SANDY — There’s no timetable on when MLS will return for the 2020 season, but when it does finally resume, Real Salt Lake coach Freddy Juarez will be able to tell right away which of his players took the break seriously.
Fitness can’t be faked. That’s something Juarez has tried to communicate with his players during their virtual interactions over the past couple weeks.
Whenever MLS does get the all clear to resume training, teams might only get a couple weeks before the games begin, which isn’t much time to try and regain lost fitness.
“That’s been the consistent message I’ve been talking (about) to our players. It’s challenging to all of us. We’re all at home, you have your kitchen right there, you have your Netflix and Amazon and it’s easy to just relax and turn something on when there’s fitness, and say I’m not going to do it in the morning, I’m going to do it in the afternoon,” said Juarez.
RSL’s medical staff gives the players a daily workout Monday through Friday, and Juarez has heard great things that the players are keeping up with the schedule.
If the offseason is any indicator, he expects they’ll all return in great shape.
At the end of each season, Real Salt Lake’s coaching staff sends the players off with a particular offseason workout schedule in hopes of everyone returning with the same base fitness level. This preseason, the fitness level was great from the outset.
“The majority of the guys came in pretty early which was very encouraging, so I’m hoping us as a staff the thing we’ve been telling the guys during this whole time is very consistent to the offseason and we can get guys that are very mature and they’re doing their workouts,” said Juarez.
When the season does finally resume, the schedule figures to be very congested with a lot of midweek games, and Juarez is trying to communicate to the players that everyone will get their opportunities.
Fitness isn’t the only thing the coaching staff is making sure the players are on top of. Each Thursday the team is having Zoom meetings with the players and coaches discussing style of play and team principles.
The coaches are also diving even deeper into game film from last year to analyze further how certain players handle certain tactical situations, which Juarez said can help the team prepare better for certain situations throughout the season.
Juarez said he’s also looking into the possibility of a motivational speaker addressing the team about resiliency, something like a Navy Seal or someone who’s endured similar life events.
He’s also heard about the RP Leipzig coach in Germany using virtual reality with his players to analyze tactics, something he said he’d like to look into.
Until everything returns to normal, Juarez said he’ll continue to look at creative ways to get the players ready for the reboot of the 2020 season.