Real Salt Lake opened the second leg of 2016 training camp on Sunday with its flight to Tucson, Arizona, where the club will play four matches in the lead-up to the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal Round series against Tigres starting February 24 in Mexico.
This trip will see RSL play four matches, facing the Portland Timbers, South Korean club Seongnam FC, the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew SC as players get fit and start to gel for pivotal games at the start of the year. The first day saw RSL do a short fitness circuit to get into the swing of things after a few days off in Utah, but also presented an opportunity for Head Coach Jeff Cassar to properly introduce Sunday Stephen Obayan and Chris Wingert, who returns to RSL after one season with New York City FC.
“It was great to introduce Sunny and Chris to the team and get them back into the fold,” Cassar said. “We’re looking forward to starting this camp.”
Whereas the first leg of camp in Oceanside, California, was focused primarily on defensive shape and tactics, this leg will have more emphasis in the attacking third. With newcomer (and another familiar face) Yura Movsisyan joining the attacking trio of Javier Morales, Joao Plata and Juan Manuel Martinez, the pieces are in place for Salt Lake to have a potent attack. The key will be in building the chemistry among that foursome. Plata and Morales led the team in scoring each of the last two seasons and Martinez made an instant impact upon his arrival last August. Now with that trio getting a full preseason to work together and fine tune their collective craft, they will also add Movsisyan, himself a former leading scorer in the Russian Premier League who has experience in MLS from 2007-2009.
“I think once they start to gel, with their movement offensively it’s going to be even better,” Cassar said, noting the immense capabilities of Movsisyan. “You just see his power and his athleticism and how the players start to look for each other. Once the chemistry kicks in I think it’s going to take it to another level.”
RSL will hold two-a-day training sessions through Wednesday before meeting the Portland Timbers on Thursday at 11:30 am at the Kino North Stadium. Each of RSL’s four matches will be streamed live on RSL.com.
