Once again, James Edwards has no idea what he is writing about. How does he go from covering high school girls softball to a beat writer for an MLS team? You guys must be hurting at the DNews. Kyle Beckerman is the teams best player hands down, everyone knows that, even my cat.

I must absolutely disagree with you. His writting is the testament to his knowledge and professionalism. Sorry to challenge your knowledge, but both Lagerway and Kreis has said in interviews that Javier Morales will be the center of their team.

James Edwards has covered the team in an array of different angles that give through a much better insight, whether positive or negative. Also he uncovered the news about Indra, and this place went bananas with international readership.

I think James Edwards is doing an excellent, and hope he keeps it up and keeps us in touch and involved as he has so far. I have never seen an author who made an article in response to a coment from one of his artcles. A meaninful response by the way. Plus, who do we have left? Brad Rock = Forrest Gump about soccer.

MJC must not have paid any attention to RSL's offseason, or he would understand that Beckerman may very well be the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best player on the team this year behind names like Morales, Deuchar, Cordoba, Borchers, and Rimando.

He also must not realize the drastic improvements James Edward has made to the DNews soccer coverage. For the first time ever, a journalist from the DNews attends practices in addition to regularly interviewing the GM and head coach. James Edward has done a fantastic job amidst colleagues who have done nothing but complain about another major league team in Salt Lake.

James is the best soccer writer in Utah by far. Doesn't matter if he is covering MLS or high school girls softball.
Not many MLS teams have writers this good despite being in larger markets. Your cat told me that!

I have to agree with everyone else that I think James is doing a wonderful job. His blog has been great so far and anyone that really follows RSL can tell that he knows his stuff. Keep up the good work James!

Until anyone else proves otherwise Nick Rimando is the best player on the field for RSL. He is the only one to prove that during the regular season. And the Dnews is killing the Trib in RSL coverage! Keep it up James.

i haven't seen the new guys play yet, but beckerman is still hands down the engine of this team at center mid.

i think what MJC is getting at is the fact that most of the media covering soccer have no clue about what the sport is about. they haven't touched a ball since their youth teams and then all of a sudden we are supposed to let them analyze and critique the game and its players. they have no credibility. on the other hand we do need the coverage and media exposure so keep up the good work edwards.

Great Preview James. I agree, predicting this season is a crap shoot. I think RSL will be in a huge fight to secure one of the last two playoff spots behind Chivas and Houston. I really like what we've done with the team in the offseason, and think we have what it takes to make the playoffs.

It's nice to see some intellegent soccer coverage and analysis. Utah's RSL soccer coverage the past few years has consisted mostly of old men debating the future of soccer in the USA mixed in with a slew of "soccer is boring" comments. This is refreshing! I catch myself checking the DN daily for new acticles and blog updates from James. I think I speak for many when I say that I would like to see more soccer comments and coverage from James and less from Brad.

James is not paid to be a cheerleader. He is giving his honest opinion based on his knowledge and research. This isn't college sports.

James, thanks for the article, very insightful, looking forward to the season.

Rimando

I think the only reason Beckerman wasn't mentioned in the preview section of the article is because he is one of the few non variables on the team, not because he is unimportant. He consistently played very well last season, which is pretty abnormal for a player on RSL.

He is one of the best supporting midfielders in the league, and that should give our offense, Morales in particular, more freedom to take people on press forward. Hopefully everything works out the way Lagerway and Kreis have planned cause they have worked real hard to put a decent team together and push for the playoffs

Gooooo REAL!

It really is nice to have some intelligent coverage of soccer in Salt Lake. Hopefully we can show that there is a very interested audience for this coverage and it will continue.

I think that RSL should be much improved this year but how much is still the big question. The defense should be much improved and one of the best in the league. It may take some time to gel but all of the new pieces are proven. The key to success for RSL will be the ability of the midfield to control the ball and the tempo of the game. I don't think that this will be a good finishing team or high scoring but I think that the quality of soccer should improve dramatically. If Morales, Cordoba, and Dema can be as good as advertised, or depth and possession should both improve and I see this team finishing in the top 3 of the West. Lets hope that the results follow but I am super excited for opening kick on Saturday.

I agree that beckerman is the best player and if morales is better he'll have to prove it to me this season but from what we know of last season beckerman was the best player hands down. I like the article though i just think beckerman should've been mentioned

But we still miss the playoffs because the other teams are just better.

Houston
Chivas
Dallas
LA
RSL
Colorado

The main thing what Real had a problem with last season (besides defense) was getting goals off of free kicks and corners. Our new scotish striker is sick in the air and has great aim! Morales is a great free kick taker as shown with the goal against the Galaxy last season. Real is more well rounded when it comes to everything. We will be shocked this season

I think it is impressive for James to enter his predictions for the 2007 season. Whcih by the way he got wrong.

I think the #3 spot is wide open in the West. Chivas USA and Houston are obviously the best in the west, but after that who knows. I think RSL has the chance to slide in to the top 3 or 4 in the west.

I think that this year will be impossible to predict for RSL. I hope that the young players will take their experience at Olympic qualifying and translate it into increased poise and skill. I hope the competitiveness shown by Fabian Espindola, Beckerman, and coach Kries translates to the rest of the team. I hope that the defense communicates their marking assignments better in transistion (always a weakness that I've seen). I hope that we make the playoffs and go on to win it all!

That said, we can't possibly be worse than we were at the beginning of last year.