Shorthanded Real Salt Lake practice in Utah

PARK CITY — Real Salt Lake's lone preseason practice in Utah this month wasn't nearly as productive as the coaching staff would've liked.

With upwards of 10 players being slowed by one thing or another, the team tried making due with the healthy bodies available. In reality though, assistant coach Robin Fraser doesn't think it's a bad thing.

"If these players happen to get hurt in the middle of the season the guys who jump in have to know exactly what is required and demanded," he said. "We just try and keep it business as usual. We have an agenda as a team and the pieces are interchangeable, and at the end of the day the team philosophy has to go forward."

So that's what the guys did at the Newpark Field House in Park City Tuesday, albeit there was definitely some quality missing from the practices.

Several of the players' issues shouldn't be an issue as the team heads to Florida today for its second stint of its seven-week training camp. Will Johnson was only limited because he had his wisdom teeth removed on Monday, and Yura Movsisyan was simply sick.

Other absences are much more disconcerting for RSL though. Tino Nunez is having surgery Thursday on a meniscus tear in his knee, while Robbie Findley is nursing patella tendinitis and Tony Beltran is dealing with a hamstring strain.

Robbie Russell continues to rehabilitate his shoulder after offseason surgery, whereas Nat Borchers appears to have taken a backward step following his December foot surgery. Borchers, who played in every game but one last year, believes he rushed back from surgery that removed a bone spur from his right foot too soon and now he's dealing with lingering pain.

"There's no reason to push it in the preseason if you don't have to," Borchers said. "Every preseason it seems like there's a lot of guys who are in the training room and guys who have injury issues, it comes with the offseason. When you're off for two months your bodies aren't used to this type of training. That's very natural."

Borchers expects to be ready for the season opener on March 28, and expects most of the other guys to heal up as well. But, he and everyone else knows the injuries are making training camp a bit more difficult.

"You're at your best when you're full strength. We feel coming off the year we had, and returning as many players as we had, it's a great opportunity to jump right in where you left off, and certainly it has a bit of a slowing effect if you're not 100 percent right off the bat," Fraser said.

Despite the injuries, midfielder Kyle Beckerman said he's ready for the long preseason to be over. He's champing at the bit to start playing some meaningful games, unlike last week's 8-0 exhibition victory over a Chinese team in Southern California.

E-MAIL: jedward@desnews.com