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Tucson, Ariz. • It's partially a new era at Real Salt Lake, yet partially just the same old, same old. On a damp and windy and cold Tuesday morning at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, there was Kyle Beckerman doling out advice, Nick Rimando screaming instruction, Javier Morales twirling around defenders, Alvaro Saborio taking chances and Jamison Olave looking like an outside linebacker.

But no longer chasing the ball or shuttling through cones are some linchpins to this franchise that constructed an annual contender. It's been a few months since Nat Borchers was traded, since Ned Grabavoy and Chris Wingert were snatched by New York City FC in the MLS Expansion Draft, since Robbie Findley was taken by Toronto FC in the Re-Entry Draft.

"Missing some really good friends, who I usually see all the time and played with for so long," Beckerman said when asked to summarize the offseason of turnover at RSL. "But the new guys that have come have been really good, really trying to gel with the team and all in all, just good people and it's been fun getting to know them."

Garth Lagerwey is calling shots for the team training a few hundred yards north of RSL in the Seattle Sounders. His replacement Craig Waibel, an assistant coach under Jeff Cassar in 2014, paced the sidelines dropping opinion on players and taking phone call after phone call.

"There is some change," Cassar said, "but I think it's natural — it's a progression and we're always preparing for tomorrow and I think we've done that."

A slew of new faces are in camp with RSL in its third round of training camp ahead of its (potential) 2015 season opener at Portland on March 7. Youngsters Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Lucas Baldin, Jordan Murrell and Fito Ovalle are trying to showcase themselves while newcomers like Brazilian midfielder Pecka, Guatemalan center back Elias Vasquez (signed Wednesday) and Jamaican left back Demar Phillips are adapting to their new club.

Different feel?

"Yeah," Rimando said. "A big difference."

Does the necessary leadership role expand?

"You would like to think it does, for sure," Rimando continued. "There's still some very big-name veterans on this team that lead by example, but for the young guys, for sure, you've got to step in there when they need some help and lead them and show them what being a pro's about, but also the mentality here at Real Salt Lake."

***

Schuler-Olave pairing still working through kinks • When RSL traded Nat Borchers to Portland in December, it then brought back the familiar, imposing Olave to slide in next to Chris Schuler to formulate a new center back tandem.

In losing Borchers, Rimando explained, RSL lost its defensive coordinator of sorts. Which means either Schuler or Olave will have to assume that role in their new partnership.

"It's different, for sure," Rimando said. "Nat was a guy that talked and led and everything was sharp with him. Getting Olave and Schuler on the same page? It's still in the process. We've got to still find [out] how to play together and who does what, who drops and just little things that I think center backs need to have together. It's not going to be perfect at first, but hopefully it's going to be good in the long run if Olave can stay healthy and obviously Chris can stay [healthy], too."

Rimando's role with integrating Olave and Phillips into the back line must expand to become even more vocal.

"You have to be," he said. "Nat was a big voice for us back there and somebody who led us out there. Olave's a veteran, but he's not as vocal as Nat was. I think seeing the whole field, you need to be vocal and my job is obviously is to organize and lead the guys and show them where they need to be in different aspects of defending."

***

Injury report filling up • It's the final week of RSL's preseason, so it's expected that knocks will linger a bit longer as players have gone through various trainings and matches to prepare for the 2015 campaign. But the list is longer than Jeff Cassar would like to see.

Midfielder John Stertzer has seen his string of unfortunate issues continue. After season-ending shoulder surgery in 2013 followed by a broken leg in a friendly in 2014, Stertzer suffered a toe fracture in warm-ups for Saturday night's Desert Diamond Cup match against FC Tucson.

Cassar said Stertzer kicked back of Tony Beltran's foot in a possession game and injured his toe. RSL's head coach said he isn't certain, but likelihood is Stertzer suffered a fracture of some sort.

"I think it's a four-weeker, at minimum," he said.

Phillips left Saturday's match with a hamstring strain and hasn't trained since.

"He's day-to-day, now it's just with Demar, it's about getting ready for Portland," Cassar said. "Obviously the games are important here, but even more important is we get out of here healthy, so we need to push as much as we possibly can, but not overdo it."

Pecka is, according to Cassar, at "80 percent" while dealing with a quadriceps injury. The new midfielder has been at training the last two days, but has been working with athletic trainer Tyson Pace. Murrell (ankle) and Justen Glad worked with Pace on Wednesday as well.

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Vasquez signs • With the team and training for the last few weeks, Elias Vasquez's signing became official Wednesday, pending P-1 Visa approval. RSL's recent defensive addition is a 22-year-old Guatemalan central defender who joins the club after spending the last year at Dorados in the Mexican second division. He's already registered 25 career international appearances with the Guatemalan national team.

"We wanted a player that could stay with our team for a long time and I think Elias fits that perfectly," Cassar said.

Washington Post reporter Steven Goff initially reported RSL's interest in Vasquez in mid-January.

***

More coming tomorrow, hopefully without the rain and wind. RSL has a light training session at 10 a.m. before facing Sporting Kansas City in its third Desert Diamond Cup match in a week Wednesday at 8 p.m at Kino Stadium. Cassar said the next two preseason matches will be treated like MLS games in that he plans on not making any wholesale substitutions.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani