Des News series on RSL this week by James

[AreliusII]

Also:

Real Salt Lake ~ The Real Deal?
RSL not planning to experience expansion-team struggles
By Peter Richins
The Salt Lake Tribune

The facts say otherwise, but Real Salt Lake's players for months have been saying they are not on an expansion team.
Two days from today, RSL will play the first game of its first Major League Soccer season against the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. It has been an eventful eight months since the league announced its newest team would be based in Salt Lake City with Dave Checketts as owner. Eventful enough that team officials say RSL resembles a championship contender.
"We have very capable players that have succeeded at the highest level of the game, both domestically and internationally," general manager Steve Pastorino said.
The term "expansion team," Pastorino said, brings to mind a roster laden with players either past their prime or too inexperienced to compete for a championship.
But that just is not the case here, Pastorino insists.
"We have an experienced team with quality players, and we have a number of young players to build on for the future," Pastorino said.
When first hired as general manager, Pastorino had a goal of putting together a team capable of contending for the regular-season title, the U.S. Open Cup title and, ultimately, the MLS Cup championship. It seemed like an impossible task at first, and a more conservative approach to building the team seemed in order.
Now, the three-part goal looks much more attainable.
The turning point came shortly after head coach John Ellinger was hired. Shortly after bringing aboard the U.S. U-17 national team coach and director of U.S. Soccer's residency training program in Bradenton, Fla., phone calls started coming in.
Calls from players eager to compete under Ellinger's guidance.
"We began to upgrade our sights pretty early on," Pastorino said. A roster full of possibilities began to take shape, with names like Jason Kreis, Clint Mathis and Brian Dunseth listed.
"When players with a relationship with John Ellinger started contacting us . . . we began to sense that we had a coach who could really have a dramatic impact on the makeup of the team and on the team's character," Pastorino said.
Kreis was made the team's first player shortly before the league's expansion draft. With the league's all-time leader in goals scored on the roster, a number of valuable pickups from the expansion draft on board and a strong possibility of getting Mathis, it seemed like a sellout to put together a team that might compete for a title a few years down the road.
Not when it could compete right away.
"That still resonates with us, and it resonates with our players, that we were willing to go out and get players with experience," Pastorino said.
Mathis, one of the U.S. national team's most dynamic personalities and a capable goal-scorer, was perhaps the biggest pickup. Adding Eddie Pope, one of the national team's best defenders, was another huge step.
"We're very fortunate in Salt Lake City," Ellinger said. "I have a group of players that is working really hard."
Based on the team's preseason demeanor, personality conflicts among the veterans are not likely to be an issue. Pope and Marlon Rojas, the veteran of the Trinidad and Tobago national team, are a laid-back pair. Kreis is a capable leader, and even Mathis has shown the maturity of a true veteran.
"[Clint's] ability and willingness to talk to the younger players has been exceptional," Ellinger said. All of the veterans, he said, "have done a great job of taking some of the younger players under their wing."
Pope said the veterans should work well together.
"We're all somewhat familiar with each other," Pope said. "You know their style of play, and even knowing their personality, you can learn from about how they will play on the field."
The team's recent training sessions in Monte Gordo, Portugal, helped mold the team into a cohesive unit.
"They obviously are looking for each other on the field, and they get along off the field as well, and that's a positive thing," Ellinger said. The two weeks the team spent in Portugal, he said, "were very instrumental in the development of team bonding."
Now, they just have to get things started. Pastorino said some pundits have predicted RSL to miss the playoffs, but he doesn't think so.
"I'm fairly optimistic by nature," Pastorino said. "Some people don't have the same optimistic view that I have."

[AreliusII]

Also:

MLS Postseason: MLS has different take at playoffs
MLS Cup Nov. 13: Top four teams in each conference qualify
By Peter Richins
The Salt Lake Tribune


The site for the 2005 MLS Cup championship game does not exist yet.
Real Salt Lake officials, however, promise the Frisco Soccer & Entertainment Center in Dallas will be ready in time. F.C. Dallas will move into the league’s third soccer-specific stadium before the end of the regular season. In order to play there on Nov. 13, however, Real must navigate a postseason system slightly different than other major leagues.
In its nine years, MLS has used a number of different playoff formats. This year, like last year, the top four teams in each conference qualify for postseason play. In the regular season, teams will earn three points in the standings for a win and one point for a tie, and the four teams with the most points make the playoffs.
The first round of the playoffs pits the top team from each conference against the fourth-place team, and the second-place team against the third-place team. The first round includes two games, each team playing at home once, and the winner is the team that scores the most points between the two games.
Case in point: last year, Colorado beat Los Angeles 1-0 at home in the first game of the first round. But in the second game of the first round a week later, Los Angeles beat Colorado 2-0 at home and the Galaxy advanced.
The second round, or the conference finals, takes place one week later. It includes one game, with the home team being the highest point-gainer from the regular season. Winners of that game advance to the MLS Cup championship game, one week later in mid-November.

[AreliusII]

Also:

Real Salt Lake ~ Who They Are: Eclectic group of personalities learns humility
The players: Though RSL features a proven scorer and defender, it also has its share of cast-off players
By Peter Richins
The Salt Lake Tribune

John Ellinger

As Real Salt Lake's inaugural season progresses, fans will get to know the players' style on the field, their positions, their jersey numbers and their abilities.
But the players are more than X's and O's on a chalkboard and more than a set of statistics. They are people too, each coming from a different walk in life and bringing his unique personality to the team.
The players range in age from 16 (Nikolas Besagno) to 33 (Brian Kamler). They hail from all different parts of the world, including Bosnia (Senad Halilovic), Botswana (Dipsy Selolwane) and Trinidad (Marlon Rojas). With Real, however, they have come together and formed a group with a personality of its own.
"We're a very fun and exciting team," goalkeeper D.J. Countess said. "We are fun and exciting, with a passion to win."
The team's positive attitude has led to a togetherness among the players, particularly after the team's training sessions in Monte Gordo, Portugal. The trip across the pond put the players through persistent rain and a middle-of-the-night stranding by a broken-down bus. They went 1-1-1 in their three games there, and also had some fun times.
Some of their more enjoyable moments happened at the rookies' expense.
"It was all in good fun," coach John Ellinger said. "The players, especially the young ones, started to come out of their shell."
Mixed with their positive, confident attitude, the players also feel a chip on their shoulder.
"We have something to prove," Countess said. "As players, we need to take responsibility for our actions on the field."
That mature point of view means a lot coming from the team's funny man, who drew "Laser" Luke Kreamalmeyer out of his shell by announcing at the top of his voice when the shy 22-year-old said his first words of training camp.
"We have something to prove, and that is that we can bring an MLS Cup championship to Salt Lake City," Countess said.
While many players see themselves on a fun-times team, some also say the team needs to have some humility. Nelson Akwari, the 23-year-old defender from Houston, pointed out that most of the players on the team were either left unprotected in the expansion draft or were otherwise let go by their former teams.
"You have to be [humble] in our position," Akwari said. "We can't be egotistical, we can't be ****y."
Eddie Pope, a national team-caliber defender and a quiet, thoughtful 31-year-old from North Carolina, said humility can only help the team.
"It's very important, especially in the long run, for everybody to understand what their role is on the team and where you fall into place," Pope said. "That is so much easier to do when you have a humble group of guys."
The team's other national team regular is Clint Mathis, a forward with a dynamic personality who returned to Major League Soccer from the German Bundesliga club Hannover 96 just to play for coach John Ellinger. Mathis, nicknamed Cleatus, calls himself "goofy." Others call him free-spirited, a Harley Davidson biker at heart, and an imaginative player.
"Clint is a jovial guy," forward Jason Kreis said. "He really lightens the mood of everybody. I really noticed that when he came to training camp, everybody kind of smiled a bit more and was able to have a bit more fun."
But that can all change when he gets on the field. Mathis has a reputation for feistiness on the field; once, he told Soccer Digest that he can be an "ass" during games.
"He's a fantastic soccer player, and his successes help him to really be taken seriously when he's on the field," Kreis said. Mathis is the only MLS player to score five goals in a game.
Kreis, the league's all-time goal-scoring leader, has established himself as a leader. At 32 years old, Kreis is a family man with two sons who has played all nine MLS seasons with FC Dallas. Combined with the respect that Ellinger naturally draws from the team, Real should not hurt for leadership.
"[Ellinger] is a good motivator," Pope said. "He knows the game very well, and he's a players' coach, someone that guys can go up to and talk to at any time. At the professional level, that's very important and you don't find that very often."

[AreliusII]

Also:

MLS Overview: Upward mobility
MLS, now in its 10th year, has more credibility
By Michael C. Lewis
The Salt Lake Tribune


Teen phenom Freddy Adu is the marquee name in the MLS, and has given the still-growing league additional viability by playing and starring for D.C. United. (Haraz Ghanbari/The Associated Press)

"We feel very bullish about the future" The average American sports fan might scarcely have heard of Major League Soccer, buried as it tends to be behind more popular sports like basketball, baseball, football, golf and auto racing.
But in the soccer world?
The league in which Real Salt Lake will play its inaugural season starting this weekend has long since established a certain blossoming credibility. It’s not the English Premier League or the Bundesliga in Germany, to be sure, but MLS already has outlasted many skeptics as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this season, having come a long way from exceptionally humble beginnings.
"The league itself has definitely improved," RSL’s Clint Mathis said. "We’ve been able to get better players, I think. At the beginning, it always looked like the foreign guys were just coming back on vacation and we’d get the older guys. That’s not the case anymore. We’re getting some good, young national-team talents. . . . The league has definitely grown."
Created as a condition of the United States playing host to the World Cup in 1994, Major League Soccer features a dozen teams from coast to coast - now that it has added RSL and Chivas USA in Los Angeles for this season.
Teams include up to 28 players - only four international players are allowed on each team, however - and play a 32-game schedule that culminates with playoffs and the MLS Cup championship in October.
Attendance varies widely, and rumors seem to perpetually circulate about which ailing franchise might get folded or moved next. The San Jose Earthquakes and Kansas City Wizards reportedly were about to be moved last year, but neither franchise did.
Yet the league sees itself on the rise, with hopes of expanding to as many as 18 teams by the end of the decade - even though one previous expansion resulted in the elimination of foundering franchises in Miami and Tampa Bay after the 2001 season.
"We feel very bullish about the future," said RSL’s Trey FitzGerald.
FitzGerald is the senior director of communications for RSL now, but he worked in the same capacity for the league when it was deciding last year where to locate its expansion franchises. He has seen the league mature from a nearly recreational prospect for many players to a serious one featuring a few of the sport’s most marketable stars worldwide - including teen sensation Freddy Adu of D.C. United, the highest-paid player in MLS at $500,000 a year.
Most of the players earn between $25,000 and $100,000 a year, although more than a dozen of the top stars make more than $200,000.
The league also has enjoyed television partnerships with the ESPN networks since it was formed, and has a variety of other arrangements with networks like ABC Sports and Fox Soccer Channel. RSL expects to televise all of its road games on one network or another - five games will be on KSL Channel 5, including the opener against the MetroStars in New Jersey on Saturday - along with one or two of its home games.
"This league is getting better and better each day," RSL goalkeeper D.J. Countess said.
A four-year veteran of the league, Countess said the United States’ current No. 11 world ranking "is a direct reflection of how Major League Soccer is progressing. Obviously, the reason U.S. Soccer is doing so well is because we have a professional league in the United States. . . . We’re producing players. Many players are leaving overseas, but many players are coming overseas to play for us in Major League Soccer."
At the same time, questions remain.
Only two teams - the Columbus Crew and the L.A. Galaxy - own and play in their own "soccer-specific" stadiums, which the league desperately wants for all its teams.
The smaller stadiums not only suit soccer crowds better than the massive football stadiums most teams rent for their games, like Invesco Field in Denver and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, but also provide a better "path to profitability," as FitzGerald called it, by allowing teams to control scheduling and make money from concessions, parking and advertising.
All of that is seen as key to long-term stability and profitability for the league.
And while FC Dallas is opening a new stadium complex this summer, with the Chicago Fire following in 2006, most teams are like RSL - renting stadiums built for other sports. While RSL negotiates with Salt Lake City and Murray for a new soccer stadium, it will play at least its first two (and probably three) seasons at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah.
It’s also uncertain whether the team can muster enough support to survive in Utah.
Owner David Checketts obviously is banking that it will - he paid a $10 million expansion fee for the franchise - and the team has been encouraged by season-ticket sales that have moved past the 3,100 mark and allowed it to envision 5,000 as a new goal by the end of May.
Still, RSL probably will need to average more than 10,000 fans to its 16 home games in a notoriously eccentric sports market whose metropolitan population of 1.5 million is smaller than any of the other cities that are home to MLS teams. Single-game tickets range from $14 to $32, and FitzGerald said the team is hoping to draw between 15,000 and 17,000 fans per game, in line with the league average.
"Once we establish ourselves and have our own stadium, we believe we will trend upward," he said.
Makes sense.
That’s exactly what MLS has been doing - slowly, but surely - for the last decade now.
mcl [at] sltrib.com

[AreliusII]

Also:

RSL’s Jason Kreis: Healthy Kreis looking for a fresh start
By Martin Renzhofer
The Salt Lake Tribune

Jason Kreis begins the year in good health for the first time in a few years. The former league MVP is focused and excited to play for RLS. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)

First off, Jason Kreis doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone - except himself.
And second, following years of fighting through a depressingly long string of injuries, soccer is fun again for Major League Soccer’s all-time leading scorer and former Most Valuable Player (1999).
One only needs to see the small, but muscular 32-year-old scorer of 91 MLS goals during practice drills to know Kreis is hale and hearty.
"This is the fittest I’ve ever seen him," teammate Clint Mathis said. "This is a new challenge for him. Hopefully, we can come together and make something good out of this."
Real Salt Lake traded for Kreis in hopes of gaining goals and the forward’s leadership. Kreis and defenseman Eddie Pope are the team’s most experienced players, each having played in every year of the league’s existence.
"I’ve come in healthy," Kreis said. "This is the first time in four, maybe five years. It allowed me to focus on getting fit and strong for a long season, doing all the things I need to do to have a fine season.
"I feel strong in practice sessions and games. It feels new to me."
Last season, his ninth and last with Dallas, Kreis scored his 89th league goal against D.C. United, passing Roy Lassiter as the all-time MLS goal scorer. Yet, Kreis’ season was dotted with starts and stops, including missing the first four games recovering from ACL surgery on his left knee.
It was the same injury that caused the former Duke All-American to miss the final 11 games - and the MLS All-Star Game - in 2003.
In the offseason, Kreis hooked up with with a new, accelerated fitness program that included running the treadmill at higher altitudes. He was on the machine every day.
"The last four or five years, I’ve been playing catch up," Kreis said, reckoning that he’s had six or seven surgeries. "But it is exciting to be part of a team with players who believe in each other and part of a quality organization."
For John Ellinger, in his MLS coaching debut, Kreis has done all that was expected from him.
"He’s looking for a fresh start, that’s obviously why he is so focused," Ellinger said. "Technically, he’s been right on in preseason. He also bring intangibles to the team, his presence and his personality."
Kreis was drafted in the fifth round of the 1996 MLS draft, 43rd overall. He scored the first goal in Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas) history and followed that with a goal the same season the MLS All-Star Game.
In 1999, after leading the league in points, the five-time all-star was named league MVP. Yet, with the emergence of new goal-scoring whiz Eddie Johnson last season, Kreis’ role began to diminish.
Real Salt Lake was happy to have Kreis, who left Dallas as the organization’s leader in goals, assists (65) and games (247). It was also home to his family, wife Kimberly and sons Kason and Jake.
"The trade was a little bittersweet," Kreis said. "It was tough emotionally, but the opportunity here was too good to pass up. There are good people running a first-class organization."
Kreis also refuses to glance backward at what has become a positive legacy. For example, in 2002, Kreis became the league’s second player to amass 60 goals and 60 assists. During his MVP year, Kreis became the first MLS player to score 15 goals and pass for 15 assists in the same season.
"Jason is one of those guys," Ellinger said. "If he’s successful, we’re going to be successful."
If there is one situation that has bothered Kreis, it would be his role, or lack of one, on the U.S. national team. Kreis has played 14 times for the United States, scoring once.
There have been rumors of a personality conflict with U.S. coach Bruce Arena.
"I never felt like I was given the right opportunity," Kreis said with a shrug. "Of the 14 games, 11 or 12 I was an outside midfielder. I played one full game and one half of a game as forward and scored."
Right now, however, the forward’s goals are a little closer to his new home.
"I’m at the stage in my career, I’m pretty sure I know what people expect of me," he said. "Nobody puts more pressure on me than me. Early on in my career, I set a lot of individual goals. I wanted to be noticed so I could make more money and make the national team. At this stage, I have one goal. Win a championship."
martyr [at] sltrib.com

[AreliusII]

Also:

Relationship between Williams, Mathis: Rift nothing more than rumor
No problems: Williams, Mathis say reports of their supposed dislike for each other are only fabrications from New York’s tabloid writers
By Peter Richins
The Salt Lake Tribune

Andy Williams, a center-midfielder for Real Salt Lake, rejected a report from MLS analyst Eric Wynalda that he and RSL teammate Clint Mathis have an ongoing dislike for each other. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Talking to Real Salt Lake’s Andy Williams about his relationship with Clint Mathis during their time with the MetroStars is a great way to get him frustrated.
After RSL’s practice Wednesday at the Spence Eccles Field House, Williams was asked about that very thing. In response, Williams threw back his head, rolled his eyes, laughed a little bit and sighed as if to say "not again."
"That was never, ever even an issue," Williams said. "There’s nothing between me and Clint; we used to go out all the time."
Ever since the 2002 season when Williams

Clint Mathis

and Mathis played together in New York, a rumor saying the pair did not get along on the field has been floating around. Even on Tuesday, during an ABC Sports conference call, analyst Eric Wynalda said Williams and Mathis hated each other that year.
"That little rat that said that to Eric has to go and check himself," Williams said. Supposedly, Williams’ laid-back, Caribbean personality conflicted with Mathis’ fiery, go-all-out style on the field.
But instead of being adversaries, Williams said, the two veterans have a great relationship. And, with their history together, they should play well together.
"[Mathis] is a great player," Williams said. "It’s going to be a bonus for me, because he’s such a great playmaker."
Mathis also said the two have a great relationship.
"I don’t know where that rumor came from," Mathis said. "We get along fine, never had any problems."
He might not know for sure, but he at least has an idea about where the rumor came from.
"Just typical New York writers," Mathis said. He also said the two should play well together, and that coach John Ellinger made no mistake in putting them on the same team.
"We worked well together," Mathis said. "That was one of the aspects John was looking for, was players that would play well together."
Williams is a seven-year veteran of Major League Soccer, having played with Columbus, Miami, New England, the MetroStars and the Chicago Fire. His position as center-midfielder is one of the most critical for any MLS team, but Williams has handled it well over the years.
Being in that position for RSL, then, is nothing new. He handles the pressure with very little difficulty.
"That has been my job," Williams said. "I’m just going to do what I do best, and that is create scoring chances for the guys up front."
Williams was RSL’s first selection in the league’s expansion draft last November, and was the team’s second player after it picked up Jason Kreis via trade with FC Dallas just days earlier. Now that he has practiced with the team for a couple of months, he is feeling confident.
"I feel great," Williams said. "It is a lot easier playing with Jason and Clint."
Mathis also likes the team’s chances in the season opener Saturday against the MetroStars.
"We know that we have the talent to win," Mathis said. "We’re going into New York to get three points."

[AreliusII]

Also:

REAL SALT LAKE: GETTING TO KNOW THE PLAYERS


Jason Kreis
Team leader
Kreis became the league’s all-time leading goal scorer last season while playing with the Dallas Burn (now named FC Dallas) on June 26, 2004, with a goal in the 37th minute against D.C. United. He has scored 91 Major League Soccer goals. He also was named the league’s Most Valuable Player of the 1999 season and won the MLS scoring title with 18 goals, 15 assists and 51 points that year.
The 32-year-old has been in the league since the beginning, having been drafted in the fifth round (43rd overall) by the Burn in the 1996 draft. He was the first player acquired by Real via a trade in exchange for future considerations. An avid golfer and a woodworker, Kreis is married to Kimberly and has two sons.


Clint Mathis
Fiery striker
Mathis is back in the United States after spending the 2004 season in the German Bundesliga with Hannover 96. He started his first 13 games, but saw only limited action the rest of the year. Prior to Hannover 96, Mathis played with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and had respectable success considering his time away with the national team and an injury in 2001. He was drafted in 1998 by the L.A. Galaxy, and is the only player in MLS history to score five goals in a game.
A Georgia native, Mathis, 28, gained notoriety during the 2002 World Cup in Korea with his mohawk hairstyle. One of the most skilled and entertaining players from the United States, Mathis is unpredictable with his style of play and in his consistency.


Eddie Pope
America’s best
Regarded as one of the best defenders in U.S. soccer history, Pope also is remembered for scoring the golden goal in the first MLS Cup for D.C. United in a 3-2 win against Los Angeles. He also helped United win the U.S. Open Cup that year. He has won three MLS Cup championships with United, is a six-time MLS All-Star, and is an anchor for the national team’s defense. One of his biggest strengths is defending in the air.
After being picked second overall in the inaugural MLS college draft, Pope played seven years with United before being traded to the MetroStars. Pope, 31, a North Carolina native, is married to Corina and they have one son, Emilio.


Brian Dunseth
Cover

Brown

boy defender
The 28-year old defender spent two seasons playing for Cal State Fullerton before joining the league as a player for the Revolution in 1997. A defender, Dunseth honed his skills in New England and scored his first MLS goal in the 2000 season. After the league contracted the Fusion, he was selected No. 7 in the dispersal draft by Columbus. A native of Upland, Calif., Dunseth has appeared in Cosmopolitan and Rolling Stone magazines.

Andy Williams
The lynchpin
A Jamaican National Team regular, Williams has played for five MLS clubs in his seven seasons in the league. His role with the team will be as a playmaker, passing the ball to the forwards. He is well-equipped to do so, considering he has the all-time longest streak in MLS history with an assist in seven straight games in 1998.
He started his career with Columbus, and went through Miami, New England and the MetroStars before arriving in Chicago. With the Fire, he appeared in 45 games and started 37 of them, scored six goals and had 16 assists. Last year, he scored four goals and had nine assists for 17 points, tying his career high. Williams, 27, was born in Toronto.


D.J. Countess
Unproven goalie
Countess spent two years with Dallas before being acquired by Chicago, where he competed with Henry Ring for the starting goalkeeper position but started only two games, going 1-1. With Dallas, Countess was the starting goalie in the 2003 season and went 5-15-4 with a goals-against average of 1.97. His most successful game that season was against the MetroStars, when he saved two penalty shots.
A native of Sacramento, Calif., the 23-year-old was first acquired by the MetroStars late in the 2001 season but did not start any games. After being traded to Dallas, he played only one game in 2001 (a 1-1 tie with Kansas City) before sustaining a left shoulder injury that ended his season.

Brian Kamler
Team elder
Kamler has played in the league since the beginning, having started with D.C. United. He won two MLS Cup championships with United in 1996 and 1997, then was traded to Miami in 1999. Kamler went back to United and through New York/New Jersey before ending up in New England, where he played the past 2 1/2 seasons. In 2003, he started all 28 games that he played in, and was named an All-Star for

Halilovic

the first time in his career.
A native of Ballwin, Mo., Kamler is 33 years old and is married to Suzanne. He was the Humanitarian of the Year for the Revolution in 2002 and 2003. Kamler was acquired by Real in the expansion draft.


Chris Brown
Midfield presence
With six years of MLS experience, Brown is considered a veteran on the field for Real. A native of Portland, Ore., Brown is 28 years old and played at the University of Portland where he gathered several honors. He was an alternate for the 2000 Olympic team, and at the same time was playing for the Kansas City Wizards. That year, the Wizards won the MLS Cup while providing a spark off the bench. His rookie year, 1999, he led all rookies in goals (4) and points (11).
Brown was traded to New England in 2003, then to San Jose in 2004 before being acquired by Real in the expansion draft. He married Pardis Ariazand, a Utah native who played with the Kansas City Mystics of the W-League.


Matt Behncke
Ivy League smarts
A probable starter, Behncke was Real’s seventh selection in the expansion draft. Behncke has three years of experience in the league, all with FC Dallas. Last season was his best so far, having appeared in 17 games and starting 14 of them. It was also the only year the defender has recorded a goal. He was drafted by Dallas in the second round of the 2002 SuperDraft, the 18th overall selection that year.
Prior to his time with Dallas, Behncke played at Princeton and received that school’s Roper Award, given annually to Princeton’s top male senior scholar athlete. Also at Princeton, he won his first Ivy League title in 1999 and graduated with a degree in politics.

[AreliusII]

Continued...

Nelson Akwari
Role player
A defender, Akwari has three years of experience in Major League Soccer and several years of experience in the U.S. national youth team system. Akwari played two years for UCLA, helping the Bruins allow 1.02 goals per game as a team co-captain. He joined the MetroStars in 2002, then was traded to Columbus in 2003 where he played for two years. Real made him its fifth pick in the expansion draft last November.
Between his two years with the Crew, Akwari appeared in 30 games and started 21 of them. In 2003, he helped Columbus capture the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title. The 24-year-old was a pre-business/economics major at UCLA.


Rusty Pierce
Defender with bite
An experienced defender known for his aggressive tackling style, Pierce started 13 games for New England at center-back last year. A pure defender, Pierce has yet to score a goal or register an assist after five years in the league. After being acquired by the Revolution in 2000, Pierce started all 29 games he played in.
In recent years, Pierce has struggled with injuries. In the 2002 season, Pierce played in only 14 games. Last season, Pierce played the last 12 games of the season despite being slowed with a potentially season-ending muscle injury and despite missing most of the first half of the season. He recently underwent groin surgery to correct the problem.


Evan Whitfield
Important midfielder
Whitfield joined Real as part of a trade deal with Chicago that included Fire teammate Dipsy Selolwane and gave Chicago two future draft picks. A five-year veteran, Whitfield has played all five years in Chicago, starting 78 of the 103 games he played in. He was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team in Sydney. Prior to joining the Fire, he played with KAA Gent in Belgium for one year.
Whitfield sustained a season-ending knee injury in 2002 after playing in just one game. The next year was Whitfield’s best with the Fire, as he started 25 of 27 games and played 2,329 minutes. Last year, Whitfield started 19 of 23 games. He had successful hernia surgery last November.



Dipsy Selolwane
Botswana national
After spending three years with the Chicago Fire, Selolwane probably will be the primary backup to Real’s forwards this year. A regular on the Botswana national team, Selolwane saw limited action in his first two years with the Fire, but became Chicago’s most prized sub last season. He played in 19 games, started in five, and was the Fire’s hero in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In both games, he scored the game-winner in a pair of 1-0 victories, almost single-handedly pushing Chicago into the final. He appeared in only five games in 2003, but scored the first goal of his career in a game against Columbus. The goal was three minutes into the game, and was the quickest goal scored by Chicago that season.



Marlon Rojas
Valuable newcomer
A senior international player, Rojas will play in his first MLS regular season this year. Rojas is a strong defender and midfielder on the flank, and has good speed. A regular on the Trinidad and Tobago national team, he played with Police FC in that country before moving to St. John’s for his collegiate career. He finished his collegiate career with Tampa, where he won the NCAA D-II national championship and also earned a degree in criminology.
Rojas, 25, played with D.C. United for a time in 2004 during that team’s tour through Mexico. Rojas’ national team commitments may require him to leave the team at times during the season. Rojas was acquired shortly after the SuperDraft in January, and is one of the team’s few senior international players.


Jordan Cila
International veteran
Cila, 22, hails from a soccer family. His father, Renato, played professional soccer in Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Now, Cila comes to Real via a three-way trade deal that also gave Salt Lake a second-round SuperDraft pick from Chivas USA in 2007.
Cila played with the United States’ U-20 and U-17 national teams and played in the 1999 World Youth Championships in New Zealand along with Kyle Beckerman, DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and Taylor Twellman. Last season, in his first year with Colorado, Cila started 15 of 21 games, scored four goals and added two assists. His first two goals were scored on June 30 against the MetroStars, including the game-winner in a 3-2 victory.


Jeff Stewart
Savvy veteran
An accomplished player with limited MLS experience, Stewart nonetheless might be considered a veteran on Real’s relatively young team. Stewart has been with the Colorado Rapids for three years, but missed most of the 2003 season after sustaining a knee injury and the entire 2004 season after re-injuring the knee in the preseason.
Stewart started 20 of the 23 games he appeared in in his rookie season, 2002. He was the 19th overall selection in the MLS SuperDraft that year. A defender, Stewart played for Santa Clara, starting 65 of the 81 games he appeared in. During his time on the Broncos’ back line, Santa Clara allowed fewer than one goal per game.


Luke Kreamalmeyer
Valuable sub
In his first year in Major League Soccer, Kreamalmeyer was an unknown before the MLS Combine event leading up to this year’s SuperDraft. Amazed that the 22-year-old had slipped to the fourth round, Real snatched him up with the 37th overall pick in the draft. Out of Bradley University, Kreamalmeyer is a forward who distinguished himself by scoring Real’s first-ever goal in a 5-1 loss to D.C. United in the team’s first preseason game.
Kreamalmeyer studied advertising at Bradley, and has played for the Chicago Fire Reserves and the St. Louis Strikers of the Premier Development League. A native of Illinois, Kreamalmeyer ended his college career fifth in school history with 72 points and fourth with 20 assists.



Senad Halilovic
Imposing presence
A 23-year-old Bosnian, Real acquired Halilovic despite knowing next to nothing about him. A Bosnian national youth team member, Halilovic stands 6-foot-4 and is an imposing presence in the defense or as a defensive midfielder. Halilovic joined the team during its first preseason training sessions in Florida, and since has seen significant playing time in the preseason.
Professionally, Halilovic played for Unis FC in Vogosca, Bosnia, where he was a team captain for three years. He also played from Vrantick FC in Sarajevo. He attended the University of Sarajevo, and majored in political science.

[AreliusII]

Also:

MLS: What to Watch in 2005

CHIVAS USA - For the first time in American sports history, a foreign-based club is essentially buying an expansion franchise in a top-level U.S. pro league.
And just for good measure, that team will be sharing a home in the Los Angeles area with the one of the league’s existing franchises.
Chivas (pronounced chee-vahs) is affiliated with Mexico’s famed Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Its owner, Jorge Vergara, decided to invest in MLS, which is happy to have another reason for Hispanic fans to take an interest in the league.
The new team will share the Mexican club’s nickname (translation: goats), and its uniform style and logo. It will share Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
It will conform to MLS’ limits on foreign players, meaning it won’t have only Mexican players or act as a farm team - although it does have a few prospects taken from the parent club’s player pool. It also won’t have a Mexican coach; it hired Thomas Rongen, the former Dutch player who will be in his fourth MLS coaching job.
FREDDY ADU, YEAR 2 - Signing a 14-year-old phenom did wonders for MLS’ visibility last year. Freddy Adu, who will turn 16 on June 2, smiled his way through countless interviews and commercials, and fans turned out to see him. His team, D.C. United, drew an average of 23,686 fans in its road games, more than 8,000 above the league average, and won the MLS title.
Now the novelty begins to wear off. But he’s bigger and stronger than he was a year ago, when he played in all 30 regular-season games. In a recent North/Central American and Caribbean Champions Cup game against Jamaica’s Harbour View, he set up a goal.
YOURI DJORKAEFF - Having had an engagement with German star Lothar Matthaeus that lasted just one year (2000), the MetroStars welcome another World Cup veteran in his late 30s. Djorkaeff won the World Cup and European Championship with France and has played in France, Germany, Italy and England. The 37-year-old midfielder has been slowed by a strained hamstring in preseason. When he returns, he’ll need to mesh with the Metros’ other creative forces, Amado Guevara and Eddie Gaven, the youngster who broke out in 2004.
SHARING A VENUE WITH BASEBALL - On Sunday, the Washington Nationals baseball team will play for the first time in RFK Stadium, facing the New York Mets in its final exhibition game.
Three days later, D.C. United plays a Champions Cup game against Mexico’s UNAM, also known as Pumas. The venue, again, is RFK Stadium.
That will be the first test for a spring- and summer-long series of field transitions. The pitcher’s mound must be removed. Grass must go over the infield dirt and fit seamlessly with the rest of the turf. And vice versa. Will the grass hold up? Will both teams feel at home? Only time will tell.
NATIONAL TEAM ABSENCES - North/Central American and Caribbean region World Cup qualifiers are June 4, June 8, Aug. 17, Sept. 3, Sept. 7, Oct. 8 or 9 and Oct. 12. Then there’s the Gold Cup, the regional national-team tournament July 6 to 24 in East Rutherford, N.J.; Foxboro, Mass.; Miami; Houston; Seattle; Carson, Calif.; and Los Angeles.
That means MLS teams once again will be missing key players for some league games. For example, the New England Revolution may be without Steve Ralston, Clint Dempsey and Pat Noonan at times. And it’s not just Americans who may miss time. The Galaxy’s new players from Costa Rica and Guatemala are among the foreigners who could get the call.
EDDIE JOHNSON - The FC Dallas striker had a breakout year in MLS in 2004, when he scored 12 goals, tied for first in the league. That pushed him onto the U.S. national team, for which he scored six goals in his first four games, all World Cup qualifiers. Foreign clubs are interested, but he’s here - at least for now.

Back from Europe
While players like Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride are gone (although they and their teammates with English Premier League club Fulham will provide the opposition for the MLS All-Star Game), several Americans who had been playing in Europe are home this season in MLS:
Clint Mathis (Real Salt Lake, from Germany’s Hannover); Wade Barrett (San Jose, from two years in Denmark and Norway); Zach Thornton (Chicago, from Portugal’s Benfica); Greg Vanney (FC Dallas, from France’s Bastia); John Thorrington (Chicago, from England’s Grimsby Town) and Alex Yi (FC Dallas, from Belgium’s Royal Antwerp).

[AreliusII]

Also:

REAL SALT LAKE ROSTER


LIKELY FIRST-TEAM MEMBERS

No Player Pos Ht Wt Hometown MLS Exp. Last Team
2 NELSON AKWARI DF 6-0 180 Houston 3 Columbus
Played in 19 games with 16 starts for the Crew

16 MATT BEHNCKE DF 6-3 190 Williamsburg, Va. 3 Dallas
Scored his first MLS goal last year

11 CHRIS BROWN M/F 5-11 170 Portland, Ore. 6 San Jose
Scored a hat trick in 2003 with the Revolution

6 JORDAN CILA FW 5-10 165 Jericho, N.Y. 1 Colorado
Scored four goals, had two assists last year

1 D.J. COUNTESS GK 6-1 185 Fair Oaks, Calif. 3 Chicago
The starting goalie has tremendous upside

13 BRIAN DUNSETH DF 6-1 180 Upland, Calif. 7 Bodens BK
A strong defender with international experience

12 SENAD HALILOVIC DF 6-5 205 Sarajevo, Bosnia 0 -
Comes to Utah with high recommendations

5 BRIAN KAMLER MF 6-1 180 St. Louis 9 New England
Has two MLS Cup Championship rings

29 LUKE KREAMALMEYER MF 5-9 155 Edwardsville, Ill. 0 -
Made his mark in the MLS Combine and preseason

9 JASON KREIS FW 5-10 155 Omaha, Neb. 9 Dallas
The all-time leading goal scorer and 1999 league MVP

10 CLINT MATHIS M/F 5-10 170 Conyers, Ga. 6 Hannover 96
Back in MLS because of coach Ellinger

3 RUSTY PIERCE DF 5-10 165 The Woodlands, Texas 5 New England
A defender with bite, overcame injury last year

23 EDDIE POPE DF 6-1 180 High Point, N.C. 9 NY/NJ
Perhaps the best U.S. defender ever, is especially strong in the air

14 DIPSY SELOLWANE FW 5-9 150 Gaborone, Botswana 3 Chicago
The Fire’s hero in 2004 Lamar Hunt Open Cup play

4 MARLON ROJAS DF 5-10 170 Arima, Trinidad 0 -
Valuable contributor on Trinidad and Tobago’s national team

- JEFF STEWART DF 5-11 165 Bellevue, Wash. 2 Colorado
Did not appear in any of the Rapids’ games last year

8 EVAN WHITFIELD MF 5-11 155 Phoenix 5 Chicago
Capable midfielder played on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team

7 ANDY WILLIAMS MF 5-8 155 Chicago 7 Chicago
A skilled midfielder who will be the linchpin of the offense
LIKELY DEVELOPMENTAL-TEAM MEMBERS
20 NIKOLAS BESAGNO MF 6-0 175 Maple Valley, Wash. 0 -
The second-youngest player drafted into MLS

17 KENNY CUTLER MF 5-9 140 Richmond, Va. 0 -
A standout of the U-17 training program

21 SERGIO FLORES MF 5-11 168 Smithfield, Utah 0 -
No other player feels at home in Utah like Sergio

26 BRYAN JACKSON MF 5-9 160 La Canada, Calif. 0 -
A product of the U-17 training program

32 CAMERON KNOWLES DF 6-3 195 Auckland, N.Z. 0 -
Aggressive defender from University of Akron

31 MICHAEL LOOKINGLAND DF 6-2 180 Fallston, Md. 0 -
Defensive player of the year at Bucknell University

18 JAY NOLLY GK 6-3 210 Littleton, Colo. 0 -
Indiana University keeper takes control of penalty area

27 KEVIN NOVAK MF 5-8 150 Huntington Beach, Calif. 0 -
A four-year starter from Loyola Marymount University

15 LEIGHTON O’BRIEN MF 5-10 160 Tacoma, Wash. 0 Bodens BK
The 2002 A-League MVP also played in Sweden

0 NOAH PALMER GK 6-3 195 Williamsburg, Va. 0 -
Finished career at Maryland with school-record 34 shutouts

22 JAMIE WATSON FW 5-9 150 Dallas 0 -


A strong presence on the U-20 and U-17 national youth teams

Major League Soccer teams are divided between first-team members, who either start for the team, or are the most likely substitutions, and development team members. Development team members must earn their way onto the first team through practices, or may move up temporarily while other players are away because of national team commitments.