Since they began running Real Salt Lake two years ago, coach Jason Kreis and general manager Garth Lagerwey have opened a major pipeline to South America in their quest for talent with which to build the franchise into a legitimate championship contender.

One man has been particularly instrumental in helping them.

Meet Alejandro Taraciuk, a former Major League Soccer intern who now works as an agent, scout and liaison for the league in Argentina and arguably has had more direct influence than anybody but Kreis and Lagerwey in building the team that fans see every week at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Not only has Taraciuk helped stars such as Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Fredy Montero and Juan Pablo Angel join the league in recent years, but he has also helped deliver seven South American players to RSL -- including three of its current starters and trialist Nelson Gonzalez, who is expected to be offered a contract soon.

"Definitely, he has been a great guy to work with," Lagerwey said. "He's a guy we can work with to get things done."

Based in his hometown of Buenos Aires, the 33-year-old Taraciuk works as an agent for some players, but also as a conduit for others who are interested in joining MLS.

Having worked for the league has given him a particular familiarity with its sometimes labyrinthine rules -- a "unique skill set," Lagerwey called it -- which can be confusing for players and clubs in other countries. He also helps assure teams such as RSL that they're dealing with reputable teams and agents in South America, and that "players who come over to the league are a good fit."

"We don't have an exclusive agreement or anything," Taraciuk said. "But I think it has worked well both ways with the players I have recommended to them. ... At least, I think they trust that the players I have recommended to them could be a good option."

That's safe to say.

The first group of players that Taraciuk landed with RSL included all-star midfielder Javier Morales and forward Fabian Espindola --- both important starters from Argentina.

When Lagerwey became general manager a month later and first met Taraciuk, the agent immediately showed him video and recommended Colombian defender Jamison Olave, who has become an anchor of the back line whom RSL signed last year (along with Morales) to a contract extension through 2012.

Taraciuk also helped RSL sign Luis Miguel Escalada, Matias Mantilla and Matias Cordoba -- Argentines who did not pan out and no longer are with the team. And while that sometimes happens, Taraciuk said "100 percent of the players ... they all love the experience of playing in MLS. How they were treated, they just love it."

An attorney who graduated from business school at NYU while interning with the league, Taraciuk said he began working in soccer as a journalist and then as part of a private equity firm that had acquired a company that was managing pro teams in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. After his internship, he joined the marketing arm of MLS, which gave him further entree into the sport -- he first met Kreis while traveling with the team of MLS players that visited Real Madrid for an exhibition in 2005 -- and helped him build the network of contacts upon which he relies now.

Ultimately, he returned home, where he founded his own company, Futbol One.

Now, he typically scouts six or seven live games a week and watches countless others from leagues at all levels around South America.

When he discovers a player who wants to make a move or an MLS team that needs help finding a new player, he's ready to go and eager to help put the two together.

"I have been in MLS some way or another for a long time," he said. "And besides the business aspect or the financial aspect, I very much want MLS and soccer in the United States to succeed. I've put a lot of time in the last eight years of my life into this ... and to be able to have a part in the growth of MLS and U.S. soccer is something that gives me personal pleasure."

mcl@sltrib.com