Johnson becoming Real Salt Lake's ironman on the field

Will Johnson has been on the field for every minute of Real Salt Lake's seven matches since the 21-year-old midfielder joined the club in late August. It's really no secret why either. Not only is he a talented player with a tremendous work rate, he also adds a different dimension to RSL.

Most of Real's midfielders, guys like Javier Morales, Kyle Beckerman and Andy Williams are of the technical variety, but Johnson is technical and fast.

"He's a midfielder for us that does things a little bit different than the other ones we have. He's a guy that likes to run the ball out of pressure. He gets the ball in some tight situations and makes a very good, positive, confident first touch and now he's in behind their midfield and that's something we've lacked a bit," said Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis.

The Canadian's contribution has helped produce some of RSL's best soccer in franchise history over the past two months. Johnson said it should only get better as he familiarizes himself with the his teammates and Major League Soccer.

"When the four of us our playing well in the midfield and knocking the ball around good things happen," Johnson said. "Last week when it was a little off, and we weren't zipping the ball around you saw that we didn't end up playing so well."

For 75 minutes at New England the week before things were clicking wonderfully for RSL's midfielders and the team dominated the run of play for long stretches.

Johnson isn't just adept at playing left midfield either. Throughout the course of a match he flows around the midfield, often switching positions on the fly with Beckerman and Morales. That's exactly how Kreis wants it.

"That's the ultimate set-up for me, at least three of our midfielders if not all four of them, capable of changing positions and playing in different spots and making things difficult for the defense to figure out who they're going to mark," Kreis said.

Prior to joining RSL, Johnson spent the previous two seasons in the Dutch League with VBV de Graafschap. It merely contributed to an already impressive resume of playing experiencing despite his relatively young age.

Not only has he made 40 appearances with Canada's youth national teams, and three with the senior squad, he spent two years playing club soccer for Bolton in England from 2003 to 2004 before signing with the Chicago Fire of MLS in 2005.

He's happy to once again be back in MLS and confident in RSL's chance to qualify for the playoffs.

INJURY UPDATE: With RSL's critical match against FC Dallas upcoming this Saturday, Kreis said there's a good chance Fabian Espindola, Dema Kovalenko and Nathan Sturgis could all be available for selection on the 18-man roster. Nat Borchers should be available as well despite missing Monday and Tuesday's training sessions with a slight neck injury and then Thursday's practice with food poisoning.

RSL on the air

FC Dallas at Real Salt Lake

Saturday, 7 p.m.

Rio Tinto Stadium

TV: Fox Soccer

Radio: 700 AM

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com