Lions working to bring back B-team

A topic of conversation in the weeks leading up to former Orlando City coach firing was the Lions’ former second-division club, Orlando City B.

With players trying to recover from various injuries and with some younger players missing out on match minutes, there was no way to get players time after OCB suspended operations prior to the start of the 2018 season.

Orlando City General Manager said the plan is to relaunch OCB as a USL Division III club in 2019. Several “B” and “-II” versions of MLS clubs are taking the same path.

Before Kreis was fired, he and a few players brought up the lack of a second team as a negative, saying it was tough for certain players to be ready for MLS play while recovering from injury. Or, in the place of players like left back ,it was hard to be ready to play with the first team without prior match minutes.

New coach said for now he’s focusing on Orlando City’s first team as it tries to navigate the remainder of the 2018 MLS season.

“To be honest with you, my focus has been the things that I can affect now,’’ he said. “I think OCB, what has happened, what will happen, that’s a conversation for further down the road.

“Most coaches say they want to win. I really want to win. It’s serious. It affects my personal life when I’m not winning. I want to win. I want the focus on trying to get us ready, prepared and prepped to win.”