Carlos De Los Cobos’ Weakness: Talent Evaluation - Hot Time In Old Town

Give the Chicago Fire credit for thinking outside the box when they chose to hire Carlos de los Cobos. The then 51-year-old had spent his entire playing career in Mexico and all of his coaching career at various places in Central America. Perhaps, then, it shouldn't be shocking that there was definitely an adjustment period when it came to the tactics and talent evaluation required in MLS. Hot Time In Old Town, SB Nation's Chicago Fire blog, says that was the main reason their coach was dismissed:

Carlos de los Cobos brought in two players at the beginning of his regin, Julio Martinez and Deris Umanzor. Julio Martinez made $126,000 and Deris Umanzor made $72,000 in 2010. Both were quickly determined to not be good enough to play in Major League Soccer. CDLC advocating that they be signed and at their high dollar value suggests just a little bit of the adjustment he had to make if he wanted to be successful in MLS. The 2011 off-season signings have been pretty successful in their individual performance but CDLC has failed to turn that into a successful team result to date.