Real Salt Lake: Morales appears to be rebounding from slow start

SANDY — RSL star midfielder Javier Morales seems to be rounding into form, and it couldn't come at a better time for his club.

At times last season, the 29-year-old Argentine midfielder was peerless in MLS.

Orchestrating Salt Lake's possession-style attack from the middle of the park, Morales finished the season with 15 assists and six goals and was an indispensable part of RSL's run to the Western Conference Finals.

Along the way, RSL GM Garth Lagerwey and coach Jason Kreis signed him to a four-year contract extension through the 2012 season, and many expected him to continue to rise in the consciousness of folks around MLS as one of the league's best players this season.

But the opening two months of 2009 proved to be a bumpy ride for Morales. Struggling with injuries and trying to find form, Morales didn't play particularly well as RSL struggled through large stretches of its first 11 league games.

It seems, however, that he's since started to come back into form in the last month, and it's obvious that Salt Lake will need big contributions from him over the second half of the season as it tries to make it back to the postseason.

"I think that Javi endured some injuries earlier on in the season," said RSL center back Nat Borchers. "He was a little beat up, and I think teams have really taken a lot of notice of him, as opposed to last year when he was relatively new to the league.

"(But) I think that when everybody around him is defending well, is giving him the ball and creating space, I think that's when he's most effective."

RSL clearly did those things in a 1-0 exhibition win over Club America last Saturday, and Morales was clearly effective.

So effective that, in the eyes of Borchers, nobody on the pitch Saturday was better than Morales — including America's Pavel Pardo, a standout on the Mexican National Team.

"I thought that Javier Morales was clearly better than any of their players — on the ball, technically," said Borchers.

Asked about his recent return to form, Morales pointed to the contributions of everyone around him.

"I think the team (has played) better the last five games, and me, too," he said. "We are the team. The team is the star."

Moving forward, Borchers said the key for Morales to continue to play well is to have everyone around him continue to play well — starting Saturday on the road to Columbus.

"If we keep playing well as a team, if we possess the ball, if we defend the box — those are the cornerstones of this team — and if Javier plays well, there's no question that we win games," said Borchers.

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