Faced with an extended late-season layoff until their next MLS game in two weeks, Real Salt Lake have gone back to square one in training sessions this week.
RSL coach Jason Kreis has pushed his players to the limits as he searches for some way to jog them out of the apathetic efforts that resulted in slow starts and losses at both Houston and Dallas. The end result has been intense training sessions several players described as feeling like being in a "mini-preseason."
For Kreis the objective is simple. He sees training sessions over the next two weeks and a pair of exhibition matches in that span -- starting with an in-state battle against PDL club BYU Cougars on Friday night -- as an audition period for everyone.
"We want to evaluate who wants to be in the starting lineup against New York and who wants to be in the starting lineup for the final three games this season," Kreis said.
Perhaps that is why Salt Lake sees the exhibition matches against BYU this weekend and against Mexico's CD Guadalajara next Wednesday are seen as more than a means of keeping the rust off. Playoff hopes and jobs for this season and next could hang in the balance depending on how things play out for RSL through the final month of the MLS regular season.
Those on the Real roster aching for a bigger role now have an opening to prove themselves over the next two weeks.
"We're using this timeframe as an opportunity to reevaluate everything," defender Tony Beltran said. "Obviously we have to take these games seriously and use them as an exercise to try and get things right that haven't been going right the past few games."
Kreis is hoping his team gets the message that nothing short of their best effort for a full 90 minutes before the last thread of RSL's playoffs is severed.
"We've got to pay attention to the details," Kreis said. "I've been saying it all season long that we're a team plays well, does well, gets points, scores goals and keeps the other team off the scoreboard when we're fully committed. When we're not and we don't do any of those things, we lose games."
RSL's exhibition opponents should offer very different challenges.
BYU fell a game short of reaching the PDL playoffs in 2009, finishing with a 7-5-4 record. RSL has had little trouble with the Cougars in past meetings. The Claret-and-Cobalt dispatched BYU 3-0 a year ago in the first game at the Cougars' newly renovated South Field. Salt Lake should be favored in this latest installment in the exhibition series, but BYU does have the slight advantage of hosting RSL on its home field once again.
Chivas de Guadalajara, on the other hand, will bring a team filled with history and rich in talent. The original Chivas has won 11 championships in the Mexican Primera Division -- more than any Mexican soccer team. Like Club America, who Salt Lake faced earlier in the summer, Chivas has an extensive fan base in the United States that could create a virtual road environment at Rio Tinto Stadium.
While it will mean much to do well in both games, the main goal for RSL at this point is using these matches to generate enough momentum to get all the victories it needs to make a return trip to the MLS Cup Playoffs.
And as badly as the past two games against FC Dallas and Houston have turned out, the fact is that if Real win all three of their remaining games, a playoff spot is still there to be had.
"I guess you could say we control our own destiny," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "But it's going to take a lot. It's going to be a really tough battle for us. The main thing is to take it one game at a time and one win at a time. If we get the first one, then we put our sights on getting the second one."
John Coon is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
