Unless his team wins tonight's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup game against the expansion San Jose Earthquakes though, it will end April in the same cold, damp fashion as the franchise's first three seasons.
A victory is no given.
RSL has lost to the other recent expansion teams, Toronto FC and Chivas USA, in the past three weeks.
Facing similar circumstances during RSL's 0-5-1 start in 2006, midfielder Chris Klein (now with Los Angeles) counseled patience.
He said he had been part of worse teams with less talent, and it was just a matter of time before RSL started winning.
The veteran was right. Three wins in the subsequent four games turned RSL's season around. With a 10-13-9 final record, however, the team missed the playoffs by one victory.
Fast forward two years and Kreis, a close friend of Klein's, is preaching the same.
"One factor that can't be altered is time," Kreis said recently. "The time it took me to make the transition [from coach to player], to feel comfortable . . . to get 20 new players to play well together. In all factors, it takes time."
These are tempered words from a fierce competitor who seems intent on willing his new-look squad to victory. His clock is ticking.
Virtually everyone close to RSL agrees that the players are more skilled, younger and deeper than in the past. Unfortunately, for the third consecutive year, RSL's upgrades haven't been enough to keep pace with the rest of the league.
Or as one veteran MLS watcher told me, "the blend still isn't right."
For starters, the team lacks a game-breaking playmaker or scorer.
Javier Morales, fits the mold of an international midfielder general with flair, but hasn't shown he can take over a game like Los Angeles' Landon Donovan (who has eight goals in five games this season) or Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco, whose 90th-minute goal on opening day slashed RSL's hopes like a dagger.
Hard-working midfielders accompany Morales, but their collective play lacks width and has bogged down in the attacking third of the field. A flurry of squandered chances by four heralded forwards hasn't helped - torture no doubt to Kreis, the first player in MLS history to score 100 goals.
On the positive side, RSL is defending better, except for breakdowns at key moments and in strategic locations on the field. If that sounds like a reprise of the team's first three seasons, it is.
An injury forced his hand on struggling central defender Matias Mantilla last weekend, hastening the inevitable. Jamison Olave made his debut, and the imposing Colombian isn't likely to relinquish the starting spot any time soon.
It's too early to write off RSL, as one hot month will keep the team in playoff contention come September.
A win in tonight's Open Cup game will give them a much-needed confidence boost, with two more conference rivals, L.A. and FC Dallas, coming to Rice-Eccles Stadium in the next 10 days.
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* Former RSL GM STEVE PASTORINO contributes regularly to The Tribune on soccer. He welcomes your comments at pastorinosoccer
@comcast.net.
