For the last 10 seasons, Javier Morales has been the instigator to Real Salt Lake’s offense. With 45 goals and 77 assists in his RSL career, he ranks among the most prolific midfielders in league history. Typically, the team has struggled in his absence, going just 1-5-2 with five goals in the eight matches he missed last season.
On Saturday, he missed RSL’s second match of the MLS regular season to injury and Jordan Allen filled in to great results in a 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders FC. With another difficult test ahead against the Portland Timbers, Head Coach Jeff Cassar was happy to have his top playmaker back on the field on Wednesday for training.
“Today he participated full in training, which was great. Looked good. Looked lively. Looked sharp, which is always surprising when someone sits out for a few days, but he has an amazing ability to step in and not really miss a beat,” Cassar told Bill Riley on ESPN 700 Wednesday.
Cassar indicated that he asked Morales how he felt about playing last week and when Morales didn’t feel ready to go, he instead moved Allen into the starting lineup, utilizing him in the No. 10 role typically filled by Morales for the first time. While Allen didn’t have the same playmaking flare of Morales, he did play the position well to help RSL earn the win.
“It’s about being smart and what I love about Javi is that he’s always honest. When he told me it would be risking it, we had to make the smart decision. We have confidence in Jordan Allen to step in and take care of business while Javi was out,” Cassar said. “He did really well. It’s obviously a little bit different style of the No. 10 and I like that we can get some different looks and different movements out of that. What I really like is Javi was speaking with Jordan before the game and giving him tips and information, which is extremely helpful and shows what kind of locker room we have.”
To hear the full interview, click here.
