Real Salt Lake players are already looking ahead to the future.
After it was announced on Sunday that current RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen will be seeking to sell the club on the heels of an investigation that was opened by MLS into alleged racist conduct and language in an article on The Athletic, captain Kyle Beckerman feels that “it’s a new era of RSL and a new start.”
“I just want to get back to playing soccer and get our community feeling good about Real Salt Lake,” Beckerman told media on a conference call. “When we put on this crest we’re playing for this community, we’re playing for the state and we want to make them feel proud of this club and everybody on the team. So whatever that was is in the past. Hopefully we can get a really strong ownership group in here and really get this club up to the elite part of this league.
“I truly believe we’ve shown it before that we can be up there at the top of the table and fighting for every trophy there is, year in and year out. We just need a little help. We just need that owner who wants to come in here and wants to give us the resources and really help us achieve our goals. Just give us everything so that all we have to do is to go out there and work our tails off and try and send home the RSL family with smiles on their face when they come watch us or watch us on TV when away from home. That’s really where we want to put our focus right now.”
Beckerman noted how the players and coaching staff have had experience dealing with tumultuous periods in recent years, including the departure of head coach Mike Petke and then GM Craig Waibel, but the squad has always chosen to stay united and focus on what it's been able to control. That mindset might help explain the team’s stunning comeback in Portland from 4-2 down to tie the match in stoppage time.
Head coach Freddy Juarez credited his staff and the leaders on the team for tuning out the off-field issues and admits that “if anything, I think it made the team even more united.” Juarez, who came up as a coach from the RSL academy to the first team during Hansen’s time as owner – “He’s always been good to me and supported me,” Juarez said – was hopeful that there would be a chance for Hansen to speak individually with the players at some point.
Looking forward to a prospective new ownership group, Juarez said he’d like to see new owners who are “passionate” and “supportive”.
“I support my players and I expect and hope that the next owner is the same — supports the players,” Juarez said. “We come every day to play because we love the game and we can’t wait to play in front of the fans. And the fans deserve the best that we can give them … So you want an owner who’s going to come in and do whatever’s possible, all within doing it right and honestly to help the team.
“You want owners that can come in and sweat blood and everything for the crest and the colors,” Juarez continued. “That’s what I’ve been doing. That’s what my staff does. That’s what the players do. That’s what Beckerman has done. That guy still comes in and works so hard. It’s amazing to me how a player of his age can do that. And I think when you do that, you have the right to ask that the owner do the same thing.”
The 38-year-old Beckerman feels ownership can impact the slim margins between winning and losing by “doing all the little things” that can prove the difference.
“That’s something we’re pretty excited about and that is getting an owner here that wants to win and it isn’t just about money,” Beckerman said. “So I think the future is extremely bright for this club. We’ve got all the infrastructure in place and to get an owner that truly wants to win would be something that would be a real positive for this club going forward.”
