Player Ratings: RSL 3-1 LA Galaxy

Ah, it feels good, doesn’t it? You logged on to RSL Soapbox today and once again got to see some much-loved player ratings. Sorry to disappoint a little, but these aren’t going to be quite the same as usual, but hopefully it still feels nice just to know there was a game played.

After a long (way too long) offseason, Real Salt Lake finally got back into action in their first preseason game of 2018 in the Mobile Mini Sun Cup. Today we’re going to take a look at who we think were the top 10 players from the game (because there were just too many players to give them all a rating).

#10 - Jose Hernandez: A guy that really caught my eye tonight; even with it just being preseason, he was hungry. Regularly chasing down balls, playing with a lot of physicality and his touch on the ball was pretty good.

#9 - Aaron Herrera: One of the new guys that we didn’t know how to expect to mesh with the first team, he did well providing solidifying the backline a1nd eliminating LA’s opportunities.

#8 - Connor Sparrow: No disrespect to Rimando, he did a great job too, but something about Connor’s distribution tonight was fun to watch. He was on point with everything he did in addition to his couple of saves he had to make.

#7 - Corey Baird: Similar to Herrera in that we didn’t know how he’d mesh necessarily, but he proved himself well. With his being a big presence in the box, he was still up and down the field a lot very quickly.

#6 - Justen Glad: Really, no surprise here. With Justen having had the training camp with the USMNT, I’m not surprised he came into this match fit and was doing what we know he’s going to do game-in and -out.

#5 - Kyle Beckerman: Again, really not much of a surprise. Beckerman was playing this game with as much physicality and desire as any game he’s ever played. He’s our captain for a reason, he’s going to put his all into every game and will do it well.

#4 - Sebastian Saucedo: Obviously the PK goal was helpful, getting RSL back on track, but I was impressed by him. He was trying hard knowing he had to show that he is good enough to get minutes.

#3 - Nick Besler: As much as it still is weird to like someone with the last name Besler, he did good. Not only did he notch a goal, but he proved he deserved the minutes he got.

#2 - Joao Plata: You can tell this kid is hungry. He was itching for a goal and running like mad. Sometimes in preseason you see guys take it easy but Plata didn’t appear to to me, he was fighting hard while on the pitch.

#1 - Sebastian Velasquez: Again, the goal was helpful, but this kid is incredible to watch play. No doubt has some of the best footwork on the team, and the work ethic he has is incredible. He’s earning his time on the pitch, and hopefully Mike Petke continues to reward him, because he’ll be a fun one to watch this season.