Kreis has the answers for Real Salt Lake
Fourth-year head coach opts for later training start with virtually identical roster
Related
1. Taking a stand -- by taking it easy for a while: There's always been a certain amount of groupthink at work when it comes to preseason training in Major League Soccer.
Managers and GMs seem to believe that the typical nine or so preseason weeks of fitness, friendlies and seemingly ceaseless practices is too darn long. But nobody really does much to shake it up. There seems to be a certain fear factor at work; if everybody else starts on X date, and we start 7-10 days later and things do happen to go south in the season, media and fans will point back to the pin-headed, contrarian choice to start later than everyone else.
So, on they go, practicing too long and complaining about it.
Until this year.
A couple of clubs have nudged the start dates back just a little. But none have knocked it way back the way Real Salt Lake have.
The league champs will start training camp officially on Feb. 10, about two weeks later than many teams. It's at least a week later than every club.
Manager Jason Kreis is quick to point out that different teams are in different places along Development Road. Red Bull New York started earlier than anyone. Of course, the Red Bulls stunk up the joint last year, so that makes some sense. Plus the club has a new manager, who is also brand new to the MLS brand. So there's a big learning curve and much work ahead for the team about to move into its new Harrison (New Jersey) home.
But Real Salt Lake, following two seasons of trying to get the mix just so, are in a more settled place. Plus, the club went about month deeper into the calendar year than most MLS sides in 2009.
Two years ago, Kreis and RSL started as early as everyone else. They backed off just a little last year but couldn't adjust too heavily because of three extended trips outside of Utah. So this year, Kreis cut that back to two trips and took the plunge on a larger philosophical adjustment, a fresh approach to tackling the taxing 7-plus month season.
"What we learned from last year and the year before, and what I learned from my years as a player, is that [what they did before] is too long," Kreis said Friday from Utah. "You just get to the point in preseason where you are sick and tired of it and you are so ready to start playing meaningful games."
Kreis noticed a year ago that his team reached its preseason peak during the trip to Charleston, S.C., for the annual preseason tournament there -- about six weeks into the preseason training.
"I think in our league there was a lot of, 'Well, if they are doing it we had better to it, because we can't let anybody get a competitive advantage over us,' " Kreis said.
So he's trying to gain a competitive advantage but going about it in wholly different way.
2. When standing pat isn't standing pat: Kreis has heard some low-level rumblings that perhaps his club should have leaned harder into efforts of offseason personnel churn, to keep ahead of the pack as other clubs add talent -- all with the champs squarely in their sights.
There's also some similar concern in Seattle that Sigi Schmid hasn't done enough to improve Sounders FC, who did so well in their expansion season.
But standing pat doesn't have to be a bad thing -- it really depends on who is doing the standing. It's one thing if San Jose drags those 14 losses and that minus-14 goal difference into 2010 with roughly the same plan and talent. But Seattle and RSL had reason to like where they ended.
Besides, because the MLS transfer windows extends into mid-April, there's plenty of time to add pieces. Then the season's second transfer window opens in July, and plenty of teams have added productive players well into August in the past. So, there's always room to wiggle forward on the personnel front.
RSL, despite being league champs, is a fairly young team. Only two starters in the field during last year's MLS Cup Final were over 30 years of age (Robbie Russell and Andy Williams). So there are still a few rungs to be climbed up the developmental ladder for the talented likes of Robbie Findley, Tony Beltran, Will Johnson and others.
Where the criticism may be valid is at striker, where Yura Movsisyan has been removed from a forward force that probably needed some reinforcement in the first place. Kreis went to Argentina in the offseason to kick the tires on some strikers, while GM Garth Lagerwey visited Ecuador to assess one unnamed attacker. Kreis said something might come of that yet.
Meanwhile, he also believes that Abe Thompson, acquired off waivers from Kansas City in the offseason, could be the man to replace Movsisyan's production. Thompson has always been the third of fourth striker on the depth chart at three previous MLS stops, but Kreis thinks that says more about the forwards in front of him in those places than about any deficiencies in Thompson's game. There is an issue of flagging pace that he must work to overcome, as everyone knows.
As for Seattle, Sounders FC remain a fairly young team with two notable exceptions -- and one of them doesn't really count. Kasey Keller may be 39, but it's a young 39. And he plays goalkeeper, so age isn't as relevant to the discussion.
Otherwise, Schmid believes that improvement through individual development and a focus on faster and more efficient movement with the ball will provide ample forward progress.
The man has two MLS titles, and he sure built a winner in Seattle faster than anyone expected. In other words, he's earned the benefit of the doubt here. If he says there's room for improvement without significant roster makeover, he probably knows what he's talking about.
3. Weather woes for the teams already training: Meanwhile, among the teams that began workouts earlier, the weather is doing no favors.
Worthwhile outdoor sessions will be nearly impossible for D.C. United this weekend in the snow-socked nation's capital. Good luck with all that.
Peter Nowak moved his Philadelphia Union's first-ever sessions of preseason, otherwise known as the toughest meet-and-greet this side of Marine boot camp, down south to Greensboro, N.C., to escape some of harsh weather. Only it didn't work; the wintry mix is gumming up the works in North Carolina, too.
Temperatures in Toronto on Saturday should reach all the way up around 19. Preki's new team is afforded some protection under the bubble at Lamport Stadium. They won't have to worry about the mean Ontario winter for a while after Monday, when Preki's team pushes south to Bradenton, Fla.
Columbus is already there, having moved in Monday after a week of indoor workouts in Ohio.
Just northwest of Toronto, the Fire and new manager Carlos de los Cobos boogied out of Chicago after just a few indoor workouts, relocating his gang and trying to establish his preferred brand of attractive toca-toca soccer (very rough translation, lots of quick passing) while in sunnier Phoenix.
In New England, well, they know better than to even hope for outdoor workouts at this time of year. So the first week of preseason workouts, with minimal ball work, was all indoors at the field house on the Gillette Stadium grounds.
4. World Cup spots still open for MLS talent: A plane stuffed with the top-shelf U.S. soccer players will lift off en route to South Africa in less than four months.
Typically, by this time in the process, the national team manager has a very good idea of will or won't be on that plane -- late injuries and perhaps one or two final selections notwithstanding.
In this case, Bob Bradley probably knows a lot about how his defense and midfield will shape up, again allowing for late movement due to injury hardship. And he certainly has a fix on the goalkeeping situation, so long as Tim Howard remains unharmed by injury.
But the situation at forward is wide open. Still.
And while that's not a favorable position for Bradley, it does leave the door wide, wide open for a small platoon of strikers still dreaming of claiming a seat on the plane -- several of whom earn their wages in MLS.
Four forwards were just called into a February national team camp, one that's completely made up of MLS talent. The way the numbers line up, one or two MLS strikers who didn't play a major qualifying role could still earn a spot on the final 23-man roster.
Conor Casey, Brian Ching, Jeff Cunningham and Robbie Findley are on the list to report to the camp on Feb. 10. Ching's role in the long qualifying process waned toward the end. Casey was a fringe force in qualifying, although he did have two goals in an important win over Honduras.
Findley has a lot of promise in MLS and perhaps on the national team, but he's been capped only twice. And Cunningham, the Golden Boot-holder, will need to show more than he did in a January friendly in order to keep going on his late-career attempt at international rebirth.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that Bradley will take three or four strikers. Jozy Altidore will probably be one of them. MLS alums Eddie Johnson and Kenny Cooper are in the mix. Otherwise, MLS matches in late March and early April could still have a lot to say about which strikers get on the plane.
5. The ups and downs of Mathis' move to L.A.: Clint Mathis' return to Los Angeles makes sense in some ways. It's where his MLS days started, and his wife's family is in the Los Angeles area.
On the other hand, Mathis' introduction doesn't move the age needle the right direction at The Home Depot Center, where an old midfield just added crept a little further north along the creaky joint, sore feet and aching muscle factor.
Mathis is 33. He joins a midfield that already includes David Beckham (34), Dema Kovalenko (31), Chris Klein (33) and Eddie Lewis (35). Jovan Kirovski (32) played frequently in the midfield as well. (The Galaxy did shed some years when Stefani Miglioranzi, 32, went to Philadelphia in November's expansion draft.)
Manager Bruce Arena made it all work last year, aiding matters by introducing Landon Donovan into the mix, moving the valuable attacker out of his withdrawn forward spot to help add some pace in midfield.
Where will Mathis fit? Remember that Beckham won't be available until sometime in July or perhaps even early August. And Donovan will miss a bushel of games in May and June while prepping for and then playing at World Cup 2010. So Mathis will be useful as a stop-gap there, potentially on either side.
Mathis also played at times last year as a central midfielder for Real Salt Lake, and he can still play as a forward, although he's not as pacey as he was back in the day.
He says he wants to add leadership and experience to his new team, although he understands that's not exactly in short supply.
"Obviously, they have guys here, David, Landon, Gregg (Berhalter), Eddie," Mathis said. "Hopefully I can bring something in the attacking end, whether it be in midfield or wherever it be needed."
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve writes for www.DailySoccerFix.com and can be reached at mailto:BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
