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SANDY -- The day Real Salt Lake fans have waited for since early November is just about here. RSL will take the first kick on the road this weekend against reigning MLS Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Coming off a winning preseason, but hit with some main players on the injured report, RSL will be counting on some new faces to build the depth of the team this weekend and early on this season.
“We’re going to be relying on guys who have little to no MLS experience and we’re going to need those guys to step in and play major roles and make major contributions and it’s a question of whether or not they're going to be able to do that,” head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN700’s Bill Riley early this week in a radio interview.
RSL added nine new faces to its roster this season, one forward, three defenders, four midfielders and one goalkeeper.
No team wants to be hit with a lot of injury just prior to the season beginning, especially those players who have the experience.
“We’ve built the team around those players, we firmly believe in what they can do for us and we’re certainly going to need them if we’re going to have any chance to win a lot of things this year,” Kreis told ESPN700. “It’s going to be difficult to be patient with them, but we’re going to need to be, and at the same time we’re going to need them to come back as soon as they can become available.”
Despite the injuries, Kries is ready to count on those new faces and see what they can do.
“I believe in them, there’s no doubt,” Kries told ESPN700. “All of the young players we’ve brought we’re really pleased with. We think that they’re very capable of becoming very, very good MLS players and very good Real Salt Lake players, but some of that ball lies in their court. They’re going to have to prove us right, and I think they’re all going to get opportunities to do so this year.”
RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando is also anxious to see what the young, new players can do. “This year we’re going to need some help. We’re in a lot of games and a lot of tournaments. As you see injuries happen, we’ll need these guys to step up,” Rimando told ESPN700 earlier this week.
With talk that the Galaxy will again take the MLS Cup this season, Rimando isn’t worried about that right now and said their focus is to begin the season.
“That’s totally fine with us. We know how good we are and we get on the field and we play our soccer,” Rimando told ESPN700.
“It’s clear that there’s a lot of good teams in this league — anybody could beat anybody at any time. So we’re not going to go with our chests high and our nose up into this league. We respect a lot of these teams in this league and they respect us now from the hard work we’ve put in and what we’ve shown them through the years.
"So we’re OK with Galaxy. Everyone saying they are going to win the league, and what it comes down to is not the beginning, it's at the end. Right now we’ve got some injured guys, but we’re going to go into Saturday’s game with a winning mentality and hopefully to get a good result,” said Rimando.
Real Salt Lake will kick off home play March 17 at 8 p.m. at Rio Tinto against the New York Red Bulls.
