Two recent stories have raised some eyebrows in RSL-land. Turns out that neither are worth getting too worked up about.
MLSSoccer made a brief mention that Real Salt Lake has been pursuing Columbian left-sided midfielder Carlos Salazar. Salazar trialed with RSL prior to the 2009 season, before rejoining Huila who he was under contract with at the time. According to team General Manager Garth Lagerwey the team has not had any contact with Salazar or his reps in “over a year.”
Former FC Dallas midfielder Pablo Ricchetti has been training with Real Salt Lake, and could be the emergency option for RSL should Kyle Beckerman continue to struggle to get back to health.
However, it appears that Beckerman is planning to be available for selection this week according to both player and coach. The pain that had been hampering him has apparently subsided.
On Saturday night, Real Salt Lake will be taking on Puntarenas from the Costa Rican league in an exhibition match to help keep players fresh during the World Cup break, and to give some youngsters some additional time on the pitch. Of course one player, Alvaro Saborio, may be familiar with Puntarenas from his time at Deportivo Saprissa. The Costa Rican striker may give RSL a bit of a scouting advantage over the club from his homeland, but his presence here with RSL and the friendly with Puntarenas may be signs of something more important than the midseason friendly encounter.
Although David Horst’s recent loan to the Puerto Rico Islanders technically opens up a roster spot, it doesn’t provide salary cap relief. However, Real Salt Lake GM Garth Lagerwey mentioned that “another move is possible” ahead of the April 15th close of the MLS transfer window.
With this fact in mind, the team had Estonian National Team striker Ats Purje in training as a trialist for today’s scrimmage against BYU. The 5’10″ striker appeared to use his body well, and had a decent touch in the 30 minutes of action that he saw today.
Real Salt Lake announced today the release of 2nd year midfielder Raphael Cox, and the signing of goalkeeper Tim Melia and defender Chris Schuler to developmental contracts. They will join rookie Luis Gil to fill in 3 of the 4 developmental spots. This move gets the overall roster down to 24, the maximum allowed by the previous CBA.
The release of Cox came as no surprise to Keepin’ It Real readers as we have speculated that he was on the bubble since the start of pre-season. He has good skills as a midfielder, but his speed and offensive abilities are suited for a wide flank player, which doesn’t mesh well with the 4-4-2. The team tried to find a spot for him at left back where he could use these skills pushing forward into the attack, but he didn’t have the natural ability to make this a great fit. We’ll miss Rafa, he is a great guy.
Keepin’ It Real has learned that Real Salt Lake has brought in another forward into camp in Charleston as a trialist. The player is Cristiano dos Santos Rodrigues, a Brazilian who has played most recently in Australia with Adelaide United. This comes on the heels of the announcement of signing the high profile Costa Rican striker, Alvaro Saborio.
It’s interesting to note that with the signing of Saborio, Real Salt Lake does not have an international spot remaining. They traded away their 6th international spot to Kansas City in the deal for Luis Gil. Real Salt Lake is already at a disadvantage with international spots after having permanently trading away two international spots early in their existence.
If they were interested in signing this player they would likely need to make a move to acquire an international spot.
The latest word out of Costa Rica indicates that Chivas USA is trying anything in their power to get their hands on Alvaro Saborio. This would require making a trade with Real Salt Lake who holds the first discovery claim on the player:
YashinQuesada.com: “They have the first option, the first team to realize and ask for the incorporation of Saborio was Realt Salt Lake, the second option would have the Chivas USA (…) The coach and the owner want to Saborio are determined so to do what is necessary to keep the player even offer a change of players to have the first option on Saborio”
Real Salt Lake headed out today en-route to Charleston for their 2nd preseason trip. They will be in Charleston through March 20th, which will allow them to complete their training for the final week of the preseason here in Salt Lake.
You may have seen our previous post on the roster numbers. I think there is a theoretical mix of numbers at each position that does exist, but other practical matters come into play as the roster is constructed which may alter this theoretical ideal mix. It’s also likely that a premium will be placed on flexibility. Here are the current 26 players in camp. As a reminder, under the now-expired CBA each team was able to have a roster of up to 20 senior roster players and 4 developmental players.
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