Real Salt Lake closed its second training stint in Herriman with a closed-door scrimmage against USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday with RSL scoring a combined three goals during two 70 minutes scrimmages while conceding none.
"We want to thank the Las Vegas Lights and Eric Wynalda for coming out to Herriman at this stage in their preseason. They came out and did a good job. They forced us to work on some things that we covered this past week - our defensive shape and parts of the field we wanted to win the ball. We had some times that we were successful and other times because of the opponent doing a good job, we weren't. But that allows us some teaching moments that we can discuss," RSL Head Coach Freddy Juarez said. "We discussed some things with the first and second group at half time and then we saw it get better in the second half, which is very positive for us. I thought our guys looked sharp for it being the third week and we got what we wanted out of the exercise."
The scrimmage saw RSL field two different lineups in each match. In the first match, Kyle Beckerman scored the lone goal for RSL, tapping the ball into the back of the net after a well-worked shot from Albert Rusnák forced a deflected save from the Lights FC goalkeeper. Andrew Putna and Zac MacMath kept the clean sheet in goal during the first outing while MacMath and David Ochoa combined to keep Las Vegas off the score sheet in the second.
Juarez put out an entirely different lineup in the second 70-minute match where non-rostered striker Giuseppe Rossi notched two goals in the match, turning two defenders before clipping a curling effort into the top corner of the net. Rossi added to RSL’s tally with a penalty kick midway through the second scrimmage.
While the scoreline would be enough to leave fans optimistic after three weeks of training camp, the RSL coaching staff was focused primarily on the implementation of principles that the team has been working on through the first three weeks.
"On the bench, we are excited about the principles and rotations we've been talking about coming out," Juarez said. "The positioning of guys coming in and creating some triangles and diamonds to support the ball - excellent. The shape behind the ball, the areas we won the ball and we saw it come out with the collective, we see the guys learning. It's always good to score and have the shutout. Those two pieces are important too."
First Starting XI: Andrew Putna (Zac MacMath); Aaron Herrera, Erik Holt, Nedum Onuoha, Ashtone Morgan; Kyle Beckerman, Justin Portillo; #Chris Garcia, Albert Rusnák (Luis Arriaga), Tate Schmitt; Milan Iloski.
Second Starting XI: Zac MacMath (David Ochoa); Alvin Jones, Justen Glad, Marcelo Silva (Taylor Peay), Donny Toia; Everton Luiz, Nick Besler; ^Dayonn Harris, Pablo Ruiz, Julian Vazquez; Giuseppe Rossi (#Bode Davis).
Non-roster player
Real Monarchs player
^Draft pick
#RSL Academy
Real Monarchs also scrimmaged at Zions Bank Training Center prior to RSL’s matches, scoring one goal while conceding none against local semi-professional team San Juan FC. Chris Bermudez notched the lone goal for the Monarchs in the scrimmage.
RSL will now return to Arizona for a 12-day stretch where it will train in Tucson until February 23. The club will open the 2020 regular season on Saturday, February 29 at Orlando City SC. The Monarchs will remain in Herriman for the next week to train before commencing the 2020 Wasatch Winter Cup in Herriman.
