Real Salt Lake: L.A. is the favorite, but don't count out RSL

ESPN soccer analyst Alexi Lalas expects the Galaxy to win the MLS Cup Sunday night — but he wouldn't be surprised if underdog Real Salt Lake plays spoiler.

"If the script were to play out, you get your money shot of David Beckham holding an MLS Cup," Lalas said by phone from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn. "But wouldn't be a surprise to me if Salt Lake were to do something to spoil the party."

ESPN is upgrading its coverage of the Major League Soccer championship this year. The game is airing in prime time on Sunday — 6:30 p.m., MST — on the all-sports network, as opposed to a day game on sister network ABC.

JP Dellacamera and John Harkes will be in the broadcast booth; Lalas and Julie Foudy will provide analysis from the studio.

"I think L.A.'s got to be the favorite," said Lalas, a former national team member and longtime MLS star. "I think that the consistency they've shown this year and the quality that they have — there's something to be said for that.

"When you talk about Real Salt Lake, you're talking about that proverbial box-of-chocolates situation where you never really know what you're going to get."

And Lalas wasn't criticizing RSL. He was "really impressed" with the way the team played against both Columbus and Chicago in the playoffs.

"In this day and age when it's much easier to kind of sit back and play negative, Real Salt Lake has been playing very positive. They didn't sit back. I think they also played the only way they really know how," he said with a laugh. "And, ultimately, it was successful. I think it was good for soccer and, ultimately, has led them to MSL Cup."

Lalas has a personal link to both teams that will be on the field Sunday in Seattle. He was general manager of the Galaxy when Beckham came to the team, and he traded Robbie Findley to RSL.

Of course, he was also fired by the Galaxy when the team struggled in 2007 and 2008.

"I'm human," Lalas said with a laugh. "I know that I was part of the Galaxy for a period of time when the team itself wasn't successful on the field. I'm certainly not proud of that, and I certainly accept a portion of the responsibility of that."

He said it was "a painful process" with "all the craziness" that accompanied adding David Beckham to the team. "They've come out the other side a better team. I think refocused on the Galaxy being a team as opposed to the individual names.

"If L.A. continues to play the consistent, methodical soccer that they have and then waits for those moments where the stars shine, they'll have another MLS Cup."

But he's not counting RSL out.

"If I was in Las Vegas setting odds for MLS, that would be the hardest job in the world," Lalas said.

If the MLS Cup had been scripted in Hollywood, Sunday's game would have been a matchup between Beckham and the Galaxy and Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Fire.

"The star power of the Galaxy will compensate for any perceived lesser (TV) value of having a team like Salt Lake in the final. But in a perfect world, it would have been nice if the Fire and Mr. Blanco had held up their side of the bargain," Lalas said with a laugh.

RSL's push-it-forward, caution-to-the-wind style is "good for the game," he said. "Whether it ultimately translates into wins, who knows? And part of what I actually like about Salt Lake is that, while they might not always win, they're fun to watch."

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com