On Sunday afternoon, Orlando City drew 2-2 against the Chicago Fire in Head Coach Jason Kreis’ first away match. As the team takes a point home to Orlando, they will return to training and continue to work on the methods and mentality that Kreis has brought to the squad; a strategy that the team believes will earn them a spot in the playoffs.
Kreis knows exactly what the team needs to work on before the match against Colorado next Saturday. “We need to get players to react instinctively so that we can paint a picture for them, but then we have to train and there has to be repetitions on where the players are moving defensively to help cover each other,” Kreis said after Sunday’s match. “I know that takes time.”
Taking the point home will definitely boost the confidence of the players as they move forward in their quest for the playoffs. Forward Cyle Larin said that success on the pitch all comes down to training. “It all translates to the game,” Larin said after the match. “Training has been hard and it’s been sharp. When we get to a game, it will be the same thing. Frickin’ sharp. So I think it helps a lot. We’ll keep our fitness up.”
“We just need to keep moving forward from here,” Larin said. “Go home and train hard and come back next week.”
While players still need time to adjust to the new style of training, Kreis is starting to see results and the players feel good about where they are at. “It’s definitely different,” Goalkeeper Joe Bendik said about training. “I think it’s for the good. There’s a lot of real positive things that are coming from it.”
“The message is clear,” Bendik said. “It’s just gonna take a little bit of time for us to really solidify what it is.”
After the New England Revolution lost 4-0 to the Philadelphia Union, Orlando City is now tied for DC United for the last spot in the playoffs. While they technically still hang just below the red line, the players definitely feel that they are in control of their own destiny.
“We have a difficult game in Colorado coming up,” Bendik said. “We’ll have to plan for them and take it one game at a time.”
