From Deseret News archives:

Real Salt Lake notes: Sturgis goes down; Talley back on field

Published: Sunday, April 20, 2008 12:24 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
TORONTO — Just a week after getting benched for his poor play at Chivas USA, Carey Talley was back on the pitch for Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

Nate Sturgis, the player who replaced Talley in the lineup last week, went down in the 25th minute with a left hamstring strain. The 20-year-old Sturgis tried to walk it off, but it became obvious quickly he couldn't return, and Talley started warming up.

Talley, who was third on RSL last year with 25 starts, played well in his return to the pitch.

"I thought Carey came in and did a commendable job, but what it is is a little bit of a wasted sub," said Real coach Jason Kreis. "We would've liked to be able to make three attacking subs in that game."

Sturgis left the stadium on crutches as a precaution and wasn't sure about his time frame for a return, even though two to four weeks seems like a realistic guess. The holding midfielder said his hamstring had been tight in training all the week, and he ultimately injured it on an innocent lunge for the ball at midfield.

Sturgis missed nine games last year with a bizarre calf strain which originally team trainers believed to be just a bruise.

Story continues below
ROAD WOES: With its second straight road loss in the opening month of the MLS season, and second in two visits to Canada, RSL's all-time road record now stands at 6-33-10. Four of those six road wins were at Western Conference foes, twice in Colorado and twice at the L.A. Galaxy.

Its only two road wins against Eastern teams came at New England and Columbus. That doesn't bode well for RSL next weekend, as it makes a visit to D.C. United.

A BRIEF APPEARANCE: Former Real Salt Lake striker Jeff Cunningham made a very brief appearance for Toronto FC on Saturday, subbing in for Danny Dichio in the 90th minute. He nearly made it a memorable appearance just seconds after stepping onto the pitch, but RSL defender Nat Borchers toe-poked the ball away just before Cunningham was about to unleash a shot. just inside the penalty area.

Cunningham scored the game-winning goal at the L.A. Galaxy last week.

LATE SCRATCH: Fabian Espindola took it easy with his strained hamstring all week in hopes of making his second straight start on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Argentine striker he failed a fitness test during Friday's training session in Toronto and the coaching staff opted to go with Robbie Findley instead.

In last year's 0-0 draw at Toronto, Espindola was red-carded in the 35th minute of a game in which RSL keeper Nick Rimando made 12 saves.


E-mail: jedward@desnews.com

Recent comments

Hopefully Real can get a win like they did last time at home against...

at DC | April 21, 2008 at 4:02 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

Letters: Chosen behavior?

Religious freedom is a "special protection" enshrined in the U.S....

Letters: Trash or truth?

But there's one major flaw in your thinking. Since ALL of Beck's,...

Celtics crush Jazz

Why quote Boozer when he is a huge part of the problem. The problem will not...

What a great segment. I enjoy reading this very much. Thanks!!

Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh get the audience they deserve and vice versa. ...

I find the rule,very discriminitory. I am not gay, I don't understand what...

Celtics crush Jazz

I understand we were outmanned last night. However, this effort was awful....

Tavernari has matured

My advice to Jonathan is shoot it when they pass it to you as soon as you...

Maybe they should try drafting a shooting guard who can shoot from outside ....

The sad thing about it is that there are actually people out there that are...

Advertisements
Advertisement