Spectacular defense has Real Salt Lake in East Final

Robin Fraser knows as well as anyone the scary life central defenders live on the field.

"You don't have very many chances to be spectacular, but you have many chances to be spectacularly bad," said Fraser, a Real Salt Lake assistant coach who played 10 years in MLS before retiring in 2005.

Shortly before calling it a career, he spent half a season playing beside an unproven rookie in Colorado in 2003. That youngster was Nat Borchers and immediately impressed Fraser with his work ethic on and off the field.

That brief defensive partnership continues to pay dividends for Real Salt Lake six years later and is a big reason why RSL is facing Chicago in the Eastern Conference final this Saturday.

"The thing about Nat that's amazing is his level of consistency. He's so focused in practice, and he's that way everyday regardless of what the exercise is," said Fraser.

Borchers played two more seasons with Colorado before heading overseas to play in Norway in 2006 and 2007. When word got around that Borchers wanted to return to MLS though, Fraser immediately began pushing to acquire the underrated talent.

"He's so refreshingly honest. I think that's so key for a player's growth. Nat has a very honest self evaluation, probably even too hard on himself," said Fraser. "Even when I played with him as a young, young player his first year out of college, that was the trait about him that I knew was going to make him be a good player."

At the conclusion of the regular season, Borchers was voted by his coaches as RSL's 2009 team MVP. The recognition reiterates the importance of consistency, but also staying healthy.

Borchers played well in his first season with RSL in 2008, but frequently dealt with pain from a bone spur in his ankle. He had offseason surgery to repair the damage, and the success of that surgery speaks for itself as he's played in every regular season game this season.

"I feel like I came back much stronger and much better, much fitter," said Borchers.

Borchers isn't as physically gifted as fellow RSL center back Jamison Olave, but the duo's strengths and weaknesses complement each other nicely on the field. Olave is the bruising defender whose physical style occasionally gets himself in trouble as evidenced by the three red cards and 15 yellow cards over the past two years. Borchers, meanwhile, just goes about his business.

That lack of flare is one reason Fraser believes Borchers is often overlooked for U.S. National Team consideration.

"He's one of these guys, because he does his job so quietly and goes about doing it well every day, you don't see a lot of spectacular plays and I think as a result a lot of people overlook him," said Fraser. "But I think if you throw him in that situation and make him battle day in and day out, game in, game out, even at that level you'll see that same level of consistency."

Like with most things on the field, Borchers doesn't dwell on being overlooked. He's focused on one thing right now, and that's the Chicago Fire.

Eastern Conference Final

RSL at Chicago Fire

Saturday, 6 p.m.

TV: Fox Soccer Channel

Radio: 570 AM

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com