Things continue to progress for injured Real Salt Lake forwards Sebastian Jaime and Joao Plata and Head Coach Jeff Cassar was encouraged by their recent progress when he met with the media on Tuesday after training.
“I’d venture to say that after this game, they’ll be more involved. And then we’ll see how they’re reacting to full training sessions with their body, but everything’s really moving forward,” Cassar said.
Jaime played in the first three matches of the season, mainly patrolling the right-sided forward spot in the 4-3-3 formation. However, a fracture in his leg forced him out of the next seven matches. The Argentine came to RSL last summer and showed promise during preseason. The 28-year-old had been doing work on the side of the practice field initially after suffering the injury in a 2-1 win over Toronto FC, but has since cooled in his routine to rest the injury.
Plata suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot on the first day of training camp during preseason. Coming off of a stellar season in 2014 that saw him score 13 goals to go with six assists, Plata had high expectations entering the season this year. The 23-year-old Ecuadorian has 17 goals and 14 assists in 55 matches over two seasons for RSL.
“They were in technical and possession drills. We kept them out of the game and they moved off to the side and did a little bit of work on their own,” Cassar said. “Everything’s looking good and we’re going to keep upping it each training session.”
RSL will face the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium this week before returning home to meet New York City FC on May 23 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
