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Oh, spring training and once again time to make mountains out of mole hills. As part of a Day 1 overview article on the official site the training camp roster was released. The complete roster is repeated below along with a few things that caught my attention.
Goalkeepers
Lalo Fernandez, Matt Van Oekel, Andrew Putna*, Connor Sparrow**
Defenders
Danilo Acosta, Tony Beltran, Nick Besler**, Andrew Brody**, Reagan Dunk*, Justen Glad, David Horst, Max Lachowecki**, Aaron Maund, Emilio Orozco**, Demar Phillips, Justin Schmidt*, Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert
Midfielders
Charlie Adams**, Kyle Beckerman, Jose Hernandez, Omar Holness, Jesus Leal**, Luke Mulholland, Sunny
Forwards
Jordan Allen, Chad Barrett, Daniel Haber**, Chandler Hoffman**, Yura Movsisyan, Joao Plata, Amet Ramirez**, Sebastian Saucedo, Ricardo Velazco
* - Real Salt Lake SuperDraft picks
** - Real Monarchs players
Who is Missing
The release notes that Nick Rimando is still at USMNT camp and Albert Rusnak is still awaiting visa approval. It also notes that “several players” are in from Real Monarchs. In reality, all but four signed Real Monarchs players are in camp. Charles Boateng, the 19-year-old Ghanaian is a forward, while the remaining three — Sebastian Velasquez; Chase Minter and James Moberg — are all midfielders. It is possible that Boateng and Velasquez could be experiencing visa issues as well, but Minter and Moberg have no apparent causes for their absence.
Converted Defenders
Danilo Acosta, Nick Besler, Andrew Brody are are listed as defenders on the roster. While Acosta has played as a full back and center back with the Monarchs, he was listed as a midfielder in the recent U-20 camp call up and he has also featured in the midfield for the Monarchs. Brody and Besler consistently appeared in midfield during 2016 with the USL’s Monarchs and Timbers 2 respectively.
Light on Midfielders
At a quick glance, it looks like the midfield contingent is light with respect to the other positions. Acknowledging that part is due to Rusnak and Velasquez’s absence, it could also be that this is where RSL, and the Monarchs, are expecting to fill a few holes in the near future.