SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis struggled to think of any one particular player that impressed him in Thursday's friendly against China at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"They all did well; it's difficult for me to single anyone out," Kreis said. "They all did well, they all stood out for themselves. It was an extremely high level of soccer. Let's remember this was a national team we were playing; if you were to take the best players from the Chinese league and make up a team and then sprinkle in some [English Premier League] talent, that's a pretty good side that we played against."
Kreis had arranged with the Chinese national team for some special rules for Thursday's match, won by RSL 1-0. Both teams were allowed 11 substitutions, meaning Kreis could take a good, hard look at many of his non-starters. With a bit more thought, Kreis did begin to name names.
"Chris Brown and Andy Williams were two of the guys that had the biggest opportunity tonight, and they both made that goal," Kreis said. "They both made the most of their opportunities."
Brown and Williams both acquitted themselves well earlier this season. Against the Red Bulls, in Real's first game with Kreis as head coach instead of team captain, Brown scored the late goal that tied the game up in stoppage time. And against the Wizards in U.S. Open Cup competition, Williams scored the game-winner in stoppage time.
Their performance Thursday night, coupled with their achievements earlier in the season, could earn Brown and Williams some more playing time in the coming weeks. Considering the number of players Kreis played on Thursday, some others may see some additional time as well. Seven starters against China had not started a league match all season: Steven Curfman, Ritchie Kotschau, Duke Hashimoto, Jamie Watson, Brown, Williams and Kyle Brown.
"It was an opportunity for quite a few of the players out there to show me what they were about, to come into a starting role, and show me they could do it over a longer stretch of time," Kreis said.
Kreis was banking on the combination of high-altitude air and artificial surface at Rice-Eccles Stadium to take a toll on the Chinese; then, when they were wearing out near the end of the game, insert many of his better players that were fresh. Freddy Adu, Alecko Eskandarian, Kenny Cutler and Chris Lancos each played 26 minutes, enough to score the game-winner with 10 minutes remaining.
It seemed to work well, although China coach Zhu Guanghu said the field was a larger obstacle than the air.
"The altitude was not a problem, was not an issue, because we have played at such an altitude, and maybe even higher in China often," Zhu said through a translator. "But, the field was difficult to play on because none of our players have ever played on such a field before."
Real now hope they can build upon Thursday's victory when they return to league play against FC Dallas Thursday.
"We're going to have confidence going into our next game," goalkeeper Chris Seitz said. "It's going to be good, we're coming off a win now. We're going to be flying and we'll do what we can to earn another result."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
