Real Salt Lake: For Chivas coach Robin Fraser, Saturday's game is a reunion

CARSON, Calif. — Sometimes, the lightest moments can produce momentous change. For Robin Fraser, a text message four years ago enabled him to fulfill a personal goal.

As a result, Fraser will return to Rio Tinto Stadium as the head coach of Chivas USA after serving as an assistant the past 3 1/2 seasons for Real Salt Lake.

"To go there as the opponent is going to be extremely bizarre," Fraser said. "I'd like to say, 'This game has no more significance to me than any other.'

"But the truth is that I have great memories with that team and countless amazing moments in that stadium. I don't even know where the visiting locker room is at Rio Tinto."

Fraser might not have had the chance to find out if he had not transmitted a message to Jason Kreis, who replaced John Ellinger as Real's head coach in May 2007.

"I half-jokingly sent Jason a text: 'Hey, looking for an assistant?' " said Fraser, one of Real's broadcasters and a Phoenix resident at the time.

"He responded with a lot of interest. Within a couple of months, we were able to work it out.

"Once I got there, it was the greatest decision I'd ever made."

That decision allowed the former defender to apply the observations he made during a 16-year playing career, which included 27 games for the United States National Team. In 10 years in Major League Soccer, Fraser was a member of the Best 11 five times and the league's defender of the year twice.

"I've always loved coaching and the mental aspect of the game, the chess aspect of the game," Fraser said. "That's something I've loved ever since I was coaching kids — when I was 24, 25 years old.

"As I got older, I started to formulate my own ideas about the way things should be done. Late in my career, I got more and more frustrated by the fact that these young phenoms were coming into the league and no one would coach them. At times, there wasn't enough emphasis on team tactics. I just think that a lot of things were missed."

With Chivas USA, Fraser and his staff try to miss nothing.

"They're trying to create an environment where everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing, and everyone knows when it's not being done," said midfielder Simon Eliiott, who played with Fraser on two MLS teams and for New Zealand's 2010 World Cup squad.