Soccer columnist Ives Galarcep updates us on the New York Red Bulls' hunt for a new coach, saying that early signs show that club owner Red Bull is not looking to bring in a high-profile foreign coach, as many expected. Unnamed sources tell him the team is instead scouring the
pool of top MLS assistant coaches in addition to negotiating with Chicago Fire head coach Juan Carlos Osorio, whose wife is understood to be keen on a move away from the Windy City.
That MLS isn't looking outside its borders is a good thing, Galarcep says, because the history of big-name foreign coaches in this league is not a happy one. For one thing, the MLS Cup title has never been won by a head coach who either wasn't American, a former MLS assistant or a former MLS player, he says -- with the exception of 2000 Kansas City coach Bob Gansler and 2002 L.A. coach Sigi Schmid, who were born outside of the U.S. but grew up here. No coach without an American background has ever made it to the MLS Cup final.
Some big names can be added to the list of foreign failures -- the three biggest coached the former New York MetroStars: Carlos Quieroz, former Real Madrid coach and current assistant at Manchester United, Carlos Alberto Parreira, a World Cup winner with Brazil in '94 and current coach of South Africa, and Bora Milutinovic, a former U.S. national team coach. Previous experience in American soccer is important Galarcep says, because it helps to understand the mentality and the technical quality of American soccer players, in addition to having a working knowledge of college soccer to scout effectively. After all, MLS rules restrict teams from importing high-cost foreign players.
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