But the most intriguing story of the preseason so far might be a little-known defender from a small west African nation.
Jean-Martial Kipre of the Ivory Coast has dazzled RSL coaches and players during the initial days of his tryout with the team as it prepares in Madrid for its third season in Major League Soccer - to the point that he could wind up joining the team when it returns home next week.
"He's a talented young player and he's looked good," Ellinger said via telephone from Madrid. "You think you have your roster figured out, but then all of a sudden, you get somebody who looks pretty good and you think, 'Geez, maybe he is pretty good.' "
If RSL winds up signing Kipre, it would have to release one of its other players to remain under the 28-man roster limit.
Whether or not that will happen depends on how Kipre performs over the final days of the team's training session in Spain.
It's not uncommon for trialists to impress early but wear down as they try to keep the pace with established pros - but so far, the 22-year-old Kipre has shown the potential to lend solid depth at outside back position behind the projected starting back line of Danny Torres, Eddie Pope, Jack Stewart and Willis Forko.
"He's very quick," Ellinger reported. "Very good on the ball."
RSL first learned of Kipre when coaches saw him participate with a French team in a practice session against the FC Dallas under-19 team in advance of the MLS Cup in November. An agent had arranged the exhibition, and Ellinger said he decided that if RSL ever ventured overseas that it would invite Kipre to try out.
The only trouble has been a language barrier.
Kipre speaks French, and the only native French speaker on RSL's roster is midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy, who stayed home in the United States because he's not allowed to leave the country at his current stage of applying for American citizenship.
That has left Stewart and midfielder Carey Talley to do their best to communicate with Kipre in their fractured French, Ellinger said. Nevertheless, Kipre has fared well, even as Ellinger has moved away from his attempt at using a 3-5-2 formation and back to a 4-4-2 alignment.
The coach said the 3-5-2 does still seem to help RSL control possession a bit better, but he believes the team is more comfortable playing with four defenders - in part because Ballouchy and Chris Klein were not getting forward enough from their wide midfield positions in the 3-5-2, out of concern for a lack of defensive coverage behind them.
"They feel more secure when they're attacking and they have an outside back behind them" in a 4-4-2, Ellinger said.
Several members of the team have been battling a stomach virus, and striker Jeff Cunningham has been cautious about a strained groin. But Rimando has established himself as the starting goalkeeper after being acquired to replace the unexpectedly retired Scott Garlick, and Tejada has demonstrated the aggressive talent that RSL hoped he would.
"He looks very good so far," Ellinger said. "He's a very good finisher in the box, pretty clinical in the box. He knocks it down and doesn't mess around with it. He just puts it away."
RSL is scheduled to return to Utah late this week, before hosting an open house for fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday. After that, they will spend the second half of March training at various sites in California, Nevada and southern Utah in advance of the season opener at home against FC Dallas on April 7.
mcl@sltrib.com
