Number one, no one else will either. FC Dallas is either the Red blue and white, or the Blue Red and White, but Black is no longer in the scheme. But...what player are you? It's about time for the staff to have given out pink slips for those who might not want to sign that apartment lease just yet. What color did you get? Did Jason tell you what is plans are? And by the way, the PLAYERS blew chow for over a month of the season, and IT IS THEY who deserve the blame. I am very glad firing Clarke is an option next year (how much can it cost to buy out a half-year of a contract?), but let's get the facts right. The guys on the field played like zombies for a lot of games. If I had been Collin Clarke I might actually have assaulted some of the loafers when they came off the field. With Kreis gone, there will be cap room to run some of the dead weight off the team and get players that know playing hard is how you win.
It is always hard to see a great player make the decision about when to hang up the cleats. It is too bad that Jason could not have ended his career this year. I think that he deserves to be remembered for the great player that he was. He will always be my son's favorite. He is the icon for the Dallas Burn. However, he needs some honest advice from his friends. It is time to be successful at some other facet of life. As for the players taking the entire blame for the year...no. I saw them attempt to execute the game that CC brought. Unfortunately it was a predictable, boring, and ineffective plan. Despite their technical and tactical limitations, they played hard. Soccer is not American football. This game is more than just a couple of meat heads smashing heads on a field. From the regular comments of those on this board, I am not sure if people realize just what a cerebral game this really is. Coaching criticisms and praises always seem to degenerate into the coach being some kind of bully/cheerleader. Coaching is more than just whipping the players into a frothy lather and having them crack their skull in a collision. The great coaches seem to have their teams in a confident and relaxed posture. This football rah-rah mentality is actually counter productive to focus and on field success. More proof in my mind that we lack a profesional organization in Dallas, or the withdrawn recesses of Frisco.
The idea was initially floated out there by Brushes Sand, and the more I think about it the more merit it has. Moving Kreis from front-line to the back-line might be the ticket to extending his career. Does anybody remember how old Peter Vermes was when he quit trying to score goals and started defending them? Vermes was one of the anchors of KC's defensive wall that won it all in 2000. Locally, Ted Eck is another example of a guy that was not so effective as a forward in MLS, but was a very effective midfield destroyer. However, before that has a chance of becoming a reality. Kreis has to do some soul searching and decide that it what he wants to do.
Yeah but we only sucked so bad 'cause we had to play ALL of our games on the road and half of those road games were in that crappy town called Sucklake.
much of your post had merit, but maybe you missed a lot of the sucking that i saw. i question large portions of this team's effort for several stretches during this season.
Typical surface level response of a fan looking for any easy excuse to justify the Burn's bad season. First, the primary reason the Burn "stunk" (which I agree with) was because their coach couldn't figure out an effective consistent style of play with players he largely drafted or traded for. Some games were possession oriented with Oscar running the midfield and Kreis being a play-maker option up top. Other games were quick direct long-balls over the top and down the middle to let Eddie and Tony try to run onto. Still others were an attempt to get balls down the wings to the endline for crosses for the forwards. But the majority of the games were a confused mixture of each of those styles resulting in moments of real soccer spread among hours of desperate unattractive soccer. But if stats and numbers are your guide, consider the fact that the Burn made the playoffs every year in which Kreis (naturally with the help of many others) was healthy and played the entire season in a consistent lineup with a consistent style. He was forced to miss several games early this season due to his knee injury. Since CC had Tony and Eddie available, long balls were the norm. When that didn't yield consistent results the second reason they stunk emerged - CC couldn't figure out what players to use (probably due to his inability to develop a team style to follow). So we saw a new 11 just about every game. Because CC was unable to find a style and the players to execute it, he rotated the players way too much. Therefore, there was never any consistent on-field results from one week to the next. This wasn't only true for the forwards, but also the central midfield and goalkeepers. I a coach cannot figure out his starting GK by midway through the season, he is struggling! You also mention Kreis's scoring being "MIA" the last 12 games of the season. Again, look at the numbers. Several of those games CC didn't even use Kreis until 70 or 80 minutes of the game was already in the books. There are 9 years of stats to show Kreis is a proven scorer given the opportunity (including 5 goals in a row early this year before he was replaced). As a proven scorer he was defended this year much closer than Tony or Eddie, leaving them much more time and space to find scoring chances. Naturally, their scoring was up because of that. Next, you overlook the service (quality and quantity) to the forwards. Also, look at Kreis's assists over the past several seasons, including those years with Eddie on the team. Eddie is a Roy Lassiter type forward. Serve it out in front of him and let him use his speed to score. Look back at how many of Eddie's goals were created by runs and or balls of Kreis vs. the other way around. The numbers clearly support the "reality" that Eddie is a runner and shooter, not a play-maker or passer. No one can honestly dispute that had Kreis been allowed to play the full matches toward the end of the season as Eddie had, that his goals (and assists) would have been even higher (likely higher than Eddie's). Mark these words - Kreis is leaving Dallas because CC blamed him and other players for their failure to make the playoffs, without taking any responsibility for his coaching staffs shortcomings, and because CC wanted to protect players with far less to offer Dallas next year in Frisco. No professional player with the strong personal and playing ethics he has would stay in that environment. Also, I can guarantee you that Kreis's scoring numbers (goals and assists) next year will surpass Eddie's. And don't believe any of the Dallas "spin" you read or hear about them helping Kreis out by "trading" him to Real. Dallas had nothing to do with it other than their mistake in letting Kreis go instead of CC. (Don't you guys find it interesting league seasoned coaches like Hankinson and Sigi can be fired with winning playoff type seasons, but Dallas keeps the coach with the worst conference record....)
Hmmmmmm...this littlerocksoccer guy talks a pretty good game for his 2nd post. He may also have a little bit of growing to do. Both Vermes and Eck were several inches taller than Kreis. Of course, they played in the middle where as Kreis or Rhine could play wide where height is less of a disadvantage. Interesting - but I just don't see it happening. I think Kreis is too proud. And that's fine - but I think he would rather start at forward in Real than play defense in Frisco.
If he has some inside information into Clarke's head, I'd love to know where it came from. And if Clarke blames Kreis and the players for losing, I'd love to have a source on that. In the official web site piece, GE said the goal for this year was to make the playoffs, and the team failed to do that. What's interesting is that GE did NOT say the goal was to win the Cup. "Being Colin Clarke", I would have tried so many lineups and styles and options because I want to give the players the chance to show me what they can and cannot do firsthand on the pitch in the game, not in practice. We also had national team duty for EJ and Gibbs that Dallas has not had before, and some nagging injuries. We learned quite a bit: Gbandi makes bad decisions, Salyer has trouble going forward, Davis can't play in the middle, Toni can't shoot, Jolley gets out of position, Reyes forgets to play defense, Oscar probably doesn't have the legs anymore, Nunez wasn't quite ready, Quill sucks and Talley is... Talley. We also learned Cassar is better than we thought, EJ can be a force when he gets service, ROB is awesome, Gibbs is solid (except when he scores on his own goal), Simo is the Destoryer (not the Distributor), Behnke and Goodson are capable, and we still need a center mid. See, the problem is there are more negatives on the board than positives. So I see those negative guys as expendible and the positive guys sticking. Now JK is in a class by himself because he's the only marketable face on the club right now. He may know that and decide to pull an Emmit Smith and say "my money my way or I'm gone." And if he does, let him go. But FCD needs him to be a leader and playmaker, like Moreno is for DCSucks. I hope he's willing to take a little cut if necessary to do that and make a run for the Cup in 05.
Dear Jason, or Jason's wife or brother -in-law or whoever on the inside that you are, Please forward to Jason how greatful I am for instilling a passion for the game and scoring goals that you have given to him. I can only imagine how many kids in DFW decided that soccer was thier game due to Jason. I still hear the echo's of my son's imaginary games in the back yard where he slides and uses the outside of the foot to jab the ball in the back of the net, "goooal Jason Kries!!!!!". Son is now a little older, but Jason is still his idol. I remember going to an exhibition match and having Jason hobbling about w/ ice packs on his knee. Jason took the time to say nice things to him. Going to Blue Sky and Green Hill to watch practices, and Jason would take time to pose for pictures with my boy. I feel greatly indebted to Kreis for the role model and entertainment value that he has been. I also think that he is a remarkable and proud guy who needs to set high marks for the next phase of life. Unless finances are the issue, I wish he could go out on top. His great legacy deserves no less. Thanks Jason. Now, go make big time $$'s in club soccer or take on the challenge of whipping arrogant young smart asses into future stars of the game. Don't sully your image by hanging on with a ,as you have aptly documented, bad situation with the current regime. Going out of state to prove something to yourself will not give you the satisfaction you think you will get. Take on a new challenge. You can still apply that competitive fire at a different aspect of the game. You can still be the best, just in a different way.
Kreis had plenty of opportunities to score at a higher rate than Johnson in the run to the season end and he consistently missed those chances. I would've liked nothing better for Kreis to show us that he has fully recovered from his injury and/or has re0-discovered his scoring touch. He didn't. If he leaves and proves us wrong elsewhere, I'll be quite happy for him and regret not holding on to him because he has brought many fond memories. But as a betting man he wouldn't be the horse I'd back.