After a day off on Sunday, Real Salt Lake was back at it just like everyone else on Monday, stepping back into the office at the U. of South Florida for three hours of work. For the full details, some photos from practice, and what lies ahead for the Claret-and-Cobalt for the rest of the week, take the jump …

TRAINING, TOP TO BOTTOM

• A couple of ins & outs, starting with the latter - trialist striker Akarandut Okor has left the Tampa camp after spending four days with the squad. This leaves Argentine forward Luis Miguel Escalada, Haitian striker Leonel Saint Preux and goalkeeper Steve Clark as the only unsigned players in the RSL camp at the moment.
• Meanwhile, some good news on the “ins” front… or, more accurately, the injury front. As you can see from the photos above, Robbie Findley and Nat Borchers were both highly active at today’s session, the duo taking part in full drills for the duration of the practice. Whether or not they take part in tomorrow’s scrimmage against the Univ. of Tampa remains to be seen, but it being the preseason you can imagine the staff is leaning on the side of caution.
• Today’s pre-gameday session started with the squad splitting up into four teams for 5-v-5 possession games for about 15 minutes following warm-ups.
• From there the teams went half-field 10-v-10, with one squad working towards goal and the other towards three small goals spread across the endline.  After about 15 minues the staff then extended to 3/4 field, with both squads going towards the three “mini-goals.”
• Then the full goals were brought out, but the two wide mini-goals remained, with one point rewarded for passing through the wide goal and three for dribbling through it. The field was split into three quadrants, with the team having to link between the zones before being allowed to go for goal (or goals).
• Following the full squad work, much of the squad stuck around for finishing drills and individual work amongst themselves for another 30 minutes before heading into the Sun Dome workout room for the Dan Barlow Weight Training Bonanza.

TUESDAY’S TAMPA FORECAST

As Phil Collins once sang, “It’s just another day / for you and me / in Paradise”… or something like that. But that does bring us to tomorrow’s weather outlook… Sunny & 73 degrees.  Gametime temp at the U of Tampa at 7:00 ET should be comfy, in the low 60s.

Since it seems spring has sprung along the Wasatch Front, we’ll stop bringing up the SLC forecast (but we’re not happy about it).

THAT JUST HAPPENED

If you clicked on the previous post then you’ve seen the stellar video recreating skills of Misters Beltran & Seitz (or, since Tony looks more like Oates rather than Hall, we’ll go with Seitz & Beltran). Well, rumor has it that “Seitz & Beltran” are at it again, as spies have confirmed the two were moseying around the team hotel during the off day on Sunday with camera in tow. If a second installment is indeed underway, rest assured that “BtS’ will be heavily involved in negotiations to host the world premiere on this very site.

ON TAP TUESDAY

Remember the Spartans… as in the University of Tampa Spartans. Real Salt Lake will take on UT in an exhibition tomorrow night at the home of the reigning NCAA Division II South Region champs, Pepin Stadium, with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. ET. RSL will be the Spartans’ second MLS opponent this spring, as UT fell 2-0 to the Columbus Crew down the Gulf Coast a bit in Bradenton last week. Internet or no internet, we’ll provide updates right here on Behind the Shield, so stay tuned!