MLS Cup coaching matchup is years in the making

At first glance, the coaching matchup between Real Salt Lake's Jason Kreis and Bruce Arena, of the Los Angeles Galaxy, in the MLS Cup appears to be simply a classic case of the young upstart challenging the iconic legend.

But these guys go way back.

Long before Arena was widely recognized as the savior of American soccer, he was coaching the Virginia team that consistently shattered the championship dreams of the Duke Blue Devils, for whom Kreis and general manager Garth Lagerwey played so well together in college.

Arena led his Cavaliers to four straight national championships, knocking off the Blue Devils either in their conference tournament or the NCAA Tournament -- once in the College Cup national semifinals

-- on his way to the last three of them. What's more, Arena later drafted Lagerwey into Major League Soccer ("He likes to say it was his fault that I had a professional soccer career," Lagerwey said) and coached Kreis with the U.S. national team, adding a fascinating dimension to their reunion as the vastly different leaders of two vastly different teams at Qwest Field in Seattle on Sunday.

"We've been waiting a long time to get back in a situation where maybe we could take another bite at the apple," Lagerwey said.

Yet it's far from a bitter rivalry.

While the men have traveled distinctly different paths to the big game, both sides readily acknowledge a deep respect for the other, to the point that Kreis and

Lagerwey sought advice from Arena when they took over at RSL.

By that time, of course, Arena had long since left Virginia and spent years rebuilding the national team, guiding it into the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup before a disappointing performance four years later cost him the job. He's widely recognized as the most successful American coach in history, though Kreis grew to know him well only after he became a coach, too.

"I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for him, but I also see that he's a good person," Kreis said. "He put a hand out there and helped me early on when I was coaching, and I really, really appreciate that. I really appreciate all the insight he's given me over the years. It didn't stop just at the beginning."

No, even after Arena lost his subsequent job with the New York Red Bulls -- the teams tied in Kreis' debut as RSL coach in 2007 -- they exchanged notes, with Arena offering his thoughts on RSL.

"Don't give me any credit for what they've done," Arena insisted. "They've done a fabulous job in building their team and working hard and getting it right."

But he has played a part.

Although Arena had not yet taken over when the Galaxy traded forward Robbie Findley to RSL in the deal for midfielder Chris Klein, he was only days away from officially becoming coach when they dealt midfielder Clint Mathis, too.

And he accepted a trade for midfielder Dema Kovalenko, who remains a starter for the Galaxy, along with Klein.

Meanwhile, Findley has become RSL's most lethal scorer, and Mathis has played a key role at times.

"What Jason has done, he's shown to be a good leader when times are not so good and when they've been good," Arena said. "And that's important. As a head coach, your team feeds off how you react to games that don't go well."

That's a lesson Arena learned long before Kreis.

The sometimes acerbic 58-year-old Brooklyn native has been coaching full-time since 1976 -- when Kreis was 4 years old. And while Arena was building his peerless résumé, Kreis was enjoying one of the most illustrious playing careers in MLS history, scoring 108 goals in parts of 12 seasons before jumping into coaching with no experience when RSL owner Dave Checketts effectively fired coach John Ellinger 21/2 years ago.

The 36-year-old Kreis acknowledges that he's still learning his craft.

But he has constructed a somewhat anonymous, workmanlike team -- "The team is the star," is his motto -- that reflects his subdued yet competitive demeanor every bit as much as the star-studded Galaxy seem to fit Arena's legendary persona. Egos nearly derailed the Galaxy when Landon Donovan blasted teammate David Beckham in a book released at midseason, but Arena somehow was able to coax the two into a productive alliance.

So while there's little for coaches to do on game day aside from choosing lineups and substitutions and giving a good halftime speech, fans can expect to see a matchup of strong-willed men on Sunday -- nevermind an RSL team whose identity was truly born years ago, when Arena and his Cavaliers were busy spoiling all those Blue Devil dreams.

"They played great soccer," Kreis recalled. "They played a different brand of soccer than almost every single college team that we faced, and were certainly different than we were.

"It seemed to be a real cohesive way they played. They possessed the ball and played the game the way I think it should be played, so I had a lot of admiration for how Bruce coached that team and how he got that out of those players."

It's an example he doesn't mind following.

mcl@sltrib.com