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Crooks: Salty Jason Kreis Wants A Big Piece Of First-Place NYCFC

By Glenn Crooks
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I have heard it suggested this week that when New York City FC plays at Orlando City SC on Sunday it will be "just another game."

Jason Kreis, who was dispatched by New York City at the conclusion of the club's inaugural 2015 season, is now the manager of Orlando City.

"I felt it was completely unfair and downright irrational to remove somebody from that position after one year," Kreis told Kevin Flynn recently on his "Over The Ball" podcast.

You are not subjected to "read between the lines" to interpret the angst Kreis has for his former employer.

Kreis told FourFourTwo this week, "I have no particular love for their club or no particular fantastic remembrance for it."

"Just another game."

That's funny.

MORE'Soccer In The City' Podcast: NYCFC Set To Face Former Coach Kreis

In an exclusive April interview for this column, Kreis suggested that he was left to dangle during a season of struggles.

"I'm someone who takes an extremely large responsibility for what is going on. I did as a player, too," he told me. "I took a lot of the responsibility for the failures of the team coming together as quickly as we all had wanted to. But it seemed like I was certainly the only one. I did feel I was a little bit on an island."

"Just another game."

Really?

Kreis may have felt particularly perturbed due to the gamble he took to leave the friendly confines of Real Salt Lake, where he had become a bit of a folk hero as the manager who led RSL to the MLS Cup in 2009.

"The risk that I took to come here (NYCFC) and build something that I thought would be a long-term venture turned out to be an extremely short-term venture," Kreis said. "Myself and my family have had to pay the price for that."

"Just another game."

Not exactly.

In early July, Adrian Heath, the only head coach in the history of the Orlando City franchise (beginning with Austin in 2007) was sacked by owner Phil Rawlins. The call went out to the most successful former MLS coach available. It did not take long for Kreis to accept the position after having dinner with Rawlins and his wife.

"I haven't told Phil this, but right after we had dinner my wife (Kim) said that Orlando was perfect and I knew then we were taking the job," Kreis said at his introductory press conference.

The Lions are 1-2-2 under Kreis and still exhibit the defensive frailties and lack of attacking cohesion that has infected them throughout their second season in MLS.

For instance, the entire back line was duped on a quick Toronto FC throw-in and subsequent goal that was the difference in a 2-1 home loss on Wednesday. The defeat left Orlando City SC one point behind D.C. United for the sixth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, his former side is at the top of the table and has thrived away from home with the best road record in the league (6-4-3).

Will Claudio Reyna and the City Football Group be viewing this game with a mere glance as an important three-point match without noting that a loss to Kreis would be substantially more painful than a defeat to Jeff Cassar?

You would have to be heavily consuming the Peppermint Schnapps to believe that.

As for Kreis, he insists that there is not extra motivation for this Sunday's encounter.

"No, there's not," Kreis told OrlandoCitySC.com. "And regardless, if there is extra motivation, it doesn't necessarily mean I can motivate the players to align with my motivations."

"Just another game."

Throw-Ins

-- Patrick Vieira will be back on the bench following his second suspension of the season. Vieira and center back Maxime Chanot were disqualified by referee Sorin Stoica after the final whistle in Columbus two weeks ago and missed the L.A. Galaxy match last weekend. Chanot was initially shown red and while protesting that decision, Vieira was subsequently booked.

Apparently, certain traits of Vieira, the player, has carried over to Vieira, the coach. The French international is in the top 10 all-time of players dismissed in the English Premier League. Vieira was shown eight red cards during his career with Arsenal FC.

-- Chanot, Frederic Brillant and Jefferson Mena are all available for selection on Sunday. Due to previous fitness concerns and suspensions, it is the first time that Vieira will be forced to choose between the three central defenders for the starting unit.

-- British soccer journalist Henry Winter, who has been doing his thing for 30 years, joined me at halftime of the NYCFC-LA Galaxy broadcast last Sunday at Yankee Stadium. He was in the Bronx to observe the first MLS meeting between former Premier League stars Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

"I talked to both of them yesterday," Winter said. "Frank is more the extrovert and Stevie more the introvert but both really interesting individuals -- and they have a huge respect for each other. And Frank was saying he wants to stay on. He's obviously loving it here. He's enjoying the football and everything about it. The quality is good. I always thought MLS was maybe a mid-level championship league, but both of these teams would give teams in the lower half of the EPL a good game -- and a lesson in possession."

For all things NYCFC and the world of futbol, follow Glenn on Twitter at @GlennCrooks

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