Real Salt Lake will be sending two players to the All-Star match this week, first up is RSL's captain Kyle Beckerman.
Kyle is the cornerstone of Real Salt Lake's team is the star mentality, he has taken control of the team as their captain, and in matches he imposes his control with his no holds barred approach to the game. He isn't the biggest, or the fastest, but he is one of the best soccer minds that play central defense in Major League Soccer, he understands his role in being the stop gap used to disrupt opposing teams from being able to go on offense and then being able to quickly change roles and become an offensive threat via his passes and ability to create for others, he has 5 assists so far this year. He also has been known to take a shot or two and so far this year he has found the back of the net twice, but it is his ability to simply be a disruptive force in the midfield that has made him one of the very best defensive midfielders in the league today.
MLS All-Star Game 2011: Quick Look At Real Salt Lake’s Entrants
Kyle will be joined in New York by Jamison Olave, the 2010 defensive player of the year and one of the stalwarts of the RSL defense. Most people have a hard time seeing past his physical presence and for a player who is about 6'2 and 220 lbs it is easy to understand why, but what is lost is the fact that Olave is probably one of the 10 fastest players in MLS and that speed makes him a very dangerous player. The ability to move forward on set pieces and still be able to get back to break up counter attacks, makes him double dangerous he already has 2 goals and 1 assist this year and the RSL defense has allowed just 12 goals in 18 matches. While he is only in his 4th season with Major League Soccer he is quickly becoming the standard by which other center backs are measured.
