Injured striker Luis Miguel Escalada could make his RSL debut against Columbus in the home opener on Thursday night, coach Jason Kreis said, while versatile veteran Robbie Russell also could be ready for his first action of the season.

“All indications” are that Escalada will be available after spraining his ankle in the final preseason game, and there's a “decent chance” that Russell will be recovered enough from shoulder surgery to take part at Rio Tinto Stadium — though Kreis acknowledged that he might yet need another week. Defender Ian Joy, however, remains out with the hamstring injury he suffered in the final preseason game.

Meanwhile, team officials are hoping for better weather, not just for the sake of the game, but for the sake of the crowd, too.

With a foreboding forecast of cold temperatures, rain and maybe even snow, plenty of tickets remain, though general manager Garth Lagerwey urged fans to make plans anyway, knowing how quickly the weather can change in the spring. He also noted that a “vast majority” of the seats at Rio Tinto are under the roof, which would help protect patrons from rain or snow.

Well, RSL is trying to stay positive despite its season-opening loss, but not everybody is joining the effort.

The voting panel at ESPN.com dropped the team like a hot rock in its weekly rankings, going from fourth all the way down to 13th in the 15-team league. It's comment? “It only gets better for RSL if Yura Movsisyan can replicate his late 2008 form and avoid reverting to his previous inaccurate ways around goal.”

Indeed, last season's leading scorer missed two promising efforts in the second half against the Seattle Sounders. But the network isn't hammering RSL on all fronts.

It's also providing an online chat with midfielder Kyle Beckerman today at 1 p.m. MDT. And RSL did not fare so badly in Goal.com's weekly rankings, dropping only a couple of spots to seventh.

The turf was wet. The ball was slick. It was the first game of the season — on the road, no less — and Real Salt Lake kept fighting, improving with seemingly every passing minute from a poor first half in front of perhaps the most imposing crowd in Major League Soccer.

In other words, no need to panic.

That was the message from RSL as it prepares to meeting the defending league champion Columbus Crew in its home opener at Rio Tinto Stadium on Thursday night, just five days after opening its season with a 2-0 loss to the exhibition Seattle Sounders that doused — at least momentarily — its hopes of a fast start after last season's roaring finish.

“We just have to be a little bit sharper in front of both goals,” midfielder Will Johnson said. “Overall, we definitely can play a lot better.”

Meeting the media at a luncheon at the stadium Monday while a tractor plowed snow off the field outside, coach Jason Kreis and general manager Garth Lagerwey emphasized that one game hardly changes the way they feel about the team they kept almost entirely together after its historic playoff run last season.

“Certainly, there's no reason to waver in our belief,” Lagerwey said.

Indeed, Kreis said the team that used to hope and pray to win games now expects to win them, and “that's going to translate to success on the field.” He also implored fans to attend the home opener despite the foreboding weather forecast — cold temperatures, rain and perhaps snow — after witnessing how big a difference the sellout crowd made in Seattle.

Most importantly, though, the players said there aren't any major problems they need to correct. They simply weren't quite on their game against the Sounders, and believe it won't take much to change all of that on national television against the Crew, which is coming off its second straight draw, on an own-goal in the 84th minute at home against Toronto.

“It seemed like we were just missing passes by inches, you know?” striker Robbie Findley said. “We just need to tune that up a little bit, and sharpen up in that area and I think we'll have no problems when we're here at home, in front of the fans.”

Defender Tony Beltran hadn't started for Real Salt Lake since halfway through last year, before a lingering adductor injury turned into surgery for a sports hernia that knocked him out of most of the rest of the season.

And while Beltran said he was happy to be back, his return to the starting lineup didn't go as smoothly as he would have hoped.

The former No. 3 pick of the MLS SuperDraft seemed awfully nervous at right back early in RSL's 2-0 loss at Seattle over the weekend, twice giving the ball away on shaky passes while pushing upfield to get into the attack. Then, Seattle's Steve Zakuani -- the top pick in the most recent MLS SuperDraft -- charged at him down the left side in the 17th minute, ultimately turning Beltran around with a deft step-over move that cleared enough space for a smart cross that teammate Nate Jaqua knocked past goalkeeper Nick Rimando for the goal that set the tone.

“He's a good player,” Beltran said. “I tried to show him inside, to my help, and he cut back and just got the ball across. It's going to happen. After that, he didn't get by me. It was just one of those things.”

Coach Jason Kreis acknowledged Beltran might have been a bit anxious, but said he needs to make good decisions to fuel his confidence -- especially considering his main challenger for playing time, veteran Ian Joy, could be out at least another three weeks with a hamstring injury.

RSL plays defending champion Columbus in the home opener at Rio Tinto Stadium on Thursday night.

“Zakuani is a very dangerous player ... and I think he caused Tony to be a bit nervous,” Kreis said. “I think that for Tony, though, the possession, the touches, probably weren't as confident as they need to be. He's a player, an outside back, who likes to attack. So he has to make good decisions – good, smart decisions — with the ball and when he does that and possesses it a few times, he's going to gain confidence and gain confidence. But if he doesn't make those good decisions and doesn't possess it cleanly enough, I think he loses confidence and he's got a player like Zakuani running at him, with his speed and craftiness, it's going to be tough.”

While rookie striker Freddy Montero has been enjoying all of the attention as RSL prepares to open its season against his expansion Seattle Sounders tonight at sold-out Qwest Field, the RSL defense might be even more concerned with the guy who runs alongside him up top.

It's Nate Jacqua, who has brutalized RSL lately.

The veteran striker has scored five goals in his last five games against RSL while playing for Houston and the Los Angeles Galaxy, including a hat-trick for the Dynamo in 2007 and another game-winner last year for the Galaxy. No wonder defender Nat Borchers said, “It's going to be tough for us in the back.”

It won't help that RSL will be shorthanded in the back, either.

Defender Ian Joy, typically a contender for a starting spot, is out with the hamstring injury he suffered in the final preseason game last weekend, and versatile midfielder and defender Robbie Russell is listed as questionable, as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. Striker Luis Miguel Escalada also has been listed as out because of the sprained ankle he suffered last weekend.

Meanwhile, Seattle's Nathan Sturgis potentially could be in the lineup, after joining the Sounders from RSL in the expansion draft during the offseason.

Sturgis played only eight games for RSL amid injury problems, and missed time during the preseason with the Sounders. He did not play in their opener last week. And RSL's Raphael Cox is enjoying a homecoming, having grown up in nearby Tacoma and played collegiately at the University of Washington before landing with RSL in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft.

Oh, and keep in mind that while RSL has yet to win a season-opener -- the last two last-minute collapses have been particularly harsh -- they are riding a four-game unbeaten streak on the road, after their stunning stretch run last season reversed what had been a 1-9-2 stretch away from home.

Don't know how much he might play when RSL opens its season at Seattle on Saturday night, but coaches and team officials are hoping that striker Luis Miguel Escalada ultimately can provide a strong complement to Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley up top.

And in a way, he'd better hurry.

The native Argentine is officially on trial with RSL as part of a loan agreement with LDU Quito in Ecuador, general manager Garth Lagerwey said, with an option in his contract for a salary hike due on April 15. It's significant enough that Lagerwey and coach Jason Kreis weren't willing to commit to it when they traveled to Ecuador to try to sign Escalada in January, so they agreed to the loan arrangement so they could get a look at the player before committing a higher salary to him.

“After 10 weeks,” they figured, “we'll know.”

The reason RSL wasn't willing to commit at the outset was because Escalada hardly played last year, in large part because of another team's failed attempt to sign him. Lagerwey said RSL tried to sign him last summer, but was outbid by Newell's Old Boys of Argentina. However, Newell's defaulted on the deal by failing to pass for his player pass — the transfer fee, effectively -- leaving Escalada ineligible and his pass still in the hands of LDU Quito.

However, LDU Quito had signed a replacement during the time that Escalada had moved to Newell's under the impression that he would be playing for them. So by the time Newell's defaulted, Quito had effectively moved on, and Escalada had nowhere to go. “Kid's been in limbo for six months,” Lagerwey said.

So now, Escalada has to prove to RSL he's worth the extra money, and the team certainly believes he can do it. Lagerwey noted that Escalada scored 45 goals in 78 games for teams in the Ecuadorian Serie A the past few years, and sold for $1.8 million to LDU Quito just 18 months ago. He has lost some weight and worked hard, Lagerwey said, and “won championships and stuff like that. We really think that he's somebody who could really develop for us.”

Having surprised the rest of the league by making it nearly to the championship game last season, goalkeeper Nick Rimando said RSL has turned itself from a team that opponents used to take lightly into one that is going to demand respect.

"Teams are going to look twice at us now," he said, "and take us serious. We made the postseason, and a lot of good clubs didn't. We peaked at the right time, and if we can stay consistent throughout the year, I think we're going to be a team that other teams are going to look out for."

Rimando said that not only did the team improve by keeping its core group of players together, but it worked hard in the offseason and will benefit from the motivation that "we know that we can go a little bit further" after coming within just one victory of the title game.

Still, he was wary about setting any specific goals or expectations.

"It's tough to put expectations on teams," he said. "We want to do better than last year, for sure. MLS Cup is always something that we strive for. Right now, it's Saturday, it's one game at a time, and if we can get a point -- at least a point -- on the road, I think we're going to be happy."

You might remember that RSL had a rough start to last season, winning only twice in its first nine games. It was at risk of falling into last place in the MLS Western Conference as late as Memorial Day, in fact, when it beat San Jose to avoid that ignominious fate.

Well, not this season.

Coach Jason Kreis said the team is focused on getting off to a much better start, both because it has been building together since late last season and because so many other teams around the league figure to be adjusting to new players for the first part of the year.

"We have to look around the locker room and say we have a pretty firm understanding, we're in good form ... our guys are ready, and we need to take advantage of that," he said. "There are a lot of teams that made a lot of additions, and we need to take advantage of where we're at right now and collect up points right now. Many times, the points at the beginning of the season count the same at they do at the end. I know everybody puts more pressure and expectation on those points at the end, but they still count three points now, as well."

RSL plays five of its first nine games at home, but has one challenging stretch in there when it must play at Colorado, then home against the Los Angeles Galaxy midweek, and at Chivas USA – all in a seven-day span.

"Our focus is somewhat the same, in terms of working on same things and trying to get off to a good start," defender Chris Wingert said. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that last year, and hopefully that will change this year. Really, having a lot of our core guys back from last year can only benefit us going into the season."

Striker Yura Movsisyan led RSL with seven goals last season, including some thrillers down the stretch and one in the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Yet everybody is expecting more.

While coach Jason Kreis said he believes every player on the team needs to shoulder a greater load of the scoring, Movsisyan said he's focused on making better use of his shots. "Now, it's about not just about getting 500 shots," he said. "It's about getting 100 shots and putting them on target and putting them into the back of the net. It's not about quantity, it's about quality for now."

Coach Kreis said the team has "huge, huge belief" in Movsisyan and fellow striker Robbie Findley, who "can be stars in this league. Both of them can be among the best forwards in the league, so I would expect that both of those players' goals will be higher than they ever have been, and higher than they were last year."

Findley scored five times for RSL, which tied with Chivas USA and New England with 40 goals for the season.

While several of the RSL players expressed hope that they can give the Seattle Sounders a better game than New York did last weekend, and gave the expansion team credit for pulling together some talent, they also stopped short of being overwhelmingly impressed by its 3-0 win in its inaugural game.

"One game doesn't promise them a playoff spot," striker Yura Movsisyan said.

But the Sounders could be an unexpectedly tough opponent at Qwest Field in Seattle on Saturday, especially with designated player Freddie Ljungberg ready to make his Major League Soccer debut after missing the opener while still recovering from a hip injury. Add that to the threat of the league's newest budding superstar, striker Fredy Montero -- the native Colombian who scored twice in the opener and played with RSL's Jamison Olave for Deportivo Cali for parts of three recent seasons.

What's more, RSL has never won a season-opener, and only late last season finally found some luck on the road. Midfielder Kyle Beckerman said he hoped the Sounders had spent their emotions last weekend, and that RSL can get off to a strong start.

"We don't need to be their first win, or anything," he said with a smile. "That's out of their system, so now, they can just relax, and hopefully we can put a beating on them. We'll see. ... We feel like we're going to give them some different challenges than New York did."

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman said he has been eager to get back on the field ever since losing in the Major League Soccer playoffs last season, which left an awfully bitter taste in his mouth.

"It was tough," he acknowledged. "It was really tough. In my mind, we had already won the whole thing. I had envisioned holding the trophy in the stadium, and all those things. And when it didn't happen, it was tough. But I got on with it, you can only let it hit you for a little bit. When we got back together, it was like, 'All right, here's our next chance.' We have all the pieces that we had last year, so really I think we want to be the best team in the league and then go from there."

The veteran captain also said he has wondered whether RSL could have dismantled the New York Red Bulls as badly as season-opening opponent Seattle did in its first game last weekend, had it ever managed to simply take the lead. The Sounders did, and pounded the Red Bulls 3-0 in front of some 32,000 fans at Qwest Field in Seattle.

"That's one thing we didn't do against New York last year was get the lead,” Beckerman said. "I think it could have been similar, if we would have gotten the lead on them. Who knows what the score would have been?"

Defender Nat Borchers had the best line of the day, when asked after practice about the development of hulking fellow defender Jamison Olave, and how the two communicate in central defense.

"Most of the time, I'm yelling at him in Spanish," Borchers said. "Just a few words, derecha, izquierda. Left, right. Forward, back, and then, 'kill.' And that's about it. That's all you need to tell Olave. He pretty much understands the position very well. ... He has come a long way, and it's been awesome to see his development."

It wasn't the most encouraging scene along the sidelines, as RSL began its final training preparations today for its season-opening game against the expansion Seattle Sounders on the road Saturday.

On one medical table, there was defender Ian Joy, icing the hamstring he injured only a few minutes -- and on his first kick of the game -- into RSL's exhibition victory over the Austin Aztex at Rio Tinto Stadium last weekend. Striker Luis Miguel Escalada lay not far away, icing the right ankle he sprained in the same game.

Neither player is expected to play against the Sounders -- Joy will be out about a month, a team spokesman said, while Escalada could return next week -- but coach Jason Kreis believes the rest of his players "are ready" to finally start working on the road back to the Major League Soccer playoffs.

"The difference really, for me, is confidence," he said. "And confidence in the psychology of professional sports is gigantic. Huge. So I think we have a lot of that already in our pocket, and we also have the team understanding. ... With those two things, we're hoping for very big things from this team this year."

Once again, RSL is putting together an under-17 team to try to identify some young talent, and the team has announced that tryouts will take place April 4-5 at Jordan Middle School in Sandy.

The cost is $40.

The team will hold open tryouts on the first day, before calling back the most promising prospects for the second day. Players must have been born between August 1, 1991 and July 31, 1994. Assistant coach and youth development technical director Brian Johnson will supervise the tryouts, along with RSL's under-17 head coach Greg Maas, who returns with his staff for the third season of the program.

Last year, the RSL side won the annual SUM U-17 Cup in Denver, earning a place in the Trofeo Quixote U-17 tournament in June in Madrid, Spain.

RSL also announced a series of week-long youth camps that will take place this summer, in eight cities and towns around the state. For more information on the camps, contact RSL's Rob Karas at 801.819.9061 or rkaras@RealSaltLake.com. For more information on the youth team tryouts, contact Teresa Nelson at 801.727.2714 or tnelson@RealSaltLake.com.

Looks like RSL is going to have its work cut out for it, in its season-opener next week.

The team plays on the road against the expansion Seattle Sounders, which might have seemed like an easy assignment on paper. But the Sounders blasted New York 3-0 last night, suggesting they might be a tougher force to deal with than your average expansion team.

"From the Drew Carey-led march into the stadium, to the franchise's first goal from Fredy Montero, the city's newest superstar-in-waiting,” columnist Steve Kelley wrote in The Seattle Times, "the night was full of magic."

The Major League Soccer players union made its annual release of player salaries today, with the Real Salt Lake numbers showing that midfielder Javier Morales remains the team's highest-paid player at $200,000 a year.

Defender Jamison Olave moved into second on the team after signing a long-term contract extension like Morales; Olave will make $172,500, while midfielder Kyle Beckerman will earn $163,150. The salary structure changed slightly this season after the league eliminated its reserve division and several roster spots.

The biggest bargains?

Probably striker Yura Movsisyan and midfielder Will Johnson, starters and integral parts of last season's playoff run, who earn $70,584 and $64,773, respectively -- lowest on the team among those making above the $34,000 minimum. Here's the complete list, with base salary listed first, followed by guaranteed salary:

Javier Morales -- $150,000 -- $200,000
Jamison Olave -- $157,500 -- $172,500
Kyle Beckerman -- $160,650 -- $163,150
Nat Borchers-- $130,000 -- $137,500
Ian Joy -- $126,000 -- $126,000
Nick Rimando -- $105,000 -- $116,000
Clint Mathis -- $115,000 -- $115,000
Chris Seitz -- $75,000 -- $110,500
Tony Beltran -- $70,000 -- $105,500
Robbie Russell -- $97,584 -- $103,335
Alex Nimo -- $70,000 -- $103,000
Ned Grabavoy -- $100,000 -- $100,000
Andy Williams -- $84,000 -- $84,000
Chris Wingert -- $80,000 -- $80,000
Robbie Findley -- $60,060 -- $72,560
Yura Movsisyan -- $60,583 -- $70,584
Will Johnson -- $51,200 -- $64,773
David Horst -- $34,000 -- $34,000
Jean Alexandre -- $34,000 -- $34,000
Kyle Reynish -- $34,000 -- $34,000
Tino Nunez -- $34,000 -- $34,000

So, never mind that.

Just hours after team officials confirmed a report that they had invited striker John Pelu to train with RSL on a 10-day trial, the deal is off. The 27-year-old Swede who plays for Rosenborg BK in Norway, whose web site initially announced that Pelu with try out for Real, was expected to arrive in Utah in time to begin training with RSL on Tuesday or Wednesday.

But a team source said something involving the player's agent turned sour at the last minute, and the deal was cancelled.

Meanwhile, striker Robbie Findley is said to have looked outstanding during RSL's 2-1 victory over Toronto FC, in which he assisted Clint Mathis for the team's second goal, after fellow striker and playoff hero Yura Movsisyan opened the scoring in the sixth minute. The victory gave the team the Carolina Challenge Cup title to cap their third and final trip of the preseason.

Now, the team is back training in Utah in advance of its exhibition home game against the Austin Aztex of the USL First Division on Saturday, with the season-opener at expansion Seattle the following weekend.

Team officials have announced another big event for Rio Tinto Stadium, with the U.S. women's national team taking on Japan in an exhibition game at 4 p.m. on May 23.

The game is part of a two-game set between the fellow semifinalists at the 2008 Olympic Games, the first of which will be played May 20 at a yet-to-be announced location. It will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel, and serve as something of an appetizer for the World Cup qualifying match between the American men and El Salvador on Sept. 5.

"We are honored to bring the U.S. women's national team back to Utah and to have them represent U.S. Soccer in the program's first-ever match at Rio Tinto Stadium," team president Bill Manning said in a statement. "To host a national team game on Memorial Day weekend should provide for an incredible experience, and we expect that soccer fans from throughout the Intermountain West will respond and welcome the U.S. women to Sandy with the same spirit and passion they regularly display for world-class events."

The American women played to nearly 20,000 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2003, when it beat Ireland 5-0 in another exhibition game. Tickets for the upcoming game start at $18, and will go on sale March 21 -- though RSL season-ticket holders will be able to buy starting Tuesday.

We already have discussed it, but RSL has officially announced that it will play host to the Austin Aztex of the USL First Division in an exhibition at Rio Tinto Stadium on March 21, when the rest of Major League Soccer is opening its season.

RSL has a bye that weekend, though, so it's filling it with the practice game while also holding an open house at the stadium.

The game starts at 1 p.m., but gates to the stadium will open at 11 a.m., and both admission and parking are free. The team plans to run the stadium as it normally would on a game-day, and players will stick around for photos and autographs for an hour after the final whistle.

"This is an idea we have kicked around for a while, and we are pleased to partner with Sandy City in opening Rio Tinto Stadium free-of-charge to the public while at the same time getting a competitive game for our team," team president Bill Manning said in a statement. "We hope those residents who have yet to visit the new stadium will stop by and join our fans for a great day of soccer."

Midfielder Kyle Beckerman scored in the 77th minute last night to lift RSL to a 2-1 victory over the Charleston Battery of the USL First Division in the sixth annual Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C.

The victory lifted RSL to 5-1-1 in the preseason, and into first place in the tournament, with a de facto championship game against Toronto FC in its final preseason exhibition on Saturday.

RSL had taken a lead on a free kick by midfielder Clint Mathis in the 22nd minute, but allowed the equalizer early in the second half on a free kick by striker Ian Fuller. Coach Jason Kreis brought on six regular starters in the 68th minute, including Beckerman, allowing RSL to control the match the rest of the way.

By the way, RSL has learned that it will play the Seattle Sounders in a U.S. Open Cup play-in game on April 28, and there is some sense that the team will take the annual competition a bit more seriously than in the past, since the winner now qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League.

RSL will have to beat the Sounders and then the winner of a play-in match between the Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy on April 7 just to reach the 16-team field of the U.S. Open Cup -- something it has never quite managed. Each of the last two years, the team has won a first qualifier at home, but lost the next on the road.

Midfielder Alex Nimo will spend the season on loan to the Portland Timbers of the USL First Division, the team announced today. RSL said it can recall the young player at any time.

"With the demise of the MLS reserve league, we need to find a way to get our young players games to continue their development, and when this opportunity came along for Alex to play with his hometown USL team and a quality organization like the Timbers then we had to seize it,” general manager Garth Lagerwey said in a statement. "Alex is still a teen-ager, and the best way to unlock his enormous potential is for him to play weekly, high-level matches. We will keep a close eye on Alex and monitor his progress throughout the season, and we fully expect him to be part of RSL's long-term plans."

RSL made Nimo the 17th pick of the MLS SuperDraft last year, but the midfielder did not appear in any games for the senior team.

While there might be some concern that RSL hasn't done enough to replace the players it lost from last season's playoff team, general manager Garth Lagerwey said he's confident the team has made some good moves in advance of the season-opener at Seattle on March 28.

"We still have work to do," he said from training camp in South Carolina, "but things are going well."

Specifically, RSL let go strikers Fabian Espindola and Kenny Deuchar and midfielders Dema Kovalenko and Nathan Sturgis in the offseason. But it has added striker Luis Miguel Escalada, as well as veteran midfielder Ned Grabavoy and draft picks Jean Alexandre and Raphael Cox, both of whom have signed senior roster contracts.

"So we feel like our midfield is pretty strong," Lagerwey said.

Lagerwey said Escalada is potentially a "good complement" to Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley up top -- Escalada is under contract, but must continue to prove he's worth a higher salary that will kick in if the team picks up an option in his contract next month -- while Grabavoy is a "younger and quicker" version of Kovalenko, with a similar mentality and slightly more defensive mindset.

Alexandre is "more durable and more athletic" than the often injured Sturgis, with a "higher ceiling" -- though Lagerwey was quick to note that Alexandre is not yet a player of the same caliber as Sturgis. And Cox has impressed the coaches despite being just a fourth-round draft pick, potentially providing the left-sided midfielder for which they have been searching.

"It's unfair to put a lot of pressure on a rookie like he's going to play all the time," Lagerwey said. But "if a fourth-round drat pick is good enough to make your team, you're liking it."

Now, RSL just needs to prove it can be consistent. Lagerwey noted that the team reached the playoffs last season without winning two games in a row. "The thing we have to prove is that we can be consistently good," he said. RSL gets another chance to set a tone on that score on Wednesday, when it plays its second game of the Carolina Challenge Cup against the host team from Charleston, after whipping D.C. United 3-0 last weekend to improve to 4-1-1 in the preseason.

Ran into some of the players in the airport this morning, including midfielder Kyle Beckerman and defender Chris Wingert, who seemed pretty happy about his new contract extension that was announced yesterday.

But he's not the only one.

RSL announced today that it has signed midfielder Raphael Cox, one of its two fourth-round picks in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, to a senior roster contract. The 22-year-old from the University of Washington scored 14 goals with 17 assists in 59 games for the Huskies, before joining RSL and seeing a fair bit of action so far in the preseason.

Cox and the rest of the team were headed to South Carolina for the last of their three preseason trips, and will play in the sixth annual Carolina Challenge Cup starting Saturday. RSL will open the tournament against D.C. United -- its first preseason game against a fellow MLS team -- before meeting the Charleston Battery of the USL First Division on Wednesday and Toronto FC on March 14.

Big day for RSL, with the signing of defender Chris Wingert to a contract extension, the addition of Ned Grabavoy from the San Jose Earthquakes in the waiver draft, and the official release of three young players in order to reach the 24-man roster limit -- all while Major League Soccer announced it will not pursue an expansion team in Miami.

Surely the biggest news was the Wingert contract, locking up as it does most of the defensive corps for at least the next three seasons. Wingert signed a deal that will take him through 2012, and he figures to make close to six figures after earning $65,000 last season. Fellow defenders Nat Borchers, Tony Beltran, Ian Joy and Robbie Russell all are signed through 2011, while Jamison Olave is locked up through 2012, as well.

The addition of Grabavoy gives RSL some depth that it had been lacking, though he's not a sure-fire starter or the natural left-footed midfielder the team has been seeking. Most likely, the sixth-year player who won an MLS Cup with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005 will compete for time at right-mid, though he can play just about anywhere in the midfield.

"At this point in the preseason, we feel fortunate to be able to add a veteran piece like Ned Grabavoy to our midfield, especially without having to give up anything on our end," general manager Garth Lagerwey said in a statement. "His winning pedigree and versatility will certainly be welcome additions to our group both on and off the field."

Also, the team officially released three young players to reach the roster limit.

Most notable was defender bust Nik Besagno, the former No. 1 pick in the 2005 MLS SuperDraft who turned out to be a worse choise than Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. Midfielders Kevin Reiman and Brennan Tennelle also were cut, as the team returned to Utah for a day of training before heading out for the last of its three preseason training trips, to the Carolina Challenge Cup tournament in South Carolina.

The team takes with it a 3-1-1 preseason record, though it's coming off a 2-1 loss to BK Hacken of the Swedish First Division last week in Florida, where it had its 442-minute shutout streak snapped. RSL is expected back in town on March 15, in advance of a preseason exhibition against the Austin Aztex of the USL First Division at Rio Tinto Stadium on March 21 -- the day the rest of the league begins the season.