Season number 14 kicks off for Real Salt Lake on Saturday when RSL takes on FC Dallas (6 p.m. MT; KMYU, KSL.com, KSL app) at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. It is a pivotal year for the organization, as the club transitions into a new era. Head Coach Mike Petke has had a full preseason to implement his own stylings. Veteran stars return, young standouts will look to take another step and new faces bring added depth and dimension to a team that closed out the season going 8-3-4 to miss the postseason by a single point in 2017.
With the new season on the horizon, there is a new landscape in the Western Conference to navigate. Seattle Sounders FC is aiming for its third straight MLS Cup appearance. The Portland Timbers finished on top of the Western Conference standings, but now will have Giovani Savarese in the head coach’s chair. The LA Galaxy rebuilt the roster around the dos Santos brothers and Romain Alessandrini under Sigi Schmid’s guidance.
At Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL looks to build off of the strong finish in 2017 with a newfound drive and hunger.
Royalty Remains
For the better part of the club’s existence, Real Salt Lake’s identity has been defined by goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman. Nobody has played more games in MLS than the duo and they were central figures in transforming the club from the Western Conference basement in its first two seasons to perennial contenders and 2009 MLS Cup champions. Now, they enter their 19th seasons in MLS and 12th with Real Salt Lake and while the cast around them may have changed, their roles as pillars in the club – on and off the field – remains. Driven and passionate leaders, few players have fit more firmly on a club’s Mt. Rushmore than Beckerman and Rimando have with RSL.
Can they continue to fend off father time and see RSL back to another MLS Cup title?
Youth on the Rise
The common storyline late in 2017 was that Real Salt Lake’s youth movement had altered its destiny. With 14 players on the roster aged 23 years old or younger, it is a difficult point to argue. Petke isn’t afraid to play young players, but has emphasized that every player on the roster needs to earn their minutes. That’s been no problem for the Claret-and-Cobalt. Especially when five of those players represented the U.S. and the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and two others – Jefferson Savarino and Albert Rusnák - were among the league’s top newcomers in adding an excitement in the attack that was unprecedented for the club.
Can players like Savarino, Rusnák, Justen Glad, Brooks Lennon and others take the next steps in their development?
Added Firepower
The changing financials of MLS have created opportunities for clubs around the league to spend big money to bring in reinforcements. Where clubs used to be able to spend at their discretion to fill three Designated Player spots, there is now added budget money available in the forms of General Allocation Money and Targeted Allocation Money. RSL General Manager Craig Waibel has used those mechanisms to add two potentially key players to Petke’s arsenal in Spanish forward Alfredo Ortuno and Croatian midfielder Damir Kreilach. Both create added competition to an already deep roster and with further signings in defenders Shawn Barry, Adam Henley and Aaron Herrera, give RSL options all over the field.
Will the new additions be enough to bridge the gap and get RSL back among the MLS elite?
Petke’s Plan
Over the course of the 2017 season, Petke slowly implemented more and more of his style and mentality. Now with a full preseason under his belt and a chance to put his impression on the team – from the front office to the last player on the roster – Real Salt Lake is built more and more in his image entering his first full season at the helm. As a player, Petke was gritty and hard-nosed, but whether it be through his words or hairstyles wasn’t afraid to add his own flair and excitement to a game too.
Will Petke’s passion translate to success on the field?
Those questions and more will be answered when Real Salt Lake kicks off the season on Saturday from Frisco.
