RSL forwards — Robbie Findley (left knee soreness) and Olmes Garcia (right adductor strain) — also listed on the injury report as questionable for Saturday, RSL might be forced to really turn to its youth.
“I look at all of this at this very difficult time that yeah, it’s doom and gloom, (but) part of it is opportunities for all of us to look at things a little bit differently and to hopefully step forward and make contributions,” said Kreis.
Saturday’s match will conclude the Salt Lake club’s three-game homestand and the squad will be looking to not only grab three more points on the season but will be looking to drastically improve on last week's showing, a 2-0 loss to L.A.
“We’re going to need an emotional reaction, an emotional response, to what we did this past weekend because for 15 minutes it was like we weren’t even on the field and that’s atypical and unacceptable at home,” said Kreis.
“It’s important that we look back and look at the troubles that they gave us and also the ways that we can get at them and break them down a little bit so that we can be well-prepared.”
Saturday’s match will be the second meeting between the Salt Lake club and the Canadian-based club this season. The first meeting, April 13, ended in a 1-1 draw.
Following Saturday’s match, RSL will return to the road for three consecutive weeks. RSL will face the New England Revolution May 8, the Montreal Impact May 11 and Chivas USA May 19.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
