This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sandy • The customary scrum of hugs and handshakes eventually splintered apart Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium as Real Salt Lake's third straight loss left most of the stadium empty by the time of the final whistle.
A few RSL players walked to various sections, and thanked fans. Nineteen-year-old Brooks Lennon slowly approached the south side, raised his hands above his head and clapped.
For all the flaws RSL has shown in its first 10 matches of the year, the kids — the youngest players on the roster — have played a massive role. There's been no other choice. Injuries have forced 24 of the 27 players on the team to see minutes in 2017. And it's about to get more difficult.
RSL is expected to lose as many as four first-team players for the next few weeks as the U.S. U-20 national team assembles its roster for the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea, scheduled to start May 20.
RSL coach Mike Petke confirmed Saturday that Lennon and Park City's Sebastian Saucedo were on their way to join the team Sunday. Sandy's Danny Acosta and Justen Glad, still working his way back from a knee injury, are expected to be part of the roster, too.
Glad injured his knee in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in early March and has yet to even train with RSL since the injury, but RSL's breakout player of 2016 has been slowly getting up to speed lately. Lennon, Saucedo and Acosta have combined for 17 starts already to help patch up an RSL team battling a slew of injuries.
"In general, as a soccer player, I think your dream is to play in a World Cup, either if it's the senior World Cup or a U-20 World Cup," Saucedo said Saturday. "For me personally, I think I'm representing America and I'm mostly representing my family that has been there for me and stuff like that. I think I just have to take advantage and live it up to the fullest."
To potentially have as many as four representatives on a youth World Cup roster is a serious achievement for RSL's pipeline. The foursome helped the U-20s qualify two months ago and Acosta scored the tournament-clinching penalty kick. It's a bit bittersweet for the franchise, however, as players leaned upon to produce take off.
"Yeah, I guess selfishly, in a way, I wish we weren't losing them," Petke said Friday, "but I'm just very ecstatic for them for the experience that this is going to give them and I'm hoping, I'm assuming they're going to come back much better and much more experienced players playing at that level back to us. I'm extremely happy for them."
The U-20s were drawn into Group F alongside Ecuador, Senegal and Saudi Arabia. Their first scheduled match is Monday, May 22, against Ecuador, likeliest the biggest challenger in the group stage. Should the Americans advance, the knockout round is slated to begin June 1 in South Korea. Odds are RSL will be without its young group for as many as six matches.
A great accomplishment for them personally and for the club, but RSL's task of wiggling out of this ongoing funk is now that much more taxing.
"It's just one of those things," defender Chris Wingert said. "There's no reason to focus on that, especially as the players. It's not going to change anything, so control the controllable, and like I said, when called upon, guys need to step up."
Twitter: @chriskamrani