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Once again, the inexperienced coach flinched.
The veteran coach didn't change his steely stare or his time-tested lineup.
In an overwhelming turn of events, as measured by both record and conventional wisdom, Real Salt Lake swept top-seeded Columbus in the Eastern Conference semifinals this week.
And RSL coach Jason Kreis deserves all the credit.
In May 2006, when he abruptly retired from a decorated playing career to enter the land-mine-fraught world of coaching, he knew he needed at least three years to learn on the job and mold the team in his image.
This week, Kreis proved he has arrived.
On the other hand, Columbus manager Robert Warzycha will go home to a long winter to contemplate how his playoff lineup juggling backfired in his first venture as a coach in the MLS playoffs.
Kreis' decision-making generated fantastic, to use one of his favorite terms, results this past week.
Determined to overturn five years of RSL futility on the road, he changed various aspects of game preparation, from when the team traveled to where they stayed.
He stuck with innovations revealed during the team's last extended layoff in September.
Then, Kreis acted decisively to reorient a team that had suffered two of its worst (I called them "embarrassing") losses in team history in back-to-back road games in Texas.
He thrust Andy Williams and Robbie Findley back into the lineup.
He tweaked
And he straightened the team's critical spine: goalkeeper Nick Rimando, center backs Nat Borchers and Jamison Olave, and midfielders Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales.
These players, who combined don't earn what Crew designated player Guillermo Barros Schelotto earned in 2008, have come up huge in the past month.
For his next trick, Kreis won't allow himself, his staff nor his players to gloat in the Columbus sweep. They learned that lesson earlier this season when a 6-0 victory over New England was followed by an eight-match winless streak.
Given a few extra days now to prepare for the decisive one-game Eastern Conference final against Chicago, it no longer matters that the team eked into the playoffs under the most precarious of circumstances.
Kreis and company are squeezing the most out of his players -- at precisely the right time.
We don't know yet if the team can validate back-to-back appearances in the conference finals. But if RSL can win just one more game, they'll be 90 minutes away from bringing the first major league title ever to Salt Lake City. There's a lot to be said for that.
Even if RSL doesn't win the Eastern Conference final, all signs indicate that the first player ever signed by the club will have several more years to cement his legacy here.
It's well earned.
STEVE PASTORINO is the former general manager for Real Salt Lake and an occasional contributor to The Salt Lake Tribune on soccer. He welcomes your comments at pasto.ink @comcast.net.
