No sooner has Real Salt Lake built an encouraging four-game unbeaten streak than it faces the prospect of being drastically shorthanded when it plays host to San Jose at Rio Tinto Stadium on Friday night.

Midfielders Will Johnson , Kyle Beckerman , and Jean Alexandre all are away playing for their national teams -- Canada, the United States and Haiti, respectively -- at the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, and striker Robbie Findley and midfielder Javier Morales also could miss the game with ankle injuries. Neither practiced significantly on Tuesday, though team officials said they hope both can play a role against the Earthquakes.

"It's important that the rest of the guys that we believe in step forward now," coach Jason Kreis said. "We say time and time again that this is about a team of 24 players, not about 11 players, not about 18 players. It's a team of 24, and now those other players are going to get opportunities to step forward and do their duty."

At least, the situation isn't as bad as it could have been.

Midfielder Andy Williams will be available for RSL, after declining an invitation to play for his native Jamaica in the Gold Cup in order to remain closer to his wife, who's receiving leukemia treatment in Seattle. Defender Ian Joy played last weekend for the first time since last season, and it's possible that most of the players who are away at the Gold Cup will be back before RSL's next league game, at Columbus on July 18.

Opening a spot

Forward Luis Miguel Escalada might have scored a goal for RSL, but otherwise, he did not impress enough to stick around.

The team has declined to pick up the option on the Argentine's contract, meaning Escalada is no longer with the club and RSL has one open roster spot with the MLS transfer window opening on July 15. The 23-year-old had played 126 minutes in five games with RSL after joining it before the season, but never threatened for more substantial playing time ahead of his fellow strikers.

His lone goal came during the second-half deluge of a 6-0 victory over New England in April.

Strong starts

Midfielder Clint Mathis might be RSL's best candidate to play in the All-Star Game, with his two goals and six assists that rank second in the league. And he believes that scoring first in each of the past four games has been key to the recent success.

"It gives us confidence," he said, "just because we know we've been hard to break down, and we're not giving up a lot of goals. In some of those earlier games, we weren't finishing the chances at the beginning. ... We've been concentrating on not only defensively not giving up goals, but when we do create those chances, we have to finish them off and I think we've done a good job of that the last few games."

mcl@sltrib.com