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ATLANTA — Real Salt Lake will get a few days off following Saturday's U.S. Open Cup debut at Atlanta to do something it hasn’t done for a while — be fans.
With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil starting the group stages, it will be a good time. The latest injury report includes Robbie Findley, who recently returned from offseason knee surgery, and Ned Grabavoy, who is nursing a hip flexor injury for two weeks.
While the majority of the team will be rooting for the U.S. Men’s National Team — and each player will add a cheer for teammates Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando — there are several other allegiances amongst the team.
Head coach Jeff Cassar spent part of his youth in Malta, but with the island nation off the coast of Sicily having never qualified for the World Cup, he said he’s all in on the United States.
“I’ve got to be honest, after the U.S., I’m only going to be looking to watch a good game,” said Cassar, who worked briefly with head coach Jurgen Klinsmann as the USA's goalkeeper coach. “I don’t really have any other (teams).”
There are plenty of “other teams” to go around on the roster.
Outside of the United States, RSL counts players born in Mexico (Carlos Salcedo, Lalo Fernandez), Colombia (Olmes Garcia, Sebastian Velasquez), The Gambia (Abdoulie Mansally), Argentina (Javier Morales), England (Luke Mulholland), Ecuador (Joao Plata) and Costa Rica (Alvaro Saborio).
The homelands of Salcedo, Fernandez, Garcia, Velasquez, Morales, Mulholland, Plata and Saborio each qualified to play in Brazil.
But the foreign players aren’t the only ones who will be sporting dual-rooting interests in this year’s tournament.
“My mom’s Italian, so we always kind of root for them along with the U.S.,” said defender Tony Beltran, who has represented Team USA three times at the senior level, before adding with a smile, “and my girlfriend is Japanese, so I have to root for Japan. Her dad might be upset (if he didn’t).”
While RSL’s style has been more often compared to defending champion Spain, the American players can’t get behind the team currently ranked No. 1 in the world in FIFA’s rankings.
“I’ve always cheered for the U.S. It’s hard to root for anybody else,” goalkeeper Jeff Attinella said. “I just want to enjoy a good World Cup, but I can’t root for anyone but the U.S., if I’m being honest.”
RSL spent the week preparing for Saturday’s match against the Silverbacks. But that doesn’t mean its minds were entirely off the festivities in Brazil. Defender Nat Borchers joked it was “sacrilegious” that the team’s plane was in the air during Brazil’s 3-1 win over Croatia in the opening match.
“My only problem with the Open Cup is we’ll miss the game for our flight to Atlanta,” Beltran joked. “It’s such a good time for soccer. Everybody watches in the world. This is a really exciting time for U.S. Soccer and the league as well.”
