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Sandy • Javier Morales said it generally takes two-to-three training sessions for him to feel match ready. His participation Wednesday was his second of the week after Real Salt Lake's 36-year-old midfielder missed the home opener last Saturday due to rib and quadriceps injuries.

Morales trained fully Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injuries at Orlando City on March 6. Last week, Morales went through technical and conditioning drills with his rib cage wrapped. The rib contusion remains painful, Morales said.

"But it's not a big deal because you can play with pain," Morales said. "I think I will be good for Saturday."

Morales' likely return to the RSL starting lineup comes at an ideal time. The trip to Providence Park isn't an easy one and the reigning MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers are no doubt ready to wash the image of Quincy Amarikwa's sensational game-winning goal from their memory.

Jamison Olave went through technical drills early on, but spent most of training Wednesday working on his own quadriceps strain. The 34-year-old center back, who scored the late game-winner against Seattle Saturday afternoon, took laps around America First Field with head athletic trainer Tyson Pace.

RSL coach Jeff Cassar said Olave's strain is improving, but said the staff will reevaluate his status for the Portland match tomorrow.

"You have some players that you have to give a little bit extra time off to and what you need is the mental sharpness when they get back in," Cassar said. "We'll see how he's doing tomorrow."

Asked if Justen Glad is ready to make his 2016 debut against the defending champs, Cassar said he has confidence in every option RSL has at the moment. The 19-year-old made six starts in 2015.

"Listen, Justen's stepped in and done a great job every time, sometimes in tough circumstances," Cassar said.

Forward Olmes Garcia missed training Wednesday due to a first-degree ankle sprain suffered Tuesday, which forced the RSL forward to leave training early. Cassar said he expects Garcia to be at training tomorrow to test the ankle.

The RSL injury report also features center back Phanuel Kavita, who is expected to miss at least eight weeks with an MCL tear in his right knee. Right back Boyd Okwuonu also suffered a concussion in the Real Monarchs scrimmage against BYU last week.

» Assessing the back line

Jeff Cassar said this week RSL's quest to sign a center back is to build depth at every position. RSL's coach was later adamant that it has "nothing to do with performance" of the center backs currently on the RSL roster.

"It's about getting deeper [and] putting together a championship team," he said.

Asked if the signing could be sometime soon, Cassar pointed back to the three previous deals with three center backs the club was close on, but did not complete for various reasons.

"The deals are never done until they're done, as we've already experienced a few times already," he said. "Listen, I'm happy with what we have right now. Again, like I said, bringing a player in just makes us better, makes us deeper, makes us just a deeper team. That's what we want. It's not that we're hitting the panic button, for sure. I think our back line has done an amazing job these first four games."

RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando said the first two regular-season outings have been good, but said everyone defensively — including himself — could put their hands up and say they could be performing at a higher level.

"Good at times, [I] think we've had some times where we lost focus, but that comes with it being a new year, trying to play a little higher up the field and obviously we've been together for a little while now, but I just think it takes time," he said. "Even if it's a new season, if it's the same players, you need to get into a rhythm."

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani