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This afternoon, Real Salt Lake takes on Seattle Sounders in the second match of the Desert Diamond Cup. It's likely that Kreis and co. will start more veterans as they work toward full match-fitness. With the season only two short weeks away, that bit's essential.
Expect the next match in the Desert Diamond Cup to be more of a intermix of the squad, with the final match taking on a more finalized appearance.
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Expected lineup
Josh Saunders; Tony Beltran, Chris Schuler, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Lovel Palmer; Kyle Beckerman, Ned Grabavoy, Khari Stephenson, Sebastian Velasquez; Alvaro Saborio, Joao Plata
Likely to play 30 to 45 minutes: Robbie Findley: As he returns to full fitness, expect Findley to see another short-ish run-out. Jordan Allen: The young former RSL academy midfielder has joined up with the squad in Tucson, so he may get a run out today.
Outside chance: Olmes Garcia. The kid - the new striker, and how good it feels to say that! - might get a chance out there tonight. It'd be a real treat.
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Seattle's last match, the Desert Diamond Cup opener against New England Revolution, featured two red cards and two "sendings off" which were more "mandatory subs" than anything. Dave Clark of Sounder at Heart had this to say about the indiscipline that plagued that match.
Sigi Schmid said he thought it was just one of those matches that just gets away from intent. There was certainly a relatiation problem slapped on top of players who thought that early non-calls meant they could go in hard. They adjusted to too hard and Guzman wanted nothing to do with it. It would be stunning if eight cards and two pseudo-cards were shown in the next two matches.
A good thing, too - preseason's not exactly the time for players to be picking up injuries. Let's also remember the 2011 bench-clearing brawl against Sporting Kansas City - none of that, yeah?