Findley's wild week ends with standing ovation

How does that Chris Klein-to-Los Angeles-for-Robbie Findley-and-Nate Sturgis trade look about now?

Whether Findley and Sturgis will settle into their new team over the long haul remains to be seen, but — on the evidence of a single game — RSL's rookie coach, Jason Kreis, looks like a genius.

Such is the nature of the profession.

Making his RSL debut Saturday evening against D.C. United, Findley was simply sensational. The Oregon St. product, who is an MLS rookie, scored twice and was bright throughout to inspire struggling Salt Lake to its first MLS win of 2007, a 2-1 triumph at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"Well, I am a pretty intelligent guy, wouldn't you say?," joked Kreis afterward. "(I am) a Duke University grad.

"Yeah," Kreis added seriously, "he made me look good there."

Heading into RSL's match against D.C., there were doubts about whether Findley would play because of an injury to his right ankle. According to Findley, the first-year pro rolled his ankle in training with Los Angeles on Tuesday, right before the deal to send him to Salt Lake was finalized.

Kreis met with Findley Friday and asked him whether he wanted to start the following day. He responded that he did, and RSL's coach consequently inserted him into the starting lineup, alongside recent acquisition Alecko Eskandarian.

"I said, 'I'm glad to hear you want to (start), so you're going to,"' said Kreis.

Not the worst decision Kreis has ever made in his seven-game coaching career.

Of his debut, Findley dead-panned: "It was good."

Uh, understatement.

The MLS rookie, selected by Los Angeles in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft back in January, became just the 11th player in league history to score twice in his team debut. But arguably what was most impressive about him was everything else he did.

Findley injected some badly-needed pace into Salt Lake's front line, and he also added bite up top. Rather than leave Eskandarian to do all the gritty defensive work on his own, Findley — from the opening whistle — worked extremely hard alongside his new teammate.

"The last couple games, Alecko was the one busy doing all that stuff on his own," said midfielder Andy Williams. "Robbie did well, worked hard on defense and he rewarded himself with two goals tonight."

Oh, yeah, the goals.