This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Real Salt Lake's all-time leading scorer, Alvaro Saborio was a late scratch from the starting lineup Sunday night. For what reason exactly remains to be seen.
The club initially said the 33-year-old's absence from the game-day lineup against Sporting Kansas City was due to a "personal matter." On Tuesday, RSL coach Jeff Cassar spoke to The Tribune regarding Saborio's personal matter, for which he was excused.
"I gave him permission to leave for a personal reason. I didn't know what the personal reason was," Cassar said. "I asked him if he needed help or anything like that, that I'd be there for him.
"He was only supposed to miss a training session, not a game."
Cassar said the club is in the process of determining exactly why Saborio wasn't available for Sunday's match against Sporting KC, but did not expand.
"That's where we're having an issue is: We're finding out what the personal reason was," Cassar said.
Following the 2-1 win Sunday night, Cassar said Saborio wouldn't travel with the team to face the New York Red Bulls Wednesday night, adding he didn't expect the Costa Rican striker to re-join RSL until after this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.
Saborio is in his sixth season at RSL, scoring 63 league goals during that span. The forward was officially named to the Costa Rican national team's 23-man CONCACAF Gold Cup roster Tuesday.
— Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani