There are five matches left in the regular season. Orlando City sits just a few points outside of the playoffs. At 34 points, they are tied with D.C. United and two points behind the New England Revolution. It’s too soon to say this weekend’s match against D.C. United is a must win, but with each week there is less and less time to make up ground.
Head Coach Jason Kreis has been here before. After spending three years as a player with Real Salt Lake and six years as their head coach, Kreis had more than one year where they took the last playoff position in the dying days of the regular season. In 2008, they earned the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs after beating FC Dallas 3-1 and drawing against the Colorado Rapids 1-1 in their final two matches, holding off their playoff competition. In 2009, Real Salt Lake took the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs after winning their last match of the regular season against the Rapids 3-0. The teams were tied for points, but Salt Lake won due to total number of wins that season.
With five weeks left in the season and points as tight as they are, anything can happen in the final month of the season. All of Orlando City’s remaining matches will be against conference opponents, and four of those five matches will be against opponents within striking distance in the conference. Other than Toronto FC, Philadelphia has the most points of Orlando City’s remaining opponents-- they have 41 points to Orlando City’s 34. Anything can happen.
For Kreis, it is important that his team stays focused in the home stretch. “For several years at Real Salt Lake, we got into the playoffs on the very last day,” Kreis said after training this week. “So, you just gotta keep your guys believing that things will go their way, keep them working extremely hard, keep them focused on the little things, not so much being only focused on the result. I believe that the result is a collection of good things that happened in the match, little things, attention to detail, effort. Those things are put forth and results follow.
