Coach Kreis raised  a couple of concerns for tomorrow’s match:

First, injuries.  Espindola did not travel with the team due to his hamstring ailments.  Ned Grabavoy tweaked his knee, and his involvement is uncertain.  And Alvaro Saborio who has been away with the Costa Rican National Team did not play due to swelling in the knee. 

Second, although Will Johnson will be available action, he will not get the starting nod due to having went the full 90 with team Canada this past weekend.

Pablo Ricchetti

Pablo Ricchetti remains an emergency option depending on any needs in the RSL midfield including for the recently injured Kyle Beckerman.  Two things to keep in mind regarding RSL moving forward and signing the player.  The status of Beckerman who appears ready to go this week will make the need for a player like Ricchetti less urgent.  Also, the team also may wait until well into August to make a decision.  For now, however, Ricchetti continues to train with the team.

Kyle Beckerman

Speaking of Beckerman, all signs are pointing toward him being available this weekend.  It’s unclear if he will start, but my guess is that he would instead come in as a sub.  His demeaner is much better than it was a couple of weeks back when it appeared that he was continuing to have pain, and was very frustrated with the situation.

Robbie Findley

The team does not expect to make any significant progress in negotiations with Findley  until after the European transfer window closes at the end of the month.  Findley wants to field any potential offers from Europe during this period, and has asked the team for patience during that stretch.  In the meantime, we are hearing that Findley parted ways with agent Patrick McCabe around the time that he went to the World Cup.  As you recall McCabe made some comments just before that indicated Findley was most likely Europe-bound.  Findley subsequently backed away from these comments.  It’s not clear if this is the reason for the change. 

Jamison Olave

Apparently defender Jamison Olave has been granted a green card, and will no longer count as a foreign player.  This opens up an international slot should RSL choose to pursue signing a foreign player.

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.

• Javier Morales is sick with strep throat.  His availability for Saturday is severely questionable as he was not able to make it to today’s practice.
• Fabian Espindola was receiving treatment for the high ankle sprain, and also did not participate in practice.
• Jamison Olave’s activity was limited due to the fact that they were playing on the turf at Spence Eccles Field House.
• Ned Grabavoy did participate fully in practice, as there was no tackling involved.
• Chris Wingert also participated, and appears to be ready to go, or at least close to it.

On another front, there were early reports that the DC United/RSL Open Cup play-in match was scheduled for May 19th.  My understanding is that was DC’s preference for the date, but that both teams need to sort that out together.  This was expected to occur today with RSL hoping for June 2nd, which would be 3 days prior to their league match at DC. 

Also, Coach Kreis mentioned that the coaching staff was contemplating changing the tactical formation when Morales is out of the match.  He doesn’t feel like they have the same style of play without Javier, and they are lacking something in the final 3rd.  He did mention that they are going to stick with the 4-4-2 for now, and continue to evaluate it.  What are your thoughts?  Could this mean the return of the 4-3-3?

1. US Soccer chose not to review either of the two penalty kicks suffered by Jamison Olave in Houston.  They did, however, review a foul from behind on Morales that received no foul call. 
2. The league overturned the original ruling for Seattle’s 2nd goal on Saturday.  It was originally ruled an own goal, but was given to Tyrone Marshall.  You can review the play here at the 3:25 mark.   Was Marshall offside?
3. Both Kreis and Lagerwey claim that the main point of tomorrow’s Open Cup match in San Jose is to win.  One line of logic for this?  By winning Open Cup games they will continue to advance, and have more chances to develop their younger players.
4. There were some hints given on the roster for the match: Campos and Morales will be making the trip, but keep in mind that it’s a two-game trip.  Morales definitely out for San Jose, but could Campos see minutes? Schuler and Melia did not make the trip. 
5. Luis Gil receives the call for the US U-18 National Team.  He will be in Carson training at the Home Depot Center from April 25th through May 2nd.
6. Jean Alexandre versus Messi?  Well, probably not, but Jean did get called into the Haitian National Team, and they have a friendly scheduled against Argentina during the first week in May. 

FW Jeff Cosgriff (6’4”, 185 lbs.) – A California native that began his collegiate career with three years at Santa Clara (9G/2A in 64 games with the Broncos), the towering Cosgriff moved up through the Bay Area to Cal-Berkeley for his senior season, finishing second on the Bears with 16 points from 6G/4A in 18 games in 2009

FW Doug DeMartin (6’0”) – The former Michigan State striker enjoyed a standout campaign during his senior season in 2008, his Big Ten-bests of 17 goals and 37 points leading him to being named the unanimous Big Ten Player of the Year. DeMartin finished his career in East Lansing with 38 goals and 85 points, both of which rank fifth on MSU’s all-time list.

M/F Semso Nekocevic (5’5”, 125 lbs.) – A diminutive attacker, the St. Francis College (NY) product ended his career with the Terriers as a three-time member of the Northeast Conference’s All-Conference First Team. Nekocevic racked up 10 goals and 12 assists in his four seasons with SFC, including five goals and four assists in 17 games during his senior season.

FW Euan Purcell (6’1”, 163 lbs.) – The native of Bolton, England, put up prolific numbers during his last two seasons at Ft. Lewis (CO) College, scoring 14 goals in 2008 before bagging 21 goals and adding three helpers last fall to help the Skyhawks post a 24-1 record and claim their second NCAA Division II National Championship in five seasons.

FW Charlie Reiter (6’1”, 177 lbs) – The forward out of Davidson was named the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Year following his senior season in 2009, becoming the sixth Wildcat to win the honor and the first since 1995. Reiter enjoyed a breakout season last fall after moving up to forward from the midfield, scoring 12 goals and eight assists for 32 points after starting all 18 matches. Reiter played in every single match during his four years with Davidson, starting 48 of 77 matches (16G/15A).

The one big suprise today was the absence of assistant coach Brian Johnson. Team officials have informed us that Brian has left the team to seek greener pasturers else well. Coach Kreis has already identified a replacement however as former MLS player Miles Joseph has been hired as the teams newest assistant. Miles’ MLS career spanned three teams in five years most recently playing for the Dallas Burn in 2001 with Jason Kreis.

• I’m sure that I had heard this before, but Nat Borchers had surgery in December on his foot for bone spurs. The surgery was needed as he played with pain in his foot for most of last season. He told me that he was unable to strike a ball very well last season because of this. He had been practicing recently but was in a boot today (and will remain out of practice for a couple more days). He was experiencing some pain, but expects to get back into the full swing of things shortly after immobilizing the foot for a few days.

• I verified that Real Salt Lake will have a PR presence in both Tampa and in Charleston, and we will receive regular updates.

• The team also verified that Solorzano will be on trial with the team beginning on Thursday. There also could be a couple of additional names. Expect an update on this tomorrow.

• Nothing official at this point with regards to signing Rachid El Khalifi.

• The team will have exhibitions against the University of South Florida (2/21 @7:30PM) and University of Tampa (2/24 @ 7PM).

In addition, I thought I’d post a few more clicks. Check them after the break.

• The practice wasn’t very intense. They broke into groups and did some drills and had some brief short-sided scrimmage play.

• Jason Kreis was not in attendance.

• Kevin Reiman has been released.

• Only two trialists were in attendance: Steve Clark and Luis Escalada.

• Kennedy Owusu-Ansah has had to return to Hertha Berlin. No word on the level of interest that RSL has in him, or if this is the end of the line.

• Jorginho Paulista and Alexander Viveros also no longer with the team, and it is presumed that their trial with the team is over. I will try to confirm the status of these.

See my thoughts on Clark and Escalada after the break.

Steve Clark seems to be quite athletic. He also finished 2nd in the beep test. In addition, he is a Keepin’ It Real reader, so he gets bonus points for that. While it’s hard to evaluate a keeper in practice, he seems to have good reflexes, and could give Reynish a run for his money at the 3rd keeper spot.

Escalada does appear slightly on the heavy side (although he was wearing two layers and long sleeves), but it wasn’t as dramatic as I was expecting from the earlier reports. He also seems to have a casual attitude in practice. However, I also always felt that Espindola had a casual approach to practice, so it’s hard to evaluate. I did notice that he seemed to have a nice soft touch on the ball and a decent shot in the few instances that I saw him in action with the ball.

UPDATE: I have been cautioned about drawing a conclusion about the 3 trialists who are no longer training with the team (I hear the team is actually high on Kennedy Owusu-Ansah).

Today’s practice included the introduction to the team of Robbie Russell. It’s a good thing, because it was an otherwise quiet day. Chris Wingert was missing in action. Beckerman, Kirby, Mantilla and Beltran all left after a few minutes of warmups – I think they left to do strength training early. The remaining players seemed like the walking wounded: Yura, Olave and Espindola were all featuring large quantities of ice after practice. Here are a few other notes:

• Russell actually showed up a couple of minutes late, and Coach Kreis gave him a hard time saying “late for first practice, huh. That will be a fine.”
• Practice was a little more competitive than Tuesday, but it still seems that these players are fairly loose and comfortable with each other.
• Russell confirmed that his wife’s parents do live in Park City and that is where he will be staying right now.
• His wife is a teacher in Norway and will be finishing up the next semester there before moving full time.
• Morales scored in a scrimmage off of a sweet free kick right past Borchers ear.
• Russell didn’t seem too active during the scrimmage (and played it safe by staying back will the other backs often pushed forward), but I’m sure that’s part of getting used to the players, coaches, system, etc.
• I didn’t get to see the speed that was advertised, but I was surprised at how stocky and strong he appears to be.
• Russell indicated that D-mid is probably his strongest spot despite having played right back for the last several years professionally.
• Robbie seemed to be extremely well spoken and professional.
• He indicated that he has heard great things about Utah and the people and that he loves what he has seen so far.
• Apparantly he was in Maryland for a week waiting for the contract to be finalized.
• Ian Joy mentioned that Russell is well known in Europe and he has seen him play on TV several times. He is known to be a very consistent, solid player.