Defending Major League Soccer champion Real Salt Lake announced Friday they have acquired Costa Rica forward Alvaro Saborio on loan this season from FC Sion of the first division Swiss Super League, where he scored 36 goals in 87 games since 2006.
He will join the team in Charleston, SC, where RSL will begin defense of their title at the annual Carolina Challenge Cup tournament, hosted by the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer Leagues Second Division at Blackbaud Stadium, when they face DC United Saturday.
Saborio began his soccer career as a member of the youth program of Mexico's Tigres, then returned to Costa Rica to play five seasons (2001-06) with Club Deportivo Saprissa. He scored 95 goals in 149 games and led the team to back-to-back finals appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League, winning the 2004 title over Mexico's UNAM Pumas.
He was on loan at the beginning of Sion's 2008-09 season with Bristol City of the English second division Coca Cola Championship.
In other team news, RSL will face the San Jose Earthquakes April 14 at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, CA in the first round of play-in games for a spot in the 2010 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament.
It will be the first time since they beat the Earthquakes 4-0 in July 2008 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City they have played each other.
The top six teams in MLS last season, based on points earned in the standings, automatically receive byes into the third round of the tournament -- the defending champion Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy.
The other nine teams, including the expansion Philadelphia Union, will have to compete for one of two open tournament field slots.
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