| | CHICAGO -- In what Chicago Fire players and U.S. Soccer sources are
describing as "a done deal," an announcement is expected in the next month
or two that current Fire head coach Bob Bradley will leave his Major League Soccer head coaching berth to take over the helm of the U.S. men's Olympic team.
Bradley, in Morocco with the men's national team for its friendly on Nov.
17, could not be reached for comment, but sources say Bradley will move into the slot following Clive Charles' departure to helm to the U.S.
women's national team, a position recently vacated by Tony DiCicco. U.S. Soccer would not confirm or deny the rumors; public relations director Jim Moorhouse said, "We have heard the same rumors as everyone else, but there is no announcement at this time."
|  | | Bob Bradley led Chicago to the playoffs twice in two years, winning the MLS Cup in 1998. |
Bradley's replacement in Chicago has been speculated to be Mike Jeffries,
currently a Fire assistant.
Fire midfielder Chris Armas, reached before he left to join the national
team abroad, spoke about his coach in the past tense, saying, "I would be very surprised if he didn't take the job. Whoever we get to replace him in
Chicago will have some very big shoes to fill."
Fire spokesman Adam Low stressed that no deal had been completed, but
allowed that Bradley's departure the subject of months of rumor. "As of yet,
nothing is finalized," said Low. Calls to Fire GM Peter Wilt were not
returned.
Bradley's apparent departure leaves a gaping hole in an MLS coaching
retinue seriously depleted by four years of attrition. With the departure of
Timo Liekoski to the Finnish U-23 team, the resignation of Bora Milutinovic
and the failure of John Kowalski, Brian Quinn and Steve Sampson to find MLS employ, there are few top-level, internationally experienced candidates to pick from.
In fact, New England contacted Liekoski with regards to its coaching
vacancy, offering what was said by his family to be an $80,000 contract to
the former Columbus Crew coach. Liekoski refused the offer, saying that it wasn't worthwhile -- he's happy working in Finland, which might be in line to host a major FIFA youth championship in 2003. Liekoski would clearly
have a major role in such an endeavor.
Charles has consistently been the leading candidate for the women's job,
even above current assistant Lauren Gregg. Charles will reportedly have to
give up his adidas camp responsibilities to take the berth; it is unclear at
this time whether or not he will be able to retain his position in Portland,
which has always been a sticking point for the Charles family.
Charles, contacted in Portland, said that he has not been told of any such
move as of yet: "I talked to them quite a while ago, but I haven't heard
anything else."
In other MLS news, Rutgers coach Bob Reasso, a leading candidate for the MetroStars job, may be announced as early as next week. "His final
interview will be tomorrow," said GM Charlie Stillitano. "He is one of four
candidates."
In an interesting twist, credible New York sources indicated that
Stillitano had tried to gain permission from Chicago to talk with Bradley
for the position, but was refused. "No comment," said Stillitano."However,
I did play alongside of him, so there might be a natural interest."
Reasso, who led Rutgers to a share of the Big East championship this year with a 12-5-3 record, is a 19-year veteran at Rutgers, with a 273-104-49 overall record with the school.
MLS playoffs, Scotland-England, U-17s
All went according to plan this weekend, as the top teams strode dutifully
ahead on both sides of the Atlantic. England, behind two goals from Paul
Scholes, so thoroughly flummoxed a weak Scottish side that they were able to kill the game for the last 45 minutes. Los Angeles, a far better team than
Dallas, was able to rack up an easy 3-1 win, and D.C. never was tested in
a 4 0 thumping of Columbus.
Some interesting questions arise out of these matches. MLS first: why
wasn't the Dallas-L.A. game on national television? Apparently, the league
found no network takers for the late-night midweek game; it was available as part of DTV's MLS Shootout package, however. Having a conference final virtually played in the dark was yet another black eye for this
battered league.
ESPN fared little better with their deadly dull D.C. game -- though that
wasn't their fault. D.C. was just simply too good to add any excitement to a
game that was decided at the halfway point.
Ironically, the same was true of the England-Scotland game, though anyone with savvy should have known that once England got its reprieve, it wouldn't fail. The English didn't -- despite giving Scotland some wide-open chances,
in general their defense was rock-solid. The same couldn't be said of Scots
netminder Neil Sullivan: on the first goal he was caught napping and on the
second, caught flat.
The results set up two interesting matches: L.A.-D.C. will meet for a
rematch of the undeniably classic 1996 MLS Cup final (the one played in the
monsoon), with D.C. surely the favorite; and England-Scotland again Wednesday, with Scotland needing to score goals (three of them) to win a place in Euro 2000.
Across the sea, the U-17s -- and especially Landon Donovan -- have
acquitted themselves well in New Zealand at the Youth World Cup. Donovan has been the Americans' key player in both games, scoring the game-winner against New Zealand in the first match and the tying goal against Poland in the second to preserve the U-17s' 22-match unbeaten streak. The U.S. now faces a likely must-win game against Uruguay; they will qualify for the next round if Poland loses to New Zealand, but if Poland wins the match by two goals or more, all bets are off.
Random shots
Honda, Pepsi and Budweiser all renewed their sponsorship deals with MLS Monday in a major move for the embattled league. The deal, first reported by BrandWeek and confirmed by MLS staffers, will bring in a combined $30 million in cash and trade over four years. Also jumping on board: Bayer division Aleve, which will sponsor the Cup halftime show with Old Navy and Pepsi. It is the first time Aleve has worked with MLS
E-mail landed on my desk this week suggesting that some believe MLS might move to adopt the USL's controversial 4-1-0 point system as opposed to the world standard 3-1-0. Be warned: there is no proof, and less truth, to this rumor. With MLS commissioner Don Garber on record as saying he wants to move the American game in line with rest of the world, such a move would not only be idiotic, it would demonstrate that the owners have no concept of how to actually run a league. So, odds are it won't happen.
One of the year's best matches -- the USA vs. Morocco -- will not be available on American television. Why? Don't ask, it'll just depress you.
Jamie Trecker, editor of Kick! magazine, writes regularly for ESPN.com. You may e-mail him at jamie_trecker@go.com; while he guarantees he will read all letters, he regrets that he cannot guarantee a reply because of overwhelming volume. | |
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