Real Salt Lake: First Kick? RSL to get Last Kick

First Kick festivities will be going on around Major League Soccer this week with the opening of the 2009 season. The lone exception will be with Real Salt Lake.

The expansion Seattle Sounders bumped the MLS franchise tally to 15, and RSL is the odd team out this weekend. So while every other coach in the league makes final decisions regarding opening day line-ups this week, RSL coach Jason Kreis has one more week to iron out any remaining kinks in anticipation of his club's season-opener on March 28 at Seattle.

Kreis doesn't mind the extra week one bit.

"The thing I really like is we get a weekend to watch our opponent and see what they're going to be all about," said Kreis. "Typically when you come into the first game of the season, you're not quite sure how the other team is going to play. It affords us the opportunity to do some research."

So while over 30,000 Seattle fans — including 20,000-plus season-ticket holders — pour into Qwest Field this Thursday to watch the Sounders take on New York, Kreis will be watching with a keen eye to gauge RSL's first opponent.

At the same time, RSL doesn't want to fall behind the rest of the league from a fitness level, so it scheduled a preseason game against Austin Aztecs (USL-1) at Rio Tinto Stadium this Saturday at 1 p.m. The match is free to the public.

In the training sessions leading up to the Austin match, as well as the week leading up to the opener in Seattle, RSL defender Chris Wingert expects to see the coaching staff rehash many of the same things it has worked on since early February.

"Working on group defending. Making sure that everyone from the forwards on down are defending, and making sure we're fit and healthy and ready to play 90 minutes. It's something we've been working on, and it started to come together in Charleston," said Wingert.

Kreis could've used this week to simulate a regular-season game week, but admitted that would've defeated the purpose of starting training camp a week later than most other MLS teams.

Kreis worked the team hard during Tuesday's training session at Xango Field in Lehi, the team's first practice in Utah since it wrapped up the last of its three preseason trips, and expects to continue to do so the remainder of the week.

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com

2009 First Kick

Thursday's games

New York at Seattle (ESPN2)

Saturday's games

Columbus at Houston (FSC)

Chicago at FC Dallas

Toronto FC at Kansas City

Colorado at Chivas USA (FSC)

New England at San Jose

Sunday's game

D.C. United at L.A. Galaxy