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Sandy • Jeff Cassar was the last person off the field following Friday's drizzly training session. A reporter prefaced his first question by saying Real Salt Lake was nearing a return to full strength. Cassar jokingly cut the reporter off, interjecting with a smile and, "Almost."
The last player off the field Friday was Joao Plata. The "almost."
The 24-year-old Ecuadorian spent an hour going through rehab drills with RSL's training staff before ending his return to training with shooting drills on the south side of Rio Tinto Stadium. A hip flexor strain picked up on April 20 kept Plata out of his first game in 2016 in RSL's 5-2 loss at L.A., but the initial 7-to-10 day diagnosis hasn't expanded.
Cassar said with the progress Plata's made, he expects the dynamic scorer to return and be available for RSL's first game in its five-game road trip next weekend against the Colorado Rapids in Commerce City, Colo. Plata progressed enough this week to make it a tough decision to keep him out of Saturday's game-day roster, but Cassar said it wasn't worth the risk of re-aggravating the strain.
"Joao's been doing a lot of rehab," Cassar said. "I think he's going to come back and be 100 percent and have a good week of training, which will be good."
Prior to the injury before the resounding loss in L.A., Plata carried an injury-riddled RSL to an unbeaten start six games into the season with four goals and four assists.
Field farewell
The 163rd match Saturday night against the Houston Dynamo was the last for the original pitch at Rio Tinto Stadium. The field, installed in 2008 when the stadium opened, will under go a full replacement process Monday.
Replacing the field sends RSL out on the road for the five-game road trip that goes from Colorado to Houston to Sporting Kansas City to Columbus and eventually New York City FC.
The next home game is seven weeks away against the defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers on June 18.
"There's been a lot of good memories on this field, and with the new field, we can mark our new memories going forward," Cassar said.
'Sunny' returns to starting lineup
While Plata's return inches closer and Burrito Martinez overcame a scare last week in L.A. with an early quadriceps strain, RSL received a boost in the return of Sunday Stephen to the central midfield against the Dynamo.
The 27-year-old Nigerian hasn't seen time since suffering a sprained ankle in RSL's 1-0 win over Colorado on April 9.
"I think he's done a great job of recognizing what he can do and what he can't do from changing from the league he used to play in in Turkey to our league," Cassar said.
Twitter: @chriskamrani