Mathis at full speed, could start Saturday

Slightly banged-up Clint Mathis practiced at full speed Thursday, including a full-field scrimmage, and the Real Salt Lake midfielder is fully expected to start Saturday's home opener against Colorado.

Mathis sustained some non-joint swelling above his right knee following last week's loss to Los Angeles, and, as a precaution, the team limited his practice time this week.

Thursday, however, he felt good enough to train and is ready to start at attacking midfielder with Andy Williams out four weeks with a groin injury.

"I'm fine, it still has a little swelling, but it felt good today," said Mathis following Thursday's training session.

Mathis wasn't the only player RSL coach John Ellinger was happy to see training.

As expected, Real Salt Lake newcomer Leslie Fitzgerald, a Trinidad & Tobago National Teamer, trained with the club for the first time Thursday, and the dreadlocked midfielder looked very impressive.

RSL acquired Fitzgerald from Atlanta of the A-League, and his versatility gives his team new added depth at holding midfield and as a wide midfielder.

Fitzgerald won't start against the Rapids, but he might be one of the seven bench players Ellinger chooses for a potential substitute.

OPENING TICKETS: Tickets sales for RSL's home opener eclipsed 15,000 Thursday afternoon according to Chris Keeney, the team's senior director of sales. Keeney was confident the team would approach a sell-out of 24,496 at Rice-Eccles Stadium but wanted to stress that no fan will be turned away for the opener.

For tickets to the Saturday game at 1 p.m. (which includes a RSL Reserve game against the Rapids Reserves at 3:30 p.m.), fans can either call 581-UTIX, drop by the Rice-Eccles Stadium ticket office or log on to www.utahtickets.com.

MEDIA SUPPORT: Leading up Saturday's home opener, much of the talk among players and coaches has been the abundant media coverage the team has received from newspaper, television and radio.

"The local media has been absolutely fantastic. The players who have been around the league for a while have seen nothing like it," said Ellinger. "It's a little added pressure because they want that to continue, so they want to have a good showing on Saturday."

Earlier this week, Salt Lake striker Jason Kreis was on Fox 13's Sunday night sports show, which Kreis said never happened in his nine years in Dallas.