Real Salt Lake: Injuries chipping away at team depth

WASHINGTON — When making his lineup decisions for tonight's U.S. Open Cup qualifying match at D.C. United, Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis won't have many options.

He will likely only have 16 healthy bodies available for selection, and three days later in an MLS league rematch with D.C., that number may only increase by one.

"We're not really afforded the opportunity to do what we may have done with the right amount of healthy bodies. We could've split things and really almost played two different teams, but we don't have enough healthy bodies to do that," said Kreis.

As a result, numerous players will just have to gut out the likelihood of playing 90 minutes twice this week, and potentially more. If tonight's game is tied after regulation, the teams will play a 30-minute overtime.

In the previous round of qualification, RSL had to go to overtime with San Jose and eventually won the match in a shootout.

With such a banged-up roster, playing an extra 30 minutes is the last thing RSL needs if it hopes to extend its MLS winning streak to six on Saturday at RFK Stadium.

Kyle Beckerman (foot), Chris Wingert (hamstring) and Nelson Gonzalez (hamstring) have all been ruled out of today's 5:30 p.m. kickoff, while Andy Williams (hamstring) is extremely doubtful. Williams is probably the only one of the four with a realistic shot of being ready by Saturday.

Despite an inevitably less experienced squad taking the field tonight, the team expects a result.

"I think whatever lineup we put out there, we're expecting to win. That's the mind-set going in. That's a tournament game; if we win, we go on," said Nick Rimando.

The winner officially qualifies for the 40-team Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and earns a bye into the third round. That match would be against a lower-division team and would likely be played on June 29.

With a busy calendar awaiting later this year with MLS and CONCACAF Champions League games, some would suggest RSL should bow out gracefully tonight to prevent from creating too much congestion for itself down the stretch.

Don't expect a half-hearted effort, though. Unlike past years, Real Salt Lake seems to be taking the Open Cup more seriously this year.

MLS teams traditionally view the Open Cup as a secondary competition and rest many of their regulars. With a depleted roster, however, that's not really an option for RSL in the last stage of qualifying, which is just fine for Nat Borchers.

"As a player, you love to play games. Training is fun, but it's not the real deal. The more games you get, the more fun you have, so I'd rather play games than train," he said.

Regardless of who plays, history won't be on Real Salt Lake's side. A shootout victory over San Jose on April 14 was its first road result in Open Cup competition in five tries. D.C. United, meanwhile, is playing its 12th straight Open Cup game at home, where it rarely ever loses.

United is also starting to play with a bit of confidence after an awful start in which it lost five straight to open the season. It beat Chivas USA 3-2 last weekend and earlier in the week, beat AC Milan 3-2 in a friendly.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com