Real Salt Lake glad to be back together again

PARK CITY — Nearly two weeks after most MLS teams kicked off the preseason, Real Salt Lake finally held its first full training session on Thursday.

It was a mostly uneventful afternoon spent almost exclusively on agility drills and fitness testing, but it was nonetheless the first day the team was back together since hoisting the MLS Cup in Seattle last November.

"It's always nice to get back together with the guys. We're like one big family, so when we come back together, it's like seeing your brother or your sister again," said defender Nat Borchers.

All but five players were on hand Wednesday. Robbie Russell is still trying to get a flight out of snowed-in Washington D.C., whereas Robbie Findley, Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando are training with the U.S. National Team in California. Rachid El Khalifi was also absent. The team is allowing him to explore possible options in Europe right now.

The rest of the team will have a more formal training session in the Spence Eccles Fieldhouse at the University of Utah today and then depart Saturday for the warmer conditions of Phoenix for a few weeks.

Overall, the players are thrilled about the few extra weeks to enjoy the offseason.

"It's refreshing, to be honest with you. Every year it seems like everybody follows the status quo, and the status quo is to start February 1st if not earlier," said Borchers. "Last year, we peaked about a week or two weeks before the season started. It's smart, it's ground breaking, and I hope we can prove the coaching staff right."

Another reason coach Jason Kreis was content to shorten the preseason is his confidence in the players to keep themselves fit in the offseason. Judging by Wednesday's fitness, for the most part they did.

"It was very good. Obviously, there's a couple guys we're going to be concerned about, probably scored lower than we'd like to see. But for the most part, everybody looks to be pretty fit," said Kreis.

The annual preseason "beep" fitness test revealed that indeed Rafael Cox is still the fittest player on the team. Tony Beltran, Will Johnson, Javier Morales, Alex Nimo and Ned Grabavoy rounded out the top six.

In a preseason with fewer practices and scrimmages than other teams, RSL doesn't have much margin for error to prepare for its season-opener at San Jose on March 27.

As always, Kreis has a pretty detailed plan of how he wants the preseason to unfold.