This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Bad news for Real Salt Lake, as it heads into the first leg of its Major League Soccer playoff series against FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday.Midfielder Will Johnson might not be able to play.The relentless outside mid walked disgustedly off the practice field today after straining his hamstring, and coach Jason Kreis said he will be considered "day-to-day as to whether he'll be available for this weekend."Johnson did not play his best in a 2-2 draw at Colorado last weekend — probably nobody did — but losing him would be a tough blow for the defending MLS Cup champions. The Canadian international has played in all but two games of the regular season with 24 starts, a goal and an assist. If he cannot go, expect perhaps to see both Andy Williams and Ned Grabavoy in the starting lineup, rather than just one of them.That's what RSL did in the two regular-season games that Johnson missed.Meanwhile, forwards Alvaro Saborio and Paulo Junior sat out practice and worked out individually, along with defender Jamison Olave and midfielder Nelson Gonzalez. All are battling minor nagging injuries, at least, and Kreis said he wanted to avoid having them practice on the artificial turf in the Eccles Fieldhouse at the University of Utah as a precaution."Probably, if we had trained on grass, those guys would have trained," he said.