It's been four years since the O'Brien incident, and though he's toned things down a bit, Kovalenko still possess the same bite opponents have come to dread playing against. It's worth noting as well that O'Brien now plays for expansion San Jose, a team RSL plays three times during the regular season, as well as a late-April U.S. Open Cup qualifier.

Borchers doesn't have the same type of mean streak as Kovalenko; instead he tries to channel his intensity into extreme focus along the backline.

"It's so important. You take a guy like Blanco or a guy like Andy Herron, one of the strikers from Chicago, if you're not aware for an instant in the game, they're going to slip by you and score," said Borchers. "You need to be ready for 90 minutes of every single play, and it just takes a lot of years of practice and a different mentality."

Outside of a few individuals that mentality has been absent in the Real Salt Lake locker room the past three years. However, as the team gears up for the 2008 season that may no longer be the case.

---

Chicago Fire at Real Salt Lake
Saturday, 4 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: DirectKick
Radio: AM700

---

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com