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HERRIMAN — Real Salt Lake was supposed to be in sunny Arizona, getting ready for a pair of preseason matches this week against Red Bull New York and Phoenix Rising FC.
But here the club was, going into the fourth week of preseason at the Zions Bank Real Academy complex after getting back from the Pacific Rim Cup in Hawaii with a 1-1 record against two Japanese clubs.
Why were they here? To quote head coach Mike Petke: "Mother Nature stepped in."
As flights to, from and through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were delayed, cancelled and shifted as the Pacific Northwest was battered by snowstorms of a historic magnitude, one of those impacted travel plans was the Sandy-based MLS club.
So after 14 hours in the airport waiting for a connecting flight to Phoenix, the team decided to shift travel plans to a quicker, safer and more manageable spell at home for two days before continuing the preseason in warmer environments.
“That was more important to us than perhaps losing two days of a little more fitness,” Petke said. “It’s a long season, and the mentality of the group has been great.”
The travel made for a few issues; much of the team’s training equipment and travel allotment had already arrived in Arizona, so a small team led by head kit man Alex Caparelli was dispatched to Phoenix to manage the stash, according to a team spokesman.
But for the more part, players and coaches enjoyed being home for a few days before returning to the road. It was especially more enjoyable after two matches at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii, a football stadium with an imperfect artificial surface on which Real Salt Lake beat Japanese fifth-division side Iwaki FC 2-1 before falling to V-Varen Nagasaki 3-1.
Pay no mind to the results, Petke said; the club got exactly what they wanted out of the two matches. It’s preseason, after all, and like many games on the former “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” game show, the points don’t really count.
What counts is how Real Salt Lake handles pressure, tactics and fitness that it may not see from fellow Major League Soccer teams at this point in the year, veteran defender Tony Beltran said. That is exactly what they got from a quicker, fitter Iwaki side that clearly patterned itself after the high-octane, pressing tactics of RB Leipzig in Germany, as well as a Nagasaki club that also toppled Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
“They were definitely fitter than us, and they came out and pressed,” Beltran said. “For a preseason game, that’s ideal; it puts us under pressure, and it focuses us to get up to speed quicker.
“It’s a different kind of opponent than what we will see throughout the year, but they are definitely a capable opponent.”
RSL will next face second-division USL Cup runners-up Phoenix Rising in a road friendly Saturday before moving to Tucson for matches against FC Dallas and the Portland Timbers.
Vazquez nets first goal
Another positive to come from Hawaii — even with the 3-1 loss to Nagasaki — was the play of rookie Julian Vazquez.
The 17-year-old Cache Valley native signed a contract with Real Salt Lake at the end of last year after a standout youth career, and the Nibley product made the most of his time with his team in Hawaii.
That included a stunning goal, albeit the only one scored for RSL, against V-Varen Nagasaki.
“I thought it was phenomenal,” Beltran said of Vazquez’s goal. “I’ve had a lot of fun watching Julian this preseason; I got to see him a couple of times last year (at the academy), but being with him day and day out, getting to know him and his personality, and watching him transition into being a pro has been fun.
“He’s a talented young man, a very nice young man, and I’m very excited about what is ahead for him.”
Rusnak hurt? Not so fast
Newly re-signed designated player Albert Rusnak went down with what appeared to be an injury during the club’s 3-1 loss to Nagasaki, grabbing his leg and being helped off the field by RSL’s medical staff.
But all seems well with the attacking midfielder set to take an even bigger role for Salt Lake with a contract that lasts through the 2021 season.
“He’s fine, physically,” Petke said of Rusnak. “He just got a charley horse, and he played 75 minutes in that game. It was the second-most minutes played. There’s no problem at all.”
