Seattle » Time to find out if the team really is the star.

Having practically engraved on his forehead the insistence that his team doesn't need any high-profile superstars to succeed, coach Jason Kreis will discover tonight whether Real Salt Lake can finish its out-of-nowhere playoff run by claiming the ultimate victim in the MLS Cup championship game -- the glamorous Los Angeles Galaxy, built specifically around two of the league's brightest stars, Landon Donovan and David Beckham.

It's the perfect clash of style and sensibility at Qwest Field, and one that has few observers (again) siding with RSL.

"There's still some people who don't believe in us," goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. But "we're a team that believes, and that's why we're here."

The 14th annual Major League Soccer title game is expected to draw perhaps 40,000 fans in cold and wet weather, in a city that has embraced the game like few others, mostly to see whether Donovan and Beckham can hoist a trophy just a few months after Donovan's harsh criticism of his famous teammate was poised to derail the whole season.

But RSL is here, too, and it's not especially keen on following the Hollywood script.

Rather, it's intent on taking advantage of the biggest stage it has ever enjoyed -- with national TV and international attention, and the chance to finally make a name for itself after five seasons of trying.

"We came here to win," midfielder Kyle Beckerman said. "We think we can win. We don't really care who we're playing, who's on the team."

All week, the team has had to defend itself against suggestions that it doesn't really belong here, having finished only 11-12-7 in the regular-season before making its stirring playoff run. Even the Galaxy have taken its side on that count -- "they're a damn good team," coach Bruce Arena said -- but that doesn't seem to have changed the popular sentiment.

"I still don't think that people respect us," defender Nat Borchers said, "and I don't think they will until we get some hardware."

Doing so would represent a remarkable achievement, and change the perception of the franchise. It has never before reached the title game, let alone won it.

"It's less about winning the cup than being this deep in the playoffs, two years in a row," general manager Garth Lagerwey said. That "shows that we have made progress. We have turned it around. We've taken the team off the mat and had some consistent success now. But it's all about winning, man. There's a lot at stake here for us."

"We feel like we're proven ourselves," he added, "and we feel like it's a real opportunity. Hopefully, we'll take it."

And why couldn't they?

Nobody figured RSL would make the playoffs, yet it did, albeit, just barely. Nobody expected it could knock off the defending champions, yet it did, on the road. And nobody really thought its run of strong play would survive the MLS Eastern Conference final in Chicago, yet it did, amid the agonizing drama of a penalty-kick shootout.

"We've been the underdog since we got into the playoffs, and it hasn't affected us," midfielder Clint Mathis said.

You could even say RSL has the edge, having won and tied against the Galaxy this season to extend its unbeaten streak against them to six games since 2007, though Beckham did not play in either of the meetings this season.

Coach Kreis would certainly buy that.

"At the moment, they're playing close to their capability, and close to their potential," he said about his players. "And I believe if they do that -- if they continue to do that -- then we have every shot in the world, and I don't care what any records or stats say."

mcl@sltrib.com