By FRANCO PANIZO
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Win or lose, Saturday’s MLS Cup Final could be Jason Kreis’ last game as head coach of Real Salt Lake.
Kreis admitted as much during RSL’s first 2013 MLS Cup press conference on Thursday night, just two days before he leads the club to the championship match against hosts Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park.
Kreis did not specifically mention New York City FC, the expansion club that is reportedly interested in his services and is set to begin play in 2015, when asked about his uncertain future. But he did admit that it is possible he departs from Real Salt Lake once the season officially ends and his contract expires.
“The truth of the matter is that the home match against Chivas (USA) was our last home match of the regular season and at that time I thought there was a possibility that that would be the last match that I would coach for Real Salt Lake,” said Kreis. “Then we went into the second playoff match against the (LA) Galaxy and I thought that might be the last home match that I had to coach with this group and then we went into the Portland match and I thought that match be the last match and the second Portland match I thought that might be the last match.
“We go into this match and yes, it might be the last match that I get to coach with this group and I’ll soak it up, for sure, every single moment of it. But that decision has yet to be made, it’s something that I think I’ve done a pretty decent job at putting on the backburner and I’ll continue to do so for another 48 hours.”
The 40-year-old Kreis has been RSL’s head coach since 2007 and was the first player acquired by the club prior to that. He managed the club to an MLS Cup victory in 2009 and also led them to a CONCACAF Champions League final in 2011 and U.S. Open Cup final this season.
Real Salt Lake have said they are attempting to re-sign the successful head coach.
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