Last week, Real Salt Lake had just 16 healthy, eligible players available for its match against the New England Revolution.
Now with a busy stretch of matches fast approaching starting with a meeting with the San Jose Earthquakes at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday, RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar is expecting many of those absent from Saturday’s 4-0 loss to be back in the lineup.
“We need to be healthy. We need to be fresh. It’s something we’re striving for,” Cassar said after training on Tuesday. “I know our trainers and our staff are working hard and our players are doing everything they can to get back on the field.”
RSL will have Jamison Olave and Sebastian Saucedo back from red card suspensions. Jordan Allen will be back from international duty, as well, where he was a standout for the U.S. U-20 National Team for a pair of friendlies in Austria.
On the injury front, Cassar expects to have some players back in his deck of cards.
Midfielder Javier Morales has missed the last two matches with a groin injury, but was back in training on Tuesday and Cassar was optimistic that his maestro will be prepared for Friday’s rematch with San Jose.
“He got some good treatment that he needed over the weekend and today was in full training and looked sharp,” Cassar said.
Goalkeeper Nick Rimando was held out of Saturday’s match after experiencing soreness in his knee after a rigorous schedule of matches with RSL and the U.S. National Team in recent weeks. Now after five days of rest, he feels he is ready to be back in front of the net on Friday.
“In my head I’m going to play on Friday,” Rimando said. “For this team to have so many guys out on the med is definitely unusual. But we’ve got to do what’s smart. We can’t rush anybody back and we’ve got to make sure everybody is good come game time.”
Two players who won’t be available are Chris Schuler (knee) and Joao Plata (foot), while Sebastian Jaime (leg) has been in and out of training over the last few weeks. While Cassar doesn’t expect to have the Argentine forward on Friday, just when he will be ready to return has become a bit of a mystery.
“I think we’re all a little frustrated – Sebastian especially,” Cassar said. “It’s a tricky one and it’s something we’re a little frustrated about.”
RSL will face the San Jose Earthquakes at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday in the club’s first match on Univsion Deportes this season. Locally, the match will be broadcast on KMYU, with pregame starting at 7:30 p.m. MT.
