Real Salt Lake are set to welcome back their remaining two Gold Cup
participants as both Álvaro Saborío (Costa Rica) and Arturo Alvarez (El
Salvador) return to the squad after their respective national teams were
eliminated from the tournament this week.
“We're definitely glad to have them back,” midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. “Hopefully they can transition back into things.”
The two players join Will Johnson, who returned the week prior from his
duty with Canada, and Nick Rimando, who never had to leave to fulfill
his position as the US team's reserve keeper.
However, questions remain about the exact timing of Saborío and
Alvarez's return to the RSL lineup as both are dealing with injury
concerns. Saborío is still struggling with swelling on his surgically
repaired knee — a condition he’s had to deal with for much of the
season.
“Sabo’s knee was pretty well swollen,” head coach Jason Kreis told
ESPN700 Sports radio in Salt Lake City. “His ankle was swollen as well
as of Monday-Tuesday, the last time I saw him. So at that time we were
kind of hopeful and crossing our fingers that he’d be available for
Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Alvarez left RSL at the beginning of the month apparently healthy, but soon after his arrival with la Selecta,
reports came out of a hamstring injury. The nagging ailment kept him
out of a greater level of participation in the tournament, but he did
begin to see action in the last couple of matches.
“I don’t think that Arturo Alvarez’s situation is such that he’d be
available,” Kreis said. "Maybe—maybe—for spot duty off the bench.”
Since Alvarez and Saborío have been unavailable, RSL's attack has
struggled somewhat, scoring five goals in five games since the Gold Cup
kicked off.
Because of additional injuries up top and the surprise suspension of
converted midfielder Jean Alexandre, the team was forced to play for
most of Wednesday’s scoreless draw against Chicago with Luis Gil and
Artur Aghasyan on the front line — two players who had never seen more
than spot duty in that role for RSL.
“If you look at some of these last few games with Gold Cup, in any game
maybe four out of your five best attackers aren’t even available,"
Grabavoy said.
To make matters worse, young Brazilian striker Paulo Jr. is still not
ready for return following his hamstring strain, and Fabián Espíndola
re-aggravated his own hamstring in just the third minute of Wednesday’s
contest. His status for Saturday’s match against Toronto FC (9 pm ET; watch LIVE online) remains in doubt.
"We need to get everybody back in form," Grabavoy said. “This team is
at its best when the head coaching staff has really difficult decisions
to make. The more guys come back healthy, especially up front, gives us
more guys that can score goals.”
