Donovan happy to see Real's coach

CARSON, Calif. — Of all the faces Southern California native Landon Donovan saw Saturday, one of the faces he was most excited to see was Real Salt Lake coach John Ellinger.

"I'm just excited to see him," said Donovan, who made was Los Angeles Galaxy debut against RSL Saturday. "I'm happy for him. I don't want him to do well tonight, obviously, but I want him to succeed."

Ellinger was Donovan's coach when he was with the under-17 U.S. National Team, and even though Donovan graduated from the U-17 residency program over five years ago, they've kept in contact.

Two months ago, just prior to RSL's training camp in Portugal, Ellinger made a point to head overseas a few days early to watch Donovan play for his former club Bayern Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League.

"Whether it's on a soccer field or not, I just enjoy seeing him," said Donovan. "He meant a lot to me in a growing time in my life, so I'll always remember him."

ANOTHER REUNION: RSL assistant coach Chris Agnello and Galaxy assistant coach Billy McNicol stood at midfield for nearly 15 minutes during Saturday's warm-ups and simply talked. If there hadn't been a soccer game to play, they could've talked the entire night.

Their relationship goes back over two decades, back to the mid '80s when Agnello played high school soccer for Woods Cross and McNicol was the team's technical director.

They were reunited again in 1999 when Agnello became the head coach for the Utah Blitzz minor league soccer team, with McNicol serving as the team's technical director despite living in Southern California. The two maintained those positions with the Blitzz for five years, leading to a pair of national champions.

With Real Salt Lake's arrival, the Blitzz decided to cease operations, which enabled both Agnello and McNicol to pursue other endeavours.

McNicol played professionally in Scotland, but then moved to Centerville in 1976 to play for the Utah Golden Spikers.

RESERVE GAME: National team call-ups will eventually take its toll on RSL, that's why today's RSL Reserves game against the Galaxy Reserves is so valuable. The team's will play on one of the outlying fields around the Home Depot Center at 11 a.m. (MDT).

"They're extremely important," said RSL assistant coach Peter Mellor, who's in charge of the reserve team. "These reserve games will give us a great insight as to who, technically, tactically and psychologically can handle a real game."