Constructing Real Salt Lakes's core
Kreis looking to keep key guys around
With the playoffs within striking distance heading into the final two weekends of the regular season, Kreis doesn't want to get caught up in looking backward.
"It's easy to say yeah we dropped some points, and yeah we didn't take advantage of some teams we were clearly better than," Kreis said. "That's something I'm not going to do, certainly not at this point in the season, there's still so much in front of us."
While he says there's no point in bemoaning the past, Kreis is willing to reflect on Real Salt Lake's strides this year and what it means going forward.
From the moment he took over as head coach last season there's been a method to Kreis' madness, a vision shared by general manager Garth Lagerwey — call it the Houston Dynamo model.
For about five or six years now, even going back to their days in San Jose, the Houston franchise has enjoyed success with the same core group of players. Players like Dwayne DeRosario, Wade Barrett, Pat Onstad, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis, Brian Mulan, Brian Ching and Eddie Robinson have created consistency in the Houston lineup, making the franchise the envy of the rest of the league with two straight MLS Cups.
"I don't feel bad about saying that," he said. "Let's not try and reinvent the wheel."
When you keep the same talented group together for multiple years, a formula that's also paying big dividends for Columbus this year, success should follow suit.
Without any semblance of a core coming into 2008, Kreis admits he wasn't sure what to expect. He had a pretty clear vision for 2009 and beyond, but not necessarily the present.
The fact the team is so close to the playoffs is particularly gratifying.
"I would say in my honest opinion, we are playing better soccer than I thought we'd be able to. I really think that the best teams in our league, it takes them a long time to really click, really start to have subconscious understanding of each other," Kreis said. "There's been times during our season I'd say our guys already have that. The way we possess the ball sometimes and create attacking movements in games, and have dominated nearly every game we've played in speaks volumes for the guys."
Even though Real Salt Lake isn't even close to maintaining the same core group of players like Houston, and even New England and Columbus, Kreis believes RSL is heading in the right direction. As for this year, if the club sneaks into the playoffs, Kreis envisions great things.
"I honestly feel like if this team gets into the dance, we can come home kings of it, but we've got to get there first," he said.
And before RSL can consistently get to the playoffs year after year, its emerging core of players like Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert, Ian Joy, Robbie Russell and Will Johnson, along with several others, need to develop Houston-like cohesion.
That's the long-term goal. The short-term goal is to finally make the playoffs.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com
Recent comments
that will make me happy.
Oh ya..and sign Olave.Bring in forward..and wing | Oct. 17, 2008 at 8:30 a.m.
Keeping a core group is good, and it's especially important to hang…
Full90 | Oct. 16, 2008 at 6:28 a.m.
I agree Williams has had his best season in an RSL kit this year.…
Soccerman | Oct. 16, 2008 at 5:40 a.m.
