The lovely folks at Heineken would have us believe that this is rivalry week. And one may concede that any gameweek that includes a match between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers makes it so. Or even between the Impact de Montreal and Toronto FC – especially when those two teams are fighting for playoff positions.
The Last Temptation of Kreis: the NYCFC-OCSC Rivalry
Rivalry?
And while there has been, shall we say, “friction”, between New York City Football Club and their purple brethren from the Sunshine State, one cannot legitimately call that animus a “rivalry” – unless preceding the term with the word “sibling”, to contextualize it with the fact that the two teams entered the league at the same time, and have, through their five matches thus far, been “chippy” on the order of twin two year olds arguing over who MLS loved better.
But a rivalry? No. NYCFC have but one rival, and, in spite of speculation to the contrary, fans know where they live.
Except for one thing
For when fans of NYCFC went to bed on Wednesday night, their team was still in first place in the east. By a slim margin to be sure, with Toronto FC clearly nipping at their heels. But 85 minutes into a 1-1 match, Toronto’s third in ten days, and third road game at that, one felt reasonably confident that… oh, for crying out loud.
And just like that, NYCFC fans found themselves in second place in the east.
And facing a coach with a chip on his shoulder.
Okay, two things
Now, I’m not saying that Jason Kreis would go out of his way to get a win against NYCFC. I’m not saying that he would take weird glee if he sent his former bosses back to the Bronx with the same number of points they had when they hit the pitch at Camping World Stadium. I don’t believe that such a victory would be especially sweet if earlier that same day Red Bull New York happened to defeat the floundering New England Revolution, thus putting them one measly point behind the team that unceremoniously sacked Mr. Kreis at the end of last season.
It is the furthest thing from my mind, the idea, that Jason Kreis – who moved his family to ENGLAND for the chance to coach NYCFC – would laugh like a drunken hyena if his team happened to beat his old team AND if the Red Bulls won AND if, say, the Philadelphia Union also beat Sporting Kansas City the evening before putting them a scant one point behind NYCFC as well.
No. I’m not saying any of that.
Wait. Hold on. Sorry.
Actually, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
I think Jason Kreis would willingly give up winning another match for the rest of this season if he felt he had a hand in torpedoing NYCFC’s post-season chances. I think he’d give up his right arm for that.
And I’m not sure I’d blame him.
Do I think he’ll send players out to “Nigel De Jong” one of our DPs? No (though keep an eye on Brek Shea. That boy is trouble…). But Orlando is currently in 7th place in the east. Of their nine remaining games, eight of them are against playoff teams (admittedly, two are against DC United. But as we’ve indicated before, we believe that DC are a better team than their record indicates). Their odds of making the playoffs, while not impossible (they’re not the Houston Dynamo, after all) are not great. If it was me and I’d taken the helm of a team halfway through the season, I would do what Kreis more or less did when he joined Real Salt Lake – use the rest of this season to prepare for the next one.
Which would mean experimenting with combinations and formations, starting players who perhaps haven’t gotten a lot of playing time to see what they can do. To let other teams see what they can do for the off season.
Is that what I expect to see in Orlando on Sunday?
No.
Kreis the Redeemer
I expect to see an Orlando City Soccer Club that is out for blood. That wants to prove themselves to this coach – a coach that many are probably still auditioning for. Led by someone who – whether he admits it to the press or not – is bent on revenge.
Oh, and he has admitted it, sort of. “I have no particular love for their club or no particular fantastic remembrance for it” Paul Tenorio at FourFourTwo quotes Kreis as saying. “I felt it was completely unfair and downright irrational to remove somebody from that position after one year.”
So will Sunday’s match be a “rivalry”?
No.
“Grudge?” “Vendetta?” “Brouhaha?”
Definitely.
“Redemption?” Maybe.
But not a “rivalry.”
