Johnson adjusts to change

Brian Johnson is a Real Salt Lake assistant coach because of John Ellinger, so you can imagine the anxiety he felt two weeks ago when his boss got the ax quite suddenly.

"There were a lot of uncertainties and unknowns," said Johnson, who played five years with the Kansas City Wizards before retiring after the 2001 season.

Fortunately for Johnson, that anxiety only lasted four hours.

He received word late that afternoon that Ellinger was getting fired as head coach and Jason Kreis was being handed the reins. Four hours later, Kreis called both Johnson and the team's other assistant, Peter Mellor, to see if they wanted to remain on the team's coaching staff.

"Those four hours, I didn't know if I was going to go to practice the next day and get fired, but when Jason called me later that night and asked if I wanted to stay on board, it was a good sense of relief knowing I'd still be here and have a job."

With a young family to provide for, job security was first and foremost on Johnson's mind. Plus, having coached Kreis the past two years while he was an RSL player, Johnson said he was confident the two could work well together.

It's nonetheless been an adjustment, just like it has been for all the players.

The biggest difference has been getting used to an entirely different style of coaching.

"John was a little more laid back, a little bit more from the outside looking in," said Johnson, known simply as BJ. "Jason's more in the middle, looking out."

Johnson believes that both approaches can work, but only time will tell which approach this group of players buys into more.

Either way, Johnson thinks that Kreis has the necessary skills to be a successful head coach, and he's just happy that his new boss believed in him enough as an assistant to keep him around.

NARROW DEFEAT: Real midfielder Freddy Adu and goalkeeper Chris Seitz both played 90 minutes Tuesday for the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team in their 1-0 defeat to Argentina in Rochester, N.Y.

Seitz made four saves, but couldn't turn away a shot by Argentina's Diego Braghieri in the 55th minute. Adu's best scoring opportunity came in the 59th minute when he banged a 30-yard free kick off the crossbar.

Seitz and Adu are expected to rejoin RSL for this Friday's training session and be available for this Sunday's match at FC Dallas.