Real Salt Lake flew to California on Tuesday and held its first training session at the UC-Irvine in the evening to kickstart the second leg of the preseason training camp. With a pair of new faces in the camp, it was a good day to get reacquainted with the team and to get back on the field after two days off and a day of travel.
“It was good to get the ball out again. The guys look sharp and interested,” said RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar. “Tomorrow we’ll really get after it and start to work on a few things both offensively and defensively.”
The team played a series of 9v9 games on a shortened field, then went through a competitive series of 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 drills. In the first of 10 days RSL will train at UC-Irvine, the focus was mostly on getting accustomed to the grounds and getting the players active.
Through the rest of the trip, the focus will shift to defensive responsibilities and how to respond offensively and maintain possession once the ball is turned over.
“We just want to get everybody on the same page. When you’re introducing a few different things you want to make sure everybody’s on the same page and keep building,” Cassar said. “It’s not going to be perfect and it shouldn’t be. We’ll continually get better as the season goes on. As long as we’re good defensively we’re going to keep getting better offensively.”
On the first day in California, RSL added two players to the training roster, though neither is signed to the club at this point. Guatemalan National Team center back Elias Vasquez and former Toronto FC forward Emery Welshman both joined camp on Tuesday to add to the competition in training camp.
Vasquez has been the subject of recent rumor surrounding the club, while Welshman is a former first-round pick in the MLS SuperDraft seeking re-entry to the league after playing last season for League1 Ontario side Sigma FC.
“(Vasquez is) a very technical player. It looked like he was committed and focused. I think he’s going to do just fine,” Cassar said. “Emery Welshman is with us as well. He’s a powerful forward, so it’s two good additions for us.”
The team will get back to training at Anteater Stadium for two sessions for each of the next three days before facing UC-Irvine on Saturday.
