Coach Is Cornered

The word on the street today is that former El Salvador head coach Carlos de los Cobos is likely to be the next man in charge of the Chicago Fire. Steven Goff goes on to report that this may be contingent on the Fire being able to sign Julio Martinez, one of his players from that El Salvadoran side.

Tom over at Pitch Invasion tells me there may have been one other foreign candidate, but the feeling I get is that the top brass at the Fire painted themselves into a corner with their comments about (a) why they got rid of Denis Hamlett, and (b) what they were looking for in a new head coach. All the talk of "new directions" and "flowing, attacking soccer" meant that guys like Tom Soehn and Robin Fraser shouldn't have even bothered showing up for the interview. Jesse Marsch or Eric Wynalda would have been too much of a risk, so they're left with whoever speaks another language.

Which is probably my biggest concern about de los Cobos, aside from the whole lack of understanding of the intricacies of Major League Soccer that any non-U.S. coach has to face. If his English isn't very good, my feeling is that we're screwed. First, that MLS learning curve is going to be that much harder. Second, I would worry that English-speaking leaders on this team (C.J. Brown, Logan Pause, Jon Busch) might get marginalized. Third, I don't know how it might affect young players who need development (Mike Banner, Baggio Husidic) or slightly older players who need a swift kick in the ass (rhymes with Justin Mapp).

Of course, I don't know anything about de los Cobos' English fluency, so this is just idle speculation. Also, it could end up increasing the roles of guys like Brown, Pause and Busch instead of diminishing them. I don't know. I still would have liked to have heard John Trask's name more during this process, but he might need a couple more years of seasoning at UIC, and I can't see our Los Angeles-based ownership giving a rat's ass about local ties anyway.