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RSL Notes: Saborio returns to training; RSL want to make a statement; and more

ALvaro Saborio

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By TYLER GRAY

SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake have been bolstered this week by the return of some key players who were missing due to injury.

Both forward Alvaro Saborio and defender Nat Borchers were full participants in training on Wednesday, opening speculation as to whether or not they will feature this Sunday against Chivas USA.

“The good news is that everybody is recovered enough to at least be out on the training field training in some capacity,” RSL manager Jason Kreis said after training.

Saborio went down in late April with a quad injury and reports stated that he might miss miss several weeks. The Designated Player has not featured for RSL in their last four matches, while the 32-year-old Nat Borchers has missed the last two games due to illness.

“I feel like a new man,” Borchers said.  “I trained the whole training today. I did the fitness and everything felt fine.”

Also returning to training was forward Robbie Findley from a hyper-extended knee, and midfielder Cole Grossman, who has been dealing with the after effects of a concussion.

Here are some more notes from RSL practice this week:

RSL READY TO MAKE A STATEMENT TO THE LEAGUE

There’s nothing as dangerous as a team with their backs against the wall and that’s exactly what RSL will be facing when they head to the Home Depot Center on Sunday to take on Chivas USA.

“(It’s a) very dangerous time to face a team like that, after two away results that have really gone against them,” Kreis said. “Now they go home and I think they’re going to be super emotionally charged to get a result against us.”

Kreis also stressed why he thinks that RSL will be ready for the challenge. “I think that we are in a little bit of a good place too, because we lost a very emotional match by making some mistakes at the end of it. We’ve got a little bit of a statement to make of our own.”

Defender Chris Wingert echoed his manager when speaking of that last time these two teams met.

“I thought our team played awesome that game. We had a penalty kick save and we won 1-0, so it was obviously tight but at the same time I think we were really pleased with our performance,” Wingert said. “Hopefully we can have another good performance on Sunday. I think coming off a tough loss, we’re raring to go and eager to get back on the field.”

WATSON-SIRIBOE SUSPENDED ONE MATCH

The MLS Disciplinary Committee handed down on Tuesday a one-match ban to defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe for an incident between him and Montreal forward Marco Di Vaio.

Watson-Siriboe appeared to drag one of his cleats across Di Vaio’s head but Kreis didn’t believe there was anything malicious and that the contact was purely incidental.

“I really felt like (Watson-Siriboe’s) contact was very, very incidental,” Kreis said to MLSSoccer.com. “But the review committee had a chance to look at it time and again and I haven’t looked at it again. Just from what I saw in the game, I thought it was pretty incidental.”

Watson-Siriboe will serve the suspension for this Sunday’s match and will be available for selection for the following match against the Chicago Fire on May 25.

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What do you make of these notes? Do you see Saborio taking the field on Sunday against Chivas? Do you see RSL struggling against the Goats? Do you agree with the decision to ban Watson-Siriboe.

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