The off-season is less than two weeks old for Real Salt Lake, but it’s already been a busy one for four of its players.
Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando both spent a good deal of time in Europe with the U.S. National Team for friendlies against Colombia and Ireland, Alvaro Saborio went to South America with the Costa Rica National Team for a friendly against Uruguay and Carlos Salcedo just started the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games with Mexico’s U-21 National Team in Mexico.
Saborio scored in the 42nd minute of Costa Rica’s 3-3 draw with Uruguay on Thursday and also converted his penalty kick in the shootout, which ended the match with a Costa Rica win, 7-6. That was his third goal in an abbreviated year after he suffered a fractured foot in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He finished the year with three goals for 34 in his international career.
Beckerman played all 90 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Colombia on Friday, then played 86 minutes on Tuesday in a 4-1 loss to Ireland in the final match of the year for the U.S. National Team.
That capped a tremendous 2014 year on the international level for Beckerman. He started in eight of his nine appearances, including three in the Group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. His 723 minutes ranked eighth on the team. Now, he is among six nominees for the 2014 U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year, joining Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones, Tim Howard, Alejandro Bedoya and Fabian Johnson.
Although Rimando didn’t see any action in the two year-ending losses for the U.S., few if any players were called into more camps than the RSL goalkeeper. He started in three of his four appearances, posting a 0.86 goals against average, finishing 1-0-2 with one shutout.
Salcedo opened the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games by playing 90 minutes in a 5-2 victory for Mexico’s U-21s over Honduras on Tuesday. The Group Stage continues on Thursday against El Salvador and Saturday against Jamaica. The top two teams among those four will advance to the Knockout Phase on November 26 with the final and third-place game on November 28.
Others, including Luis Gil and Joao Plata, enjoyed success on the international stage in a solid year for RSL internationals.
