International Roster Spots

RSL has two players officially on the roster currently taking up international slots: Jamison Olave and Javier Morales. The team has a total of 7 international spots available through the end of the 2009 season. This leaves 5 spots potentially available for international players. The team could use all of these spots or they may keep at least one in reserve in case they wanted to make a move during the summer transfer window. As of right now the team currently has 6 international players vying for spots:

• Luis Miguel Escalada (Striker, Argentina) - reported to be in the process of signing a contract


• Alexander Viveros (Defender/Midfielder, Colombia) - former teammate of Olave


• Kennedy Owusu-Ansah (Defender/Midfielder, Canada) - Canadian YNT teammate of Will Johnson


• Rachid El-Khalifi (Midfielder/Striker, Netherlands/Morroco) - Currently under contract w/ SC Cambuur in Dutch 2nd Division


• Jorginho Paulista (Defender/Midfielder, Brazil) - Strong international resume


• Futhi Bhembe (Striker, Swaziland) - 3rd in NCAA in scoring last season

What are your thoughts? Does the team use all of its spots? Which of these players makes the cut?

Keep in mind that the salary cap is another important constraint. In the next day or so we'll try to take a look at the knowns and unknowns of RSL's current salary cap status.

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Escalada and Others to Join RSL in Camp

As reported first on Keepin' it Real, Luis Miguel Escalada is coming to join the team. The surprise? According to Behind the Shield, he'll be coming "in the next couple of weeks". In addition, previously mentioned El-Khalifi, Owusu-Ansah, and goalkeeper Steve Clark will be joining the team. In addition, Jorginho Paulista will be coming aboard after a career in high profile leagues.

Speaking of new faces, the team will have several guys that will join us for training over the next couple of weeks. Take a look below to get a glimpse of who they are…

Luis Miguel Escalada - Coming in after stints with Argentine powers Boca
Juniors and Ecuadorian sides LDU Quito and Club Sport Emelec, Escalada is a
22-year-old striker from Ceres, Santa Fe, Argentina. He has scored 47 goals over
93 professional appearances.

Rachid El-Khalifi - A veteran left-sided midfielder El Khalifi has spent
his entire career in his native Netherlands, scoring 29 goals over 9
professional seasons.

Steve Clark - A 6′2″ goalkeeper out of Oakland University (that’s Oakland
University in Michigan for those who are interested) Clark spent four years,
including three as a starter, at Oakland. Led the Grizzlies to a pair of Summit
League championships and NCAA tournament appearances while garnering
back-to-back all-league honors and a 2008 Defensive Player of the Year award.

Jorginho Paulista - Coming to RSL with an impressive resume that includes
stints in Italy’s Serie A (Udinese), Dutch power PSV Eindhoven, Boca Juniors,
and Brazilian powers Vasco da Gama and Sao Paulo, the 28-year-old Paulista is a
talented left-sided player who can play on both the backline and in the
midfield.

Kennedy Owusu-Ansah - 19-year-old native of Canada, Kennedy Owusu-Ansah
joins RSL from German side Hertha Berlin. He is a talented defender who has an
interesting connection to RSL’s current roster - he joined midfielder Will
Johnson in representing Canada at the 2007 U-20 World Cup.

UPDATE: Viveros is working through visa issues. Expected to join later this week.

UPDATE #2: Escalada en route. Expected to be in SoCal tomorrow with team.

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Other Camp Notes

Nothing tremendously noteworthy about today's practice. They broke into two groups, one group going through drills while the other group did strength training, then they switched.

Nobody did anything spectacular in either a positive or a negative manner, however there were two young players who were noticeable:

• Brennan Tennelle - To be honest, he didn't impress me much in training or in reserve play last season. However, he appears to be serious about this season. He's very thin, but extremely strong. He was going after every ball and showed hustle that lacked in some of the other players.
  

• David Horst - Had some good moments in drills, but what stood out was his leadership. He seemed to take the rookies under his wing and was very vocal in coaching them during the drills.

Many of the headline names were on light duty including Morales, Movsisyan, Findley, Mathis, and Russell. Of course Russell is coming off of surgery. I know that Findley picked up a bump or two during his trial with Brondby, and Movsisyan seemed to be complaining of some pain. I'm not sure if Mathis or Morales were injured or just kept out of the action because of their veteran status.

No sign of Olave, Viveros, Owusu-Ansah or El Khalifi but all are reported to be joining them in California as the team departs tomorrow morning.

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Toronto Fans Lament Over KOA Trial at RSL

Ever since the release of the training camp roster, there has been alot of chatter coming from our friends up North expressing desires to have Mo Johnston give Canadian Youth National Kennedy Osuwu-Ansah a chance with TFC. Here is one blurb from The Footy Blog:

Canadian full-back Kennedy Owusu-Ansah is on trial at Real Salt Lake. I know I say this every time a young Canadian comes to play in MLS (see Will Johnson as an example) but goddam - I really wish Mo Johnston would have been on top of this kid. I love KOA. I thought he was one of only two or three Canadian players who actually performed well in the 2007 U-20 World Cup. He's got some pretty good ball skills (he's one of the few Canucks you'll ever see execute a step-over in a game) and at age 19 he'd be perfect to groom for the right-back position if and when Marvell Wynne bolts for Europe.

Here is another discussion you can follow on The Red Patch Boys Forum.

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Training Camp Invitees

TRAINING CAMP INVITEES

In addition to the draft picks, these are the 3 players added to the training camp roster that were not with the team in 2008. Both Viveros (4 Colombian Nat'l team caps) and Owusu-Ansah (another young Ghanian phenom) have interesting backgrounds. Hertel was thought by some to be a sure draft pick in the Superdraft but was not selected.


DAVID HERTEL, D, Holland, MI, 5' 9", 175 lbs
DOB: 3/7/1996
Last Club: Michigan State

Strong, fast and a lefty, Hartel emerged this year as a top teir defender in the Big 10 with the Spartan’s conference title. After starting his career at Kentucky as a part time starter, Hertel red-shirted in 2004 and went on to be a three year starter for State.2008: Big Ten First Team. (courtesy www.3rddegree.net)



ALEXANDER VIVEROS, D/M, Cali, Colombia, 5' 10", 170 lbs
DOB: 10/8/1977
Last Club: Talleras de Cordoba, Argentine 2nd Division

BACKGROUND: Deportivo Cali, Racing (Argentina), Cruzeiro (Brazil), Boavista (Portugal) Nantes (France) and Grasshoper (Switzerland). Colombia selections from 1996 to 2005. He was captain of the U-23 in 2000, was in the 1999 Copa America, the World Qualifying 2002 and 2006 and was captain of the Seniors in a match against Mexico at Azteca Stadium in 2002 (courtesy: Deportivo Cali ). Interview in Spanish



KENNEDY OWUSU-ANSAH, D, Toronto, Can, 5' 8", 141 lbs
DOB: 7/20/1989
Last Club: Hertha Berlin, 2nd Bundesliga


Off the Pitch: both of his parents were born in Ghana... grew up playing soccer and basketball... enjoys hanging out with friends, watching movies... favourites have included Cafu, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Lionel Messi - “all guys who can change the game” - Barcelona, Kobe Bryant, Toronto Raptors... (courtesy: CanadaSoccer.com) Article: Andrea Canales

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