Real Salt Lake: Visit key for star

Stuart Holden returns to Utah this weekend as a visitor, but it's a place he's comfortable.

The Beehive State is where he earned his first professional start at his preferred attacking midfield spot, and it's where he played in his first MLS All-Star Game just a few weeks ago.

This Saturday, he'll take the field with the Houston Dynamo against Real Salt Lake, just over 72 hours after playing 32 minutes with the U.S. National Team in a World Cup qualifier in Mexico City.

RSL coach Jason Kreis knows his players will have their hands full with the emerging talent of the 24-year-old Holden.

"He's a very, very bright prospect for this league and for the national team. He's a player who showed some really, really bright spots, especially last season in the first half of the season and maybe even a few before that," said Kreis. "He's kind of someone everyone's been waiting to break out, and this year when he's gotten his opportunities he's done a fantastic job of taking those."

Holden's moment finally came this year.

In the first three years of his professional career, Holden was always playing in the shadow of Houston MVP attacking midfielder Dwayne DeRosario. Holden had to move out wide to find playing time, and it often came as a substitute.

A visit to Salt Lake City in October of 2007 helped change all that. With DeRosario suspended, Holden made his first start at attacking midfield and led the Dynamo to a 1-0 victory.

"It was my chance to show I could play there. Before that, maybe he saw me as an outside midfielder," said Holden. "I wanted to play in the middle and Dom (Kinnear) gave me that chance. And it's worked from there on out."

From then on, Houston's coaching staff knew what Holden was capable of, and it made the big contract of DeRosario expendable. Things didn't play out that way for another year, but DeRosario was eventually shipped to his native Toronto, opening the door for Holden to become the regular everyday attacking midfielder for Houston in 2009.

"As a player and a competitor, you want to be playing every game, so when I was playing behind quality players like Dwayne and Ricardo (Clark) it was tough, but I had to bide my time and just wait," said Holden.

It was clearly worth the wait. He's the midfield focal point of a team that leads MLS with 38 points. He's recorded six goals and four assists in the process, and was voted onto the MLS First XI for last month's All-Star Game at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Prior to representing MLS against Everton, Holden was a key contributor to the U.S. National Team's run to the Gold Cup final last month which ultimately ended in an embarrassing loss to Mexico.

One of his U.S. teammates was RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman, who was impressed by what he saw.

"In the camp he was a really good, strong player," said Beckerman. "He's really coming into his own, and people are starting to hear about him and see what he can do."

Holden's abilities were on display in the second half of Wednesday's 2-1 loss at Mexico, as he sent in a precision cross that should've been buried by teammate Charlie Davis in the 72nd minute. It was the type of service Houston has come to expect and a ball U.S. fans will likely see many more of in the future.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com