ORLANDO, Fla.- Orlando City head coach Jason Kreis on Friday indicated that while the team was “disappointed” in the actions of Cyle Larin in the wake of the young striker’s DUI arrest this week, they will take “a family approach” and be fully supportive as he goes through the league-mandated protocols.
Larin was admitted to the league’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health (SABH) program on Thursday and he will not be eligible to participate in any competition or team activity until his SABH assessment is complete, he is cleared for participation by the SABH Program doctors, and Major League Soccer completes its investigation.
“Having to wake up to that phone call was difficult,” Kreis explained. “Cyle is obviously distraught and very disappointed in himself and his decision, but he wants to move forward as quickly as possible. At the moment, the most important thing is we make it clear we’re not happy with his decision. It goes against what we want to establish with this club.
“On the private side, we also believe strongly that we are a family, and families come together when mistakes happen. So we need to be strict in our view of it and tell Cyle, and the rest of the group, that these decisions are poor and they affect everybody. Then we need to move on. Family members forgive and try to help each other in times of need.”
Although there might be something of a generation gap, 35-year-old Orlando captain Kaká hopes to pass on some of his wisdom to the 22-year-old Larin so that the young Canadian international can put the incident behind him and look after himself over the course of his career.
“When I started my career, there was a whole model for athletes – sleep early, don’t drink, eat health food, this kind of thing,” the Brazilian ace explained. “Now it is different. Now I think [alcohol] is part of everybody’s life, not just athletes.
“But I still think the body is the most important thing we have. This is certainly [true] in my case; my body is my investment, so I need to take care of it. But a lot of players try to have a normal life and Cyle is not the exception. What we need to do now is be with him and say that we don’t agree with this situation, but we still love Cyle Larin.”
And after one of the tougher weeks in team history, Kreis said he expects the players to come together to put the events of Wednesday and Thursday behind them.
“Now it’s about how we react, and, from my point of view, I want to spin this immediately and say, ‘This is a really difficult situation that we’re in, from [Wednesday’s] match and Cyle’s decision after the match and it’s on us to have a positive reaction.’ This is an opportunity for us to come together tighter than we ever have before and show our fans what we’re made of and who we are.”
