MLS Real Salt Lake

Claret-and-Cobalt Heads to Casa Grande, Ariz. for Start of Preseason Training

Published on January 21, 2013 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


After one day of medical exams and one day of media availability in Salt Lake City last week, Real Salt Lake traveled to Casa Grande, Ariz. on Monday to start its preseason in earnest. The Claret-and-Cobalt will train at Grande Sports World - the home of the RSL-Arizona Academy - for one week from Jan. 21-28, preparing for the MLS regular season with 10 total training sessions and closing out the camp with a match against the Denmark U-20 national team.

The team will return to Utah on Jan. 28, remaining in Salt Lake for a few days before embarking to Irvine, Calif. for a Feb. 1-8 training camp at the University of California-Irvine. RSL will close out preseason from Feb. 11-24 in Tucson, Ariz. as part of the FC Tucson Desert Diamond Cup. The Claret-and-Cobalt will take on fellow MLS sides Seattle Sounders FC, New York Red Bulls and New England Revolution in the four-game tournament. RSL's full preseason schedule can be found here.

REAL SALT LAKE SHORTHANDED FOR FIRST LEG OF PRESEASON

Real Salt Lake will be without several key players in Casa Grande due to injury and international duty. DF Nat Borchers (L quad tendon surgery) and DF Chris Wingert (R fractured metatarsal) will both miss the camp due to injury. Neither player is expected to return until after the start of the MLS regular season on March 3.

RSL will also be without captain MF Kyle Beckerman (U.S.), 2012 leading scorer FW Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) and DF Tony Beltran (U.S.) during the Casa Grande camp due to international duty. Saborio - who was recently named captain of Costa Rica for the Copa UNCAF - and Beckerman are both expected to be with their national teams for the opening of the final round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying on Feb. 6. Beltran has an outside shot at making the U.S. team that will travel to Honduras for its first Hexagonal game on Feb. 6.

Beckerman, Saborio and Beltran are expected to rejoin the team following their national team camps for RSL's third and final leg of the preseason in Tucson on Feb. 11.

MF Luis Gil (U.S. U-20) did not travel with the team from Utah to Arizona on Monday, but will join the squad in Casa Grande on Tuesday upon completion of his U.S. U-20 national team camp. Gil will miss time later in preseason when he returns to the U-20's for the CONCACAF U-20 Qualifying Tournament, which runs from Feb. 18-March 3. RSL GK Nick Rimando - currently with RSL and not in U.S. camp because of a nagging shoulder injury - also has a good chance to be with the full U.S. team for its game at Honduras.

Several Real Salt Lake-Arizona Academy players will train with the RSL first team in Casa Grande.

RSL TRADES FOR ROBBIE FINDLEY, RE-SIGNS JAVIER MORALES, DRAFTS JOHN STERTZER AND DEVON SANDOVAL IN BUSY WEEK

RSL made four significant player transactions last week, announcing on Wednesday a trade with Portland to bring FW Robbie Findley back to Utah, re-signing playmaking MF Javier Morales on Thursday and drafting MF John Stertzer and FW Devon Sandoval in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft.

All four players will be with the team throughout RSL's preseason.

MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT SET FOR TUESDAY; RSL WITH TWO SELECTIONS

Real Salt Lake has two picks in Tuesday, Jan. 22's MLS Supplemental Draft. The Claret-and-Cobalt will select in the third (50th overall) and fourth rounds (69th overall) on Tuesday. The team sent its first and second round Supplemental Draft picks to Philadelphia at last Thursday's SuperDraft to move up from the 31st overall pick to the 29th overall pick, which was used on FW Devon Sandoval.

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