SALT LAKE CITY -- Jeff Attinella has prepared for these opportunities before, and on Sunday he’s going to have another shot to show what he’s got.
Real Salt Lake will battle visiting Toronto FC at Rio Tinto Stadium in front of a national TV audience, and Attinella will get the nod in the nets with regular No. 1 Nick Rimando on US international duty in Europe.
Rimando is one of five RSL players on international duty --
Alvaro Saborio
(Costa Rica),
Elias Vasquez
(Guatemala), and
Luis Gil
and
Boyd Okwuonu
(US U-23s) -- but RSL has plenty of confidence in their players stepping up, especially the man who will step between the pipes tomorrow night.
“Obviously you want to be playing every weekend and getting those reps but, in my position, playing behind Nick, those opportunities don’t really present themselves that much,” Attinella said on Saturday after practice.
This isn’t the first time that Attinella has had to step in at a moment’s notice, and it most likely won’t be the last.
Attinella has played this role for RSL for the past three years and done it well. In fact, his Major League Soccer debut came in 2013 after then goalkeeper, Josh Saunders, injured his knee during a goal kick. Attinella came on in the 51st minute and made 3 huge saves en route to a 3-0 victory. Attinella has started in 14 matches during his RSL career, making an impressive 59 saves during that time.
This weekend, Attinella is focused on Toronto and stressed that even though they’ll be missing US internationals Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, they’ll still have Sebastian Giovinco, the Italian international signed in the offseason.
“They’re missing those guys, but they’re still going to be a dangerous team," he said. "They still have good players. It’s not like we can only focus on [Giovinco]. We have to still focus on everyone around him but keep an eye out for him as well.”
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So the stage is set for the man they call Agua Gato ("Water Cat") to keep TFC at bay and show a national audience what RSL has already known for the past three years.
“Luckily, when our schedule comes out, I have the ability to pull up the national team schedule and get an idea of when Nick could be gone," Attinella said. "You look at the games and start mentally preparing. Always ready for the 'what if,' but mentally preparing for, ‘Alright, this weekend. This is my goal to be ready to go by this weekend,’ and try to keep the right mind frame the whole time.”
