This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
So the experiment is working, then?
Or is it?
Coach Jason Kreis had promised to use newcomer Arturo Alvarez as a forward during the preseason, to see what he could do there rather than out on the wing, where he typically played before joining RSL in an offseason trade. And while Alvarez started up top in a 2-1 loss to the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps in RSL's first preseason game today, he scored the team's lone goal only after moving back into the midfield for the second of three 45-minute periods.
In a radio interview on KALL-700 after the game, Kreis said Alvarez looked more comfortable in the midfield than alongside forward Fabian Espindola. That showed when Alvarez struck for an equalizer in the 49th minute after the Whitecaps had gone ahead in the 17th minute at Casa Grande, Ariz."Disappointing result but it's preseason," defender Rauwshan McKenzie said on Twitter. "Thought we did some things well and other could use some work. The effort was there just need to get back to work. Less than a month" until the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Columbus on Feb. 22.Almost everybody played for RSL, except for the handful of guys recovering from injuries — forward Alvaro Saborio, defender Chris Schuler, goalkeeper Kyle Reynish and midfielder Jarad vanSchaik.Despite the result, Kreis has to be happy with what he saw in Alvarez, who made a midfield steal and daring run into the box practically from the word go, in addition to his strike off a pass from midfielder Ned Grabavoy. The team is expected to return to Utah for most of the week, before returning to Arizona for its second preseason camp there and practice games against Seattle on Feb. 8 and Chivas USA on Feb. 15."We still got a lot of hard work ahead of us," midfielder Kyle Beckerman tweeted. "A couple days rest then were back at it."