RSL star aims to capitalize on shot

Kyle Beckerman has been waiting what seems like forever to get a meaningful chance to prove himself with the U.S. men's national soccer team.

Finally, he has it.

The 27-year-old Real Salt Lake midfielder and captain will be part of the team that will take on El Salvador in a World Cup qualifying game at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, potentially signaling a new chapter in his professional life, and opening the door to the possibility -- however impossibly wonderful it might seem -- that he could play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next summer.

"That would be awesome," he said.

What he can't really explain is why -- or, at least, why now.

He has been toiling away as a tireless starter

in Major League Soccer for about six years already. But until this summer, had hardly received a sniff from national team coaches, making just three appearances with the senior team -- none of them in a game nearly as meaningful as a World Cup qualifier.

"I don't know, because when I wasn't getting called in, I didn't have a reason," he said. "It wasn't like, 'Oh, I don't feel I'm playing good enough to play.' You just weren't getting called in. Now that I am getting called in, I don't know. I feel like I've been doing this for awhile now, so maybe now it's enough? I don't know. ... It's all in the hands of the coach, I guess."

That might be part of it.

Coach Bob Bradley took over the national team in the wake of

its disappointing performance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and he clearly has been willing to give Beckerman a chance.

Most notably, he called on Beckerman for the Gold Cup earlier this summer -- even though Bradley did so mostly because he left home most of his national team regulars after their unexpectedly strong run at the Confederations Cup in South Africa. And Beckerman did not waste his opportunity, playing well while starting five of the six games and scoring an important equalizer in a victory over Panama.

"He went there and, for me, he was one of the best players on the team," RSL coach Jason Kreis said. "For me, he fully deserved another chance, and I'm hoping he's going to get it in the qualifier."

Of course, Beckerman plays a position -- defensive midfielder -- that Kreis called probably the deepest in the U.S. team, with veteran Pablo Mastroeni having long since established himself, and others such as Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley also ranking ahead of Beckerman.

But outsiders view Beckerman as simply having matured the past few years, and improved his leadership skills.

"It's always been a matter of time whether he would take advantage of that opportunity," Kreis said, "and I would say that the time is right."

At the same time, it's not impossible to think Bradley is mostly just throwing Beckerman a bone, allowing him to play a qualifier in his home stadium as a reward for his work at the Gold Cup. After all, Bradley bypassed him when selecting the team that played its last World Cup qualifier in Mexico a couple of weeks ago.

But that doesn't matter much to Beckerman.

The only thing he plans to do, he said, is "go in and work my tail off. And whatever is asked of me, I have to do it -- whether it's starting coming off the bench. Just be ready, and show them you're ready in practice."

And who knows?

Maybe if he plays well and everything breaks right, he can become the latest in a line of players such as Mastroeni who managed to reach the World Cup without having vast international experience at the time. Beckerman is well aware of the precedent.

"Hopefully, I'll be one of them," he said.

mcl@sltrib.com