Kyle Beckerman starts for RSL after missing preseason

Kyle Beckerman is back in action for Real Salt Lake, and if paid no attention to preseason, you might not be surprised about that at all. But if you had your eyes on the preparatory period, this is excellent news.

Beckerman missed essentially all of Real Salt Lake’s preseason training with a bone bruise on his knee; inevitably, there was much hemming and hawing about the impact of the captain’s absence. He played in no matches and didn’t train, but he did travel with the team.

Thankfully, Beckerman is back in action. We’ll see exactly how long he’s able to perform, and hopefully Real Salt Lake is comfortable enough that he might be substituted later. (Something tells me that’s unlikely.)

Real Salt Lake opens their season with a big one: Toronto FC, MLS’s second-best side, will be looking for some misplaced vengeance after losing in the MLS Cup final against shot-less Seattle Sounders.

RSL lineup: Rimando; Beltran, Horst, Schuler, Wingert; Beckerman, Sunny; Allen, Rusnak/ Plata; Movsisyan