PURCHASE, N.Y. – There will be a time, long from now, when Jason Kreis will reminisce about his time at Real Salt Lake, where he went from the first player in club history to MLS Cup-winning coach and architect of one of the league’s model franchises.
This is not that day.
At the moment, Kreis’ attention is squarely on his current team, New York City FC, and trying to guide them to their first road victory Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium (10 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
“A lot of incredible memories there, a lot of very, very close friends and special times. It will be hopefully a great occasion,” Kreis said. “I’m a little more focused on the match, obviously. Maybe if we’re a team at the top of the table right now we could talk more about the reminiscing and the beautiful affair it’s going to be.”
Kreis returns to Rio Tinto for the first time since his successful six-year stint as head coach ended. All told, Kreis spent eight years in Salt Lake City and his No. 9 is retired.
“I really don’t know what to expect or how I’m going to feel,” Kreis said. “I’m just going to do my best to try and enjoy it.”
Kreis said he also doesn’t know what the reception will be when he walks out of the tunnel for the first time as a visiting coach.
“I know it’s typical that the fans there are pretty hard on the opponents and pretty vocal,” Kreis said. “How can I expect anything different than that?”
While Kreis doesn’t have the time right now to look back at his time at Real Salt Lake, he has a greater appreciation for how difficult the process was to build a program now that he’s trying to do the same with NYCFC.
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“I’ve begun this process again here and have certainly had a short memory because when I think back about how difficult that was, it was extremely difficult,” Kreis said. “It took a lot of time, it took a lot of hard work and it took tears and sweat and everything that goes into it.”
What Kreis helped build was a team that was a perennial MLS Cup contender and champion in 2009.
“I’m really hopeful we can do it all over again here,” Kreis said. “Maybe even to a bigger extent.”
