Lions’ Joseph mentors players
ORLANDO CITY AT TORONTO FC, 7:30 P.M. WED., FOX SPORTS 1
It’s been about two months since Miles Joseph picked up his family and moved to Orlando. He and his wife, LeeAnn, haven’t found a house yet, and the children —boy, 12, and girl, 9 — still are settling into their Windermere schools and youth soccer clubs.
None of that matters on the pitch and training grounds, though, where the acclimation period was nearly non-existent. In the eyes of fans and in the proclamations from Orlando City executives, the the objective was clear — win immediately.
As a former professional player and midfielder for the U.S. men’s national team in the 1996 Olympics, Joseph’s role in the new coaching staff largely centers on serving as a position coach to Orlando City’s midfielders and forwards. He followed new head coach Jason Kreis from Kansas City to New York City FC to Orlando City. He has been joined on that journey by defensive assistant CJ Brown, a former centerback. Kreis, one of the most prolific goal scorers in MLS history, oversees the entire squad but provides additional direction to strikers.
Results have varied, sweeping victories followed by devastating losses. A major talking point in trying to diagnose the cause of Orlando City allowing 12 goals in its last three games was errors when the Lions were not in possession.
In addition to the challenges of moving his family more than 1,000 miles down the coast and taking charge of a team midseason, Joseph is working with the staff to implement a holistic defensive philosophy and make sure it is executed by the midfield.
“I don’t know if it’s been a challenge, but the way we like to defend is a little bit different, I think, than guys are used to,” Joseph said a few days before the Lions dropped their third consecutive match 4-1 at D.C. United. “It’s going to take a little bit of time to get everybody for 90 minutes, every single game, on the same page ... but everybody here is willing and able to step up and make the commitment to defend as a unit. Some days, as we’ve seen, are better than others.”
Joseph said one of the differences includes working extremely hard as a whole for shorter periods of time. For example, when Orlando City has a lot of bodies around the ball, that’s when they need to make a commitment, hustle and give everything they have to win the ball and “not try to win the ball at any moment and chase it across the field,” he said.
It worked well in backto-back wins against important conference competitors NYCFC and Montreal earlier this month, but the team failed to execute that plan during large portions of the recent losses.
Joseph sat in the locker room beside dejected-looking centerback David Mateos after the D.C. loss Saturday night and spoke about how to remain steadfast after such beatings.
“We speak about the feelings,” Mateos said of his chat with Joseph.
“Nobody wants to [allow] so many goals in the games, but when you have this situation, the confidence goes down and it’s a little bit frustrating, you know?”