MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Ready For Arizona Preseason Camp

Published on February 12, 2010 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah (Friday, February 12, 2010) - After a week of "Rookie Camp" workouts and another pair of practices over the last couple of days in Utah, it's time for Real Salt Lake to hit the road for its first spring training trip of the 2010 preseason, a two-week stay at the Casa Grande Performance Institute at the Francisco Grande in Casa Grande, Ariz., where it will call home from Feb. 13-27.

The team will depart tomorrow afternoon for the warmer climates in "The Grand Canyon State," where the squad will first face off against each other in an intra-squad scrimmage midway through the first week of training before taking on Vancouver Whitecaps FC next Saturday, Feb. 20 and the Colorado Rapids to end the camp on Friday, Feb. 26. Both games are slated to take place on the Francisco Grande grounds beginning at 4:00 p.m. MT/local time, and both contests will be open to the public.

Real Salt Lake Arizona Camp Notes

A full RSL 2010 Preseason Roster is both attached and listed below. As of now, there are 29 players on the team's initial preseason roster, 22 of which were a part of the 2009 MLS Cup victors.

Three RSL players - MF Kyle Beckerman, FW Robbie Findley, and GK Nick Rimando - will have an excused absence from the team's Arizona-based camp, as the trio is back under the auspice of U.S. Men's National Team coach Bob Bradley for their camp from Feb. 10-20 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Should any of the three RSL players not be a part of the U.S. side that will take on El Salvador in Tampa on Feb. 24, they will proceed directly to Arizona to join their RSL brethren for the final days of the defending champ's camp, beginning on Feb. 21.

Real Salt Lake added a pair of players, DF Rauwshan McKenzie and GK Tim Melia, to its rank of roster hopefuls this week. Along with McKenzie and Melia, the other new faces in camp that were not a part of the MLS Cup-winning side from last fall include offseason waiver pickup FW Abe Thompson and the team's four 2010 SuperDraft selections - MF Collen Warner and defenders Kris Banghart, Justin Davis, and Chris Schuler. RSL added McKenzie to the mix on Tuesday, a day after the Kansas City Wizards placed the 23-year-old center back on the waiver wire. The former Michigan State Spartan made five appearances with Kansas City in League play, all of them coming via starts during the 2009 campaign.

Melia signed with the Utah side on Wednesday from the Rochester Raging Rhinos, where he played two seasons for the then-USL First Division squad. The 23-year-old netminder made 14 appearances for the Raging Rhinos, all but one of them coming last season when he took over for injured starter Scott Vallow. Melia and MF Jean Alexandre were teammates at Lynn University for the Division II powerhouse during the Fighting Knights' 2007 campaign.

The travel struggles of DF Robbie Russell will be resolved by the time the squad leaves for its first camp of the preseason. Russell, who clinched RSL's MLS Cup 2009 victory with a seventh-round penalty kick last November, was supposed to return to Utah last weekend, but was snowbound in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area all of this week due to the pair of blizzards that struck the Mid-Atlantic region. Russell was Salt Lake-bound today - ironically connecting through Phoenix - and should be a part of the RSL travel party when it heads down to PHX on Saturday.

REAL SALT LAKE 2010 PRESEASON ROSTER (as of Feb. 12, 2010)

ALPHABETICAL ROSTER

# Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Hometown College Status

12 Jean Alexandre MF 5-11 185 08/24/1986 Delray Beach, FL Lynn (Fla.)

29 Kris Banghart DF 6-1 190 03/01/1988 Ft. Collins, CO Denver

5 Kyle Beckerman MF 5-11 165 04/23/1982 Crofton, MD --

2 Tony Beltran DF 5-8 150 10/11/1987 Claremont, CA UCLA

6 Nat Borchers DF 6-2 175 04/13/1981 Pueblo, CO Denver

19 Pablo Campos FW 6-3 200 11/29/1983 Sao Paulo, Brazil Fresno Pacific University

23 Raphael Cox MF 5-6 140 07/07/1986 Tacoma, WA Washington

27 Justin Davis DF 6-0 170 05/06/1988 Avondale, AZ New Mexico

21 Rachid El Khalifi M/F 5-10 156 06/16/1979 Rotterdam, The Netherlands -- Int'l

16 Fabían Espíndola FW 5-9 160 05/04/1985 Buenos Aires, Argentina -- Int'l

10 Robbie Findley FW 5-9 165 08/04/1985 Phoenix, AZ Oregon State

22 Nelson González M/F 5-6 156 09/22/1988 Buenos Aires, Argentina -- Int'l

20 Ned Grabavoy MF 5-7 150 07/01/1983 New Lenox, IL Indiana

33 David Horst DF 6-4 200 10/25/1985 Pine Grove, PA Old Dominion

8 Will Johnson MF 5-10 155 01/21/1987 Woodridge, IL --

30 Rauwshan McKenzie DF 6-1 185 11/19/1986 Hoffman Estates, IL Michigan State

1 Tim Melia GK 6-1 195 05/15/1986 East Islip, NY Lynn (Fla.)

11 Javier Morales MF 5-9 165 01/10/1980 Buenos Aires, Arg. -- Int'l

7 Alex Nimo MF 5-5 135 03/21/1990 Portland, OR --

25 Tino Nuñez FW 5-8 185 08/22/1984 Long Beach, CA UC Santa Barbara

4 Jamison Olave DF 6-3 210 04/21/1981 Medellin, Colombia -- Int'l

24 Kyle Reynish GK 6-3 190 11/03/1983 Valencia, CA UC Santa Barbara

18 Nick Rimando GK 5-9 185 06/17/1979 Montclair, CA UCLA

3 Robbie Russell DF 6-1 200 07/16/1979 Amherst, MA Duke

28 Chris Schuler DF 6-4 185 09/06/1987 Aurora, IL Creighton

13 Abe Thompson FW 6-0 170 01/12/1982 Fairfax Station, VA Maryland

26 Collen Warner MF 5-10 170 06/24/1988 Denver, CO Portland

77 Andy Williams MF 5-8 170 09/23/1977 Herriman, UT Rhode Island

17 Chris Wingert DF 5-11 170 06/16/1982 Babylon, NY St. John's

REAL SALT LAKE NUMERICAL ROSTER AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

# Player Pos. Pronunciation Place of Birth Last Club

1 Tim Melia GK MEE-lee-ah Great River, NY Rochester Raging Rhinos (USL-1)

2 Tony Beltran DF Whittier, CA UCLA

3 Robbie Russell DF Accra, Ghana Viborg FF (Denmark)

4 Jamison Olave DF HA-meh-son oh-LAH-vay Medellin, Colombia Deportivo Cali (Colombia)

5 Kyle Beckerman MF Crofton, MD Colorado Rapids (MLS)

6 Nat Borchers DF Tucson, AZ Odd Grenland (Norway)

7 Alex Nimo MF NEE - moh Monrovia, Liberia Portland Timbers (USL-1/loan)

8 Will Johnson MF Toronto, Canada De Graafschap (Dutch Eredivisie)

10 Robbie Findley FW Phoenix, AZ Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)

11 Javier Morales MF Buenos Aires, Arg. Vecindario (Spain 2nd Div.)

12 Jean Alexandre MF GENE Verrettes, Haiti Lynn University

13 Abe Thompson FW Tucson, AZ Houston Dynamo (MLS)

16 Fabían Espíndola FW Buenos Aires, Arg. Anzoategui (Venezuela)

17 Chris Wingert DF Babylon, NY Colorado Rapids (MLS)

18 Nick Rimando GK ra-MAHN-do Montclair, CA New York Red Bulls (MLS)

19 Pablo Campos FW Sao Paulo, Brazil San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

20 Ned Grabavoy MF Joliet, IL San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

21 Rachid El Khalifi M/F rah-SHEED ell ka-LEE-fee Rotterdam, The Netherlands Cambuur-Leeuwarden (Dutch Eerste Divisie)

22 Nelson González M/F Buenos Aires, Argentina Quilmes (Argentine Nacional B)

23 Raphael Cox MF Tacoma, WA University of Washington

24 Kyle Reynish GK RAY - nish Valencia, CA UC Santa Barbara

25 Tino Nuñez FW NOON - yez Long Beach, CA UC Santa Barbara

26 Collen Warner MF Denver, CO University of Portland

27 Justin Davis DF Avondale, AZ University of New Mexico

28 Chris Schuler DF St. Louis, MO Creighton University

29 Kris Banghart DF Loveland, CO University of Denver

30 Rauwshan McKenzie DF ruh-shawn Hoffman Estates, IL Kansas City Wizards (MLS)

33 David Horst DF Pine Grove, PA Old Dominion University

77 Andy Williams MF Toronto, Canada Chicago Fire (MLS)

President: Bill Manning (Massapequa, NY)

General Manager: Garth Lagerwey (Elmhurst, IL)

Head Coach: Jason Kreis (Omaha, NE)

Assistant Coach: Jeff Cassar (Livonia, MI)

Assistant Coach: Robin Fraser (Kingston, Jamaica)

Assistant Coach: Miles Joseph (Clifton Park, NY)

Strength & Conditioning Coach: Dan Barlow (College Park, MD)

Team Administrator: Elliot Fall (Salt Lake City, UT)

Equipment Manager: Kevin Harter (Dallas, TX)

Head Athletic Trainer: Jacob Joachim (Portland, OR)

Assistant Athletic Trainer: Tyson Pace (Clearfield, UT)

Team Physicians: Dr. Andrew Cooper (Salt Lake City, UT)

Primary Hospital: Salt Lake Regional Medical Center

Massage Therapist: Michael Fratto (Salt Lake City, UT)

Team Chiropractor: Monte J. Layton, D.C. (Midvale, UT)

Press Officers: Trey Fitz-Gerald (Albuquerque, NM) / John Koluder (Chicago, IL)

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