So, who is going to emerge as the hero of MLS Cup?
Will it be Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, thanks to his nasty free kicks and on-target crosses?
Or perhaps it could be Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, who is enjoying his finest season as a pro and is accruing every important piece of soccer hardware this year.
Or maybe it could come down to the goalkeepers, the Galaxy's Donovan Ricketts and Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake's penalty-kick savior. Or even a player in a supporting or lesser role, such as Clint Mathis.
At one time, it was certainly unusual to put Clint Mathis and a lesser role in the same sentence.
But these days, his role with RSL has been reduced to being a second-half substitute. So, if Sunday's encounter is tied or RSL needs a goal, there probably will be a decent chance that Cleetus will be running onto Qwest Field to perform some late-match heroics.
"You always have to be ready," Mathis said. "You never know when a coaches' decision will bring you into a game."
Entering his second MLS Cup during an 11-year MLS career, this isn't exactly the position Mathis thought he would be in.
Mathis obviously is willing to sit on his ego for the good of the team and in many ways, himself. For all he has accomplished, Mathis is still trying to take home that elusive championship.
Mathis said that he would do "whatever is ask of me. It's not a big deal."
Several years ago Mathis said that winning a championship was his last goal. On Thursday, he reiterated that statement.
"It's what we all play for," he said. "I've always had goals. I wanted to play and score in a World Cup and I did that. I wanted to win a championship. That's the only one I haven't achieved."
And he still wants one just as badly.
"It's close enough to grab," he said. "I would like to take this moment so I could be happy.
"You never know when you're going to get back here."
Indeed. No one knows it better than Mathis, who turns 33 this Wednesday.
When he made his first appearance at MLS Cup, Mathis was just completing his second year in the league as a brash 22-year-old. The Galaxy, then under current Seattle Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid, dropped a 2-0 decision to D.C. United in Foxborough, Mass.
Mathis thought that was the start of something big.
"I definitely thought that the teams that I played on would get past the conference finals," he said.
When you're 22, it's easy to think there's plenty of time to get back to any championship game, but then again life has a way of taking us on paths we have not planned for.
It has taken Mathis 10 years to return to MLS Cup, and he doesn't know if he will get an opportunity to help his teammates parade the Philip F. Anschutz trophy around Qwest Field come Sunday night.
Sitting the bench certainly hasn't been easy for someone who has played in 249 MLS regular-season matches and started 201. During the season, Mathis was a regular, starting 24 of the 28 games in which he played.
But RSL coach Jason Kreis decided to alter his lineup. He switched Mathis in favor of Andy Williams, who had been coming off the bench for the most part of the season. It wasn't easy because Kreis and Mathis are good friends. In fact, Kreis was part of Mathis' wedding party three years ago.
Mathis said he hasn't spoken to Kreis about his role reversal. "He felt I could do more than the previous games I started," he said. "He went in a different direction. You will have to ask him why."
Kreis felt it was better off for the team with Williams in the lineup.
"Clint's a competitive guy," Kreis said. "He's somebody that really thrives in these situations at the end of the season. He's like any other player. He wants to play and he wants to start. So it's been hard on him, but he's dealt with it in a professional way. He's been very respectful about it. He also has contributed. He has contributed to a lot of games this season. He's contributed to getting our team to the point they're at. And he's contributed in the playoff games as well, coming off the bench and giving us an added spark."
Mathis has made an impact, converting the first penalty kick in the shootout win against the Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference Championship last week.
"Since I took the first penalty kick in the shootout, you have to be ready to be called upon." he said. "Jason used me because I've been in these type of situations before and put me in a high-pressure situation."
In some respects, Mathis' career has become an MLS legend. Think about this: Has anyone gotten so much publicity even though he he has broken into double figures in goals and assists in each category only once in his career?
Mathis enjoyed a golden, almost magical, 15-month reign as the king of U.S. soccer in 2000 and 2001. He amassed his best numbers in 2000, collecting a career-high 16 goals and 14 assists in a season that was split between the Galaxy and the MetroStars (now Red Bulls). Mathis capped that off with an amazing five-goal game against the Dallas Burn late in that season. In 2001, it was more of the same with that incredible 60-yard run against Dallas and a hat trick using both feet and his head four days later.
With the national team, he had the ability to overcome a subpar game and yet put his signature on it. For example, didn't play well in a World Cup qualifier in Honduras, but managed to set up one goal and scored the game-winner in the waning minutes en route to a 2-1 victory, the USA's first win in Central America in 11-1/2 years.
He became the second U.S. men's international on the cover of Sports Illustrated prior to the 2002 World Cup.
In South Korea, Mathis scored a textbook goal that helped the U.S. secure a 1-1 draw with the tournament co-hosts and a precious point that helped the USA reach the second round.
He never reached those heights again.
A serious knee injury obviously slowed him down.
Some observers also claimed his sometimes undisciplined lifestyle had an impact as well.
Of course, if he played well and produced, no one would say anything. But it eventually caught up with Mathis. The magic vanished. Occasionally, there were flashes of brilliance, but never anything close to what he displayed almost a decade ago.
Slowly, but surely, Mathis lived and learned.
He found another passion in life. He fell in love and settled down and married Tracey Winzen, a former women's pro player he met while playing for Hanover 96 in Germany. They have a son Maximus.
"I have different priorities," Mathis said. "I don't worry about just taking care of myself."
But Mathis would like to take care of some business for himself and his teammates. He isn't getting any younger. He figured he probably has two more seasons remaining in his legs.
"We'll see," he said. "As long as the body holds up."
As Mathis said, "You never know when you're going to get back here," he said.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
