Has San Jose done enough to improve on their dismal 2009 campaign? (Getty Images)

Forgive me for a second for this coming out as late as it did. I had every intentions earlier in the week to get this one out on Wednesday but a certain clash in Holland kept me from finishing it until yesterday.

Anyways, we continue on with out look at each Major League Soccer club’s preseason happenings here. We’re in the final stretch with just San Jose, Seattle and Toronto to go. Up first today is San Jose, a club that is hoping to rebound after a dismal effort in 2009. Frank Yallop has made some moves this winter to shake things up by the Bay but will it pay off is the key question.

I thought going into the winter that Yallop and GM Frank Doyle would do a lot of work on this roster that only won seven games in 2009. Reshaping an offense that only scored 36 goals was also another issue but the biggest may be redoing a defense that gave up a league-high 50 goals.

So let us dive into the Earthquakes to see who they have going into the new campaign and where else they need to go to get back into the playoffs. Continue Reading…

Why isn't Colin Clarke back on some club's radar? (USLSoccer)

Its hard to believe that three clubs are still without a head coach this evening. Well one has an interim head coach but two big time clubs in Major League Soccer end the day without a lead boss, which could be setting them back a bit for the upcoming month with the transfer window opening up and the SuperDraft.

Yes I am talking about you DC United and Chicago Fire. Both still lack a manager after parting ways with Tom Soehn and Denis Hamlett respectively.

Last night we heard news that DC would not be able to get Akron head coach Caleb Porter which put their coaching search into a big spin. SBI broke news earlier that DC even went as far to try and get San Jose manager Frank Yallop and Houston assistant John Spencer for the job. San Jose said they couldn’t approach Yallop and Spencer said he wasn’t interested.

Yikes.

Are things that bad that no one wants to coach in DC? Second of all it says a lot about what DC thinks of former Kansas City manager Curt Onalfo who seemed to be the next guy in line after Porter. But with Porter out of the picture it just sounds like Onalfo was not good enough (which he isn’t by the way) to get the job. Now DC could still go that route if they end up with no other options but it sounds like they will continue to drag their feet in this search until they get someone better than Onalfo.

Why isn’t DC going after someone like RSL assistant Robin Fraser? Or former Dallas manager Colin Clark who’s now in the USL with Puerto Rico.

Chicago isn’t much better here with their search. According to ESPNChicago.com the Fire aren’t completely sold on their two final choices that were reported in former DC boss Tom Soehn or Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch.

Honestly if I were the Fire I’d go for Soehn. I know things didn’t pan out in DC with him but honestly the guy can coach in my opinion. DC just had a loaded schedule with some injury issues the years he was there. Chicago won’t have as loaded of a schedule in 2010, just possibly SuperLiga again.

The ESPNChicago article also mentions some other possible candidates for the gig like Thomas Rongen (not a bad pick), Spencer (who won’t take a job until 2011 with Portland), and Clarke.

What do I think each club will do? Honestly I wouldn’t be shocked to start hearing John Harkes name for the DC gig here soon. I know he’s comfortable with his job at ESPN but he did do some assistant coaching under Bruce Arena in New York. In the end I do kind of see United settling for Onalfo. As for the Fire I think they’ll end up with a surprise pick like Clarke or even Rongen if they can get him away from his U-20 national team post.

Ryan Johnson was one of the few bright spots for San Jose in 2009. (Getty Images)

It’s hard to decline as a club after being an expansion team in 2008 but the 2009 version of the San Jose Earthquakes did just that. They became the first team to lose more in their second season than in their expansion season.

The only difference is this version of the Quakes are actually improving. After a load of failed mistakes in player pickups over the offseason manager Frank Yallop and GM John Doyle bucked the criticism and did start to bring in talent that not only produced but was able show that this club has the potential to actually contend in 2010 if the chips fall in the right order.  Continue Reading…

I don’t have too much going into tonight’s Evening Links and Thoughts. I mainly wanted to touch base with the current coaching hot seat situation in Major League Soccer. I don’t expect any coaching changes to take place until at least after the regular season finishes here. Something crazy would have to take place for any of these teams below to even think about making a switch with so few games left.

I’ve gone back and forth on a couple coaches, which is why they may appear on the fringe of this list. But for the most part the top guys on this list are there for a reason and have a lot of work to do to get out of the hot seat.

Two clubs will are searching for a coach as we speak right now. Both New York and Kansas City have interim coaches and are probably keeping a very close eye on what’s going on around the league right now.

With that said here is what should be the final WVH Coaching Hot Seat of the year. The order is really just a list, I think each are just as much under fire as the next here.

Chris Cummins (Toronto FC): The only thing that may save this guy is a trip to the playoffs. With a workable schedule it is possible but any stumbles on the way only put more fuel on this man’s fire. This club has the talent but under Cummins they really haven’t progressed any more than they did under John Carver.

Tom Soehn (DC United): Again playoffs will save this guy but I still kind of wonder if that will even be enough at times. It could be safe to say that he will need to guide his team to the conference finals to really be safe from a pink slip here. This club has so much talent yet lacks any consistency to get solid results game after game.

Frank Yallop (San Jose Earthquakes): Yallop nearly fell in the fringe category for me but at the end of the day I just don’t know if this is working out in San Jose. It could also have something to do with the partnership with John Doyle in picking out talent that isn’t working out there. I don’t see a change coming this winter unless this club really bottoms out to finish the season. Look for his butt to remain hot going into next year. Year three is going to decide a lot in San Jose.

Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake): Another guy that needs a playoff run to save his job. I still wish he would have become FC Dallas’ coach instead of RSL’s a couple years ago but it is what it is down here in Dallas. But back to Kreis and his job. Playoffs will certainly be enough to keep him around for another year but anything less and I have to believe he will be out of the door by the end of the calendar year.

Continue Reading…

Somehow this man still has a job. (Getty Images)

In light of Kansas City dismissing manager Curt Onalfo yesterday evening, I figured it was high time I updated my coaching hot seat look once again. Funny thing was yesterday I was already set to work on this and got caught up in something else, by the time I went back into it last night the news came down about Onalfo.

And yes, if you are wondering he was going to be on the list.

But looking at the rest of the sack race here I figure it is easier to break things up into a couple different groups. See we all figure coaches with clubs near the bottom of the table need sacked but in the case of a couple teams, that just won’t happen, at least not this season. In other cases there are a couple coaches that should feel some heat based on how their clubs are doing and based on pre-season expectations placed on them. Lastly, there is a group that just needs to go and saying that it really could be just a matter of time.

As always if you think I am missing on any coach below or think I need to add another to a certain group, feel free to post below. Continue Reading…

Its nearly time to call it a day on the Juan Carlos Osorio experiment in the Big Apple. (Getty Images)

A few of you have asked me lately when I was going to write about the good ol’ MLS coaching hot seat again. Last season I updated it pretty regularly during the year since there was plenty of bad coaching to discuss. Thing is I wanted to wait a while this season so we could get a better measure of which coaches were going to be good and which were going to have a seat that was a little warm.

First and foremost I’d like to say that in most situations I am not a fire the coach kind of guy in the middle of the season. I think most of the time you can wait the course and allow the season to do the work for you before you can a guy or not. Thing is soccer just like most sports (and life for that matter) isn’t always the case. Coaches either resign on their own before getting canned or management finally says to hell with them and sends them the pink slip.

So this year I gave most coaches at least 11 or 12 games to let me see if they were good or not for the job. Right now I’d say a few guys are feeling the heat just a bit. Now again before you see your coach and think there is no chance in hell he will get fired, sit back and be reasonable about it. I have no emotional connection to any of these clubs or coaches so it makes this a lot easier to see after watching 12 weeks worth of games. Just be reasonable-objective guy (or gal) here and not super-emotional guy/gal. I know in most situations these guys aren’t gonna get canned anytime soon.

Also, if you think for some reason I missed a coach on this list, please list him below with your reasons.

MLS Coaching Hot Seat: 2009 Edition:

1. Juan Carlos Osorio (New York): Right now according to SportsClubStats.com (great site by the way), the Red Bulls have a 0.5 percent chance of making the playoffs this season. After 14 games there is really little hope that this club will turn it around and a big reason why is not just the coaching from Osorio but the talent HE brought in for this season hasn’t paid off. I think over the last two seasons we have seen exactly how overrated of a coach he really is. While canning him now won’t help the club on the field it will help them out in terms of talent brought in this summer since he wouldn’t be making the moves. The more talent he brings in the less successful this club has been. Continue Reading…

While yesterday I was writing about the problems here in Dallas with Schellas Hyndman’s club, out west there is another club that is facing similar issues. The San Jose Earthquakes are off to one of their worst starts in club history (the 1999 club had 6 points through 10 games…this club has five through eight).

Over at Soccernet, Jeff Carlisle highlights a few problems with the Quakes.

I was one of those few that Carlisle mentions that picked this  club to be a playoff contender this season. I wasn’t quite out on the limb for picking them to reach a MLS Cup this year but the playoffs definitely sounded possible with this bunch. Turns out after a 1-5-1 start the playoffs look less likely by the week.

Defensively the club has a lost a step due to injuries and age. Offensively the new parts haven’t found their scoring ways while key players like Darren Huckerby have been out for a good part of the season so far.

What exactly has happened in San Jose? Carlisle is quick to mention and righfully so, that the offense’s inexperience and Bobby Convey’s unfamiliarity in the attacking midfield role has put more pressure on a defense that is missing a key player (Jason Hernandez) and is getting older by the game.

From what it sounds like San Jose has plenty of work to do this summer in getting the ball back in motion to go forward for this club. I know Frank Yallop and GM John Doyle have the smarts to get the job done but time is already against them here this season. Few clubs if any have started this way (5 points after eight games) and made the playoffs.

Now I’m not as close to this club as Carlisle is but I would imagine things can get turned around with the right amount of luck and patience. It may just not be until next year however.