Pope likely to get start vs. Galaxy on Saturday

OREM — All signs suggest Real Salt Lake defender Eddie Pope will start against Los Angeles on Saturday evening.

"I'm getting there," Pope said.

The 31-year-old veteran has been nursing back problems for much of the season, and after returning from his third World Cup with the United States last week, he missed RSL's away match at Chicago.

Pope started and played 45 minutes against Chivas USA on Tuesday. While he exited at halftime, it appears he will be OK for RSL's match at Los Angeles on Saturday (8:30 p.m.)

"He should be able to play," coach John Ellinger said. "He had a check-up (Wednesday), and everything seemed fine. I'm gonna say it again — it's a day-to-day comfort thing, and he feels that he should be able to go Saturday."

As it turned out, Pope's substitution out of the lineup against Chivas was mainly precautionary.

"It didn't really warm up like I wanted it to," Pope said. "So, I wanted to be careful and not set myself back more games."

Pope's ailing back has come into the spotlight recently, but it's something he's been dealing with for several years.

"I've had back problems for a long time," he said. "So, in the beginning of this year, when I had real issues with it, that's kind of when it got bad again."

Pope said earlier this week that he won't play in another World Cup for the United States.

He hasn't announced yet whether he'll be retiring from international duty altogether — he'll make that call after talking with U.S. coach Bruce Arena in the near future — but it's clear that his days with the U.S. National Team are numbered.

Pope is generally regarded as the top defender in the history of American soccer, and Ellinger offered this piece of advice to the United States Soccer Federation:

"If he is going to retire," said Ellinger, "(they should) give him a testimonial kind of thing, like what they did with Tony (Meola): Give him at least one more game or something like that."

Testimonials, a prominent occurrence in Europe, are non-competitive matches that offer fans and players a chance to pay tribute to a retiring player.

Of course, Ellinger and Salt Lake won't exactly be disappointed if Pope chooses to retire from international play.

"I gotta believe," said Ellinger, "anybody that's got him at the club level, if he decides not to play internationally, would be doing cartwheels. Simply because now you feel like you get him healthy, he stays healthy with your club team."

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