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In one of Real Salt Lake's youngest starting lineups in years, it was the club's top draft pick who, on a sweltering Saturday night in suburban Dallas, slipped on the No. 12 jersey he was assigned in preseason and got a legitimate sweat out.

A subplot to RSL's 2-0 loss to FC Dallas was Omar Holness making his debut in Major League Soccer. He'd dressed before, and made his RSL debut in the club's fourth round U.S. Open Cup victory on June 14. But Saturday was the night the 22-year-old Jamaican, the RSL technical staff and the fan base were awarded with seeing just what the kid can do.

"We have very high hopes for him," said RSL coach Jeff Cassar, "and he did not let us down."

Ninety-one days after a seizure caused Holness to collapse to the pitch suddenly in his professional debut with the Real Monarchs, RSL's No. 5 overall pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft started at the point of the midfield attack against one of the league's best home teams.

A tough draw, no doubt, but sooner or later, the staff needed to see how the versatile midfielder would fare. After the 90-minute performance, Holness said there were several things to take out of his debut.

"There's some bad things, some good things for me to go back, watch the film and learn," he said. "That's why I'm here. That's why I have so many older guys around me, so many vets. It's for me to learn from that."

RSL will need its top pick to come along briskly, too. The midfield is now thinned due to the loss of starter Sunday Stephen, out a minimum of six weeks after suffering multiple facial fractures in the team's 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls Wednesday.

With how congested the summer schedule is, RSL will be without "Sunny" for as many as 10 league matches, possibly more.

General manager Craig Waibel said Friday that while the seizure and subsequent shoulder injury delayed Holness' rookie campaign, he's eager to see what the youngster is capable of over a string of first-team outings.

"The quality player of he is, his youth, the ground he covers when he plays, he's very similar in style to a Jordan Allen in the way he can explode into the ground and the quality of ball he can play," Waibel said.

As expected, FC Dallas held 60 percent of the game's possession and controlled the flow of the match against RSL's second-team lineup. That makes for the analysis of Holness and his play in the role of Javier Morales more difficult than usual. In the times he was on the ball, the North Carolina product didn't seem to be overwhelmed by the moment. Holness even unleashed a laser of a shot from 30 yards that knuckled just wide of the top corner.

After his much-belated MLS debut, Holness said he had to build his way back into the fold in the days and weeks and months after the seizure. Every rookie faces that, but for Omar Holness, he noted that he literally had to work his way from the bottom back up.

"A lot of things to improve on," he said. "It's just back to the drawing board and back to grinding it out in practice." —

Sounders at RSL

P U.S. Open Cup, Round of 16

Tuesday, 8 p.m.