RSL's Seitz gets tutoring with U.S. squad

PARK CITY — Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman were named to the U.S. National Team 24-man pool of players, so to see them training with the team was not an unexpected sight. But another RSL player was an added guest this week as goalkeeper Chris Seitz spent the last three days with the squad as well.

"It's been a lot of fun," Seitz said. "Anytime you are given a chance to train with some of the best players in the country, and even the world, you jump at it. They needed some help and I have had a great chance to be with them for three days and it has been great.

"It is always good to get together with guys like Tim (Howard) and Brad (Guzan) and see how they approach things. There has been a lot of joking around, but it is nice to just get little pointers and watch what they do in goal. They are world-class players and anytime you can learn something from guys like that it is a positive."

While Seitz has seen time with the National Team at the junior levels, and was part of the Olympic team that went to Beijing, he was simply a beneficiary this week of coaches preferring to have three keepers in training. He is not on the roster for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against El Salvador at Rio Tinto Stadium.

All three local pros have benefitted greatly from the time spent with the team regardless if they see the field for the match or not.

"It has been a great experience," said Findley. "I feel it has helped me tremendously. The intensity level is so high. You have to come out prepared to work right off the bat and match their intensity. I have been working on getting my training level and intensity as high as possible, and then the first touch. These guys are so good at those things that if you don't come ready, it is going to show."

MLS IMPACT: Real Salt Lake was not the only team to benefit in MLS from the National Team training sessions. The defending champion Columbus Crew have two players in Chad Marshall and Robbie Rogers with the squad, and the league-leading Houston Dynamo have three guys honing their skills in Stuart Holden, Brian Ching and Ricardo Clark.

e-mail: mblack@desnews.com