Kreis: We Are Contenders

Jason Kreis has seen quite the turn-around in fortunes since the 89th minute against the Colorado Rapids in the final game of the regular season. Needing a point to make the playoffs and a goal down, his Real Salt Lake looked like they were to end another season in disappointment without having tasted the savory fruits of playoff action in the club's four-year history.

That's when things shifted dramatically. A Yura Movsisyan injury-time goal squeaked the Utah club into the playoffs where the club showed tremendous heart and eagerness to match and defeat a much-fancied Chivas USA in the first round. But Kreis thinks his team is still playing the same, it's just others' perceptions which have changed.

“The biggest difference between where we sit now and where we sat in the 89th minute against Colorado is the rest of the people out there now believe," he said. "Now that we’ve got a couple of nice results and made the playoffs and won a playoff series and all of a sudden everyone else wants to jump on the band wagon and I welcome that. I’m just proud of the team and their belief that has never wavered.”

That confidence is obvious in the way the team has been taking to the pitch lately. Even in the away leg against Chivas, the team come out fighting, willing to trade blows, and scored two crucial goals against a usually stingy Chivas backline.

“We are a team that feels very confident in what we are doing," said Kreis. "We are a team that has shown we can defend extremely well and we have attacked extremely well. We are extremely happy to be where we are."

They're happy to be where they are--into the second round of the playoffs--but they aren't content with that. Kreis, one of the league's all-time top goal scorers with 108, demands more.

"We feel like this is a tremendous opportunity, but we also think we are contenders. We’re not here just to have a good time, and to say we can make it to the playoffs. Not our intention at all,” he declared. 

RSL's contender status will be tested on Saturday when the club host Red Bull New York, who produced the result of the season to oust two-time MLS Cup champs Houston Dynamo. Only one club can emerge from the single-round knock-out match and compete in the final, but either one will be somewhat of a Cinderella story. Kreis will be leaning on the belief and confidence he has instilled in his squad to edge RSL through.

"We’ve gone through many trials and tribulations, but one thing hasn’t changed in our locker room, and that’s the belief in ourselves," he proclaimed. "We’ve had an innate feeling and an innate belief in ourselves, and that more so than anything else is what’s carrying the day now for Real Salt Lake.”

Zac Lee Rigg is an associate editor of Goal.com USA