While you wait for the editors at SI.com to post the Week 22 MLS review (posted here now, with Team of the Week and Power Rankings), let’s take a moment to update a list we all like to watch. We like to watch it the same we can’t help but stare at automobile accidents on the shoulder of the road. We all have a dark side; what can we say?
MLS coaches in trouble? Let’s update the list
Let’s update the list of coaches in trouble. Because there are some surprising names on my list:
1. Frank Yallop. I like the guy. He’s had success before. But in this case “before” is getting to be way, way back. As in 2003. What were you doing in 2003? Sending your first text messages on your cool, new flip phone? Humming along with that young new thing Norah Jones? See what I mean? Yallop took San Jose to a 2003 MLS championship. But his subsequent time with Canada’s national team wasn’t a bit fruitful. Nor was his spin of the Galaxy wheel (2006-2007). The Earthquakes have finished 7th, 7th and 6th in the West over the last three seasons, making the playoffs just once. Now the Quakes’ post-season chances don’t look good for this year, so I just don’t see Yallop surviving to see out another season. (Oh, and judging by the personnel churn at Buck Shaw, technical director John Doyle probably needs to go, too. They need a complete system reboot.)
2. Hans Backe. I write more about this in today’s SI.com piece. So, I’ll leave the details for that one. Bottom line: the offense is OK but the defense stinks. Rafa Marquez is killing ‘em right now, and Backe damn sure needs to untie the Mehdi Ballouchy anchor from around his ankle, ‘cuz that thing is gonna drag the manager to the bottom for sure. What he ever saw in Ballouchy, only Backe can say. Why he keeps playing Ballouchy now, in the face of mounting evidence that this guy is a career killer … well, let’s just hope the coach wakes up and smells the stench of mediocrity that has settled over Red Bull Arena – and does something about it. Fast.
3. Peter Vermes. Sporting Kansas City is moving in the right direction. Kind of. All those ties at home may yet spoil the first season at Livestrong Sporting Park. And if Vermes can’t steer the side into post-season grace, I just don’t see him surviving. Vermes fired Curt Onalfo in 2009 and the club failed to make the playoffs that year. Same for 2010, Vermes’ first year on the hook after putting himself in charge. I just don’t see a club that spent $200 million on a boffo stadium holding fast with a coach who misses the playoffs (in MLS, where it remains mathematically easier to make than to miss the post-season) for three years in a row.
4. Martin Rennie. I know, I know … the Vancouver Whitecap just announced Rennie as coach last week. He won’t even take over until the end of this season. But you read it here first: The man is already in trouble! Look, there’s not a lot to go on when assessing ownership in Vancouver, but early indications don’t look good. Firing Teitur Thordarson back in late May says very bad things about the organization in my mind. Why hire the guy if you’re only going to give him a dirty dozen to prove himself? (By the way, the points per game is exactly the same since firing Thordarson, and the goal difference is significantly worse.) So, yeah … if you run into Rennie today, you might advise him to rent, not buy, once he arrives in the Pacific Northwest.
5. Steve Nicol. Speaking of needing a reboot. This guy is the dean of MLS coaches, but things are going the wrong direction. New England missed the playoffs last year and the view of the post-season is fading fast in 2011. A loss to Columbus over the weekend leaves the Revs with just 21 points from 24 matches. If the old standard of 40 points still applies as a target for optimum playoff chances (and it probably does) Nicol’s men will need to turn up 19 points over their final eight matches. That’s a record of something like 6-1-1. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen. Will Nicol survive? Honestly, I’d love to see him get a chance with a better player budget. But judging by frugal ownership’s track record, the chances of spending more money around Gillette Stadium … Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.
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