CARSON, Calif.—Matt Reis started for the New England Revolution in three straight MLS Cups, is close friends with several players on the current Revs roster, and has great affinity for the team’s fans. And he really hopes the team loses today’s MLS Cup.

Reis is now the Los Angeles Galaxy’s goalkeeper coach, a position he took after retiring last season in part because it allowed him to return home to Southern California.

“I’m very close with Jay (Heaps, the Revolution coach) and a lot of the guys over there and I know what a big deal this is for them. But I want to win the cup,” Reis said. “I’m all about this organization and doing whatever I can to help us win.”

Reis mentored current Revolution starting goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth for six seasons and the two remain friends. But Reis was coy when asked to identify his former apprentice’s weaknesses. “If he has them, I’m certainly not going to tell you,” he said, with a smile.

Asked if he might mention Shuttleworth’s strengths and weaknesses with current Galaxy players, Reis said, “Did I mention I want to win the cup?”

Reis turned serious when discussing his father-in-law, John Odom, who was severely injured in April of last year when shrapnel from the Boston Marathon bombing tore through his legs as he watched Reis’ wife, Nicole, finish the race. After months of rehab in Boston, Odom was allowed to return home to the Los Angeles suburbs.

“He’s doing well, making a lot of progress,” said Reis. “He has some other medical issues now, some that are just a result of getting older and some that are compensatory. But he’s a fighter and he’s battling through them.”

Accepting the Galaxy goalkeeping position allowed Reis and his wife to be closer to Odom. “It’s been nice,” he said. “It wasn’t the reason I took the job. This is a great organization and a great place to start the next phase of my career. But it was definitely a bonus, to be close to both her family and mine.”

TEST ON THE LEFT

Robbie Rogers' transition to left back has been one of the more interesting developments of the season but it will be tested Sunday as he’s matched with Teal Bunbury, who has rediscovered his form in the playoffs while starting at right midfield for New England.

“He’s playing really well for them,” Rogers said of Bunbury. “He’s very athletic but he’s good with the ball at his feet and likes to cut in. We’ve studied him and know what he likes to do. But it I don’t think of it as a match-up of me versus him. It’s not like he’s the only guy I have to defend or other guys won’t help with him.”

Galaxy associate head coach Dave Sarachan said matchups like this one were why the team chose to move Rogers back from a more attacking role. “He’s so athletic, so fast and explosive. There are a lot of really fast, strong midfielders in this league, especially on the right, and we thought he’d matchup very well with them and still be able to help us with his skill going forward.”

Farrell's HANDS are FULL

Rogers pushing forward is just one of the matchups second-year defender Andrew Farrell has to deal with today. Then there’s that Landon Donovan guy, who is nominally listed as the starting left midfielder but shifts all over the field as he switches places with MVP Robbie Keane and fellow striker Gyasi Zardes.

“They present so many problems because they attack from different angles and different places on the field,” said Farrell. “They switch up more than any other team in the league and then you have Robbie overlapping—and it puts a lot of pressure on a backline.

"We really have to communicate well and make sure each of us knows who we’re marking and we’re shifting off so if Landon cuts in, the center backs have him. Or if Keane is over on my side we don’t get stretched too wide. That’s what they do. Keane drifts over and a center back goes with him and there’s this huge hole and Zardes or someone else fills it.

"We have to be really tactically disciplined.”

The top player in the 2013 SuperDraft, Farrell has started every game of his brief pro career. “He’s been everything we expected when we drafted him and more,” said Heaps. “He has the pace to play as a great right back and the strength to play in the middle and he’s adapted to this level so fast and as he continues to learn he just gets better and better. As good as he’s been so far, I don’t think he’s come close to as good as he’s going to be.”

WITH A LITTLE LUCK

Farrell was one of several key draft picks or academy signings who have blossomed and allowed the Revs to make this run to MLS Cup. It’s the byproduct of a blueprint the club implemented three years ago when it sought to patiently add pieces to build a club it hopes will contend for many years.

When it succeeds like this it makes its architects look smart. But general manager Mike Burns said the club also got lucky.

“You have to have a good plan and follow it, and we have,” Burns said. “But you also need some luck. We got lucky when we got Jermaine (Jones, who was awarded to the team in a blind draw this summer.) We got lucky that Lee (Nguyen) fell into our laps three years ago. We got lucky that Charlie (Davies, who is from New England) wanted to come home last summer and has gotten healthy again and has become the player he was before his (2009 car) accident.

"Every team needs some of that to get this far and we’ve gotten it. They key is to put your club in a position so that when you do get lucky like that you have the pieces in place to take advantage of it.”

LOOKING TO BREAK OUT

The emergence of second-year forward Gyasi Zardes was a key reason for the Galaxy’s strong regular season, as he helped carry the offense and took pressure off Keane and Donovan by scoring 16 goals this season. However, Zardes scored only once in the final seven regular season games and is scoreless in eight straight—including the entire postseason.

“He’s pressing a bit,” said Sarachan. “But that can be a good thing because he’s fighting through it. It’s not that he’s doing something different. He just needs to keep doing the things he did that let him score goals in the regular season. I won’t be surprised he gets one Sunday.”

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.