Canada searches for new coach. But you need to guess when.

[Regs]

TORONTO (CP) - The Canadian Soccer Association doesn't plan to begin its search for a new men's head coach until the new year, the association's chief operating official said Thursday.

Kevan Pipe said interim coach Stephen Hart will run the squad for games Monday in Montreal against Jamaica, an Oct. 8 rematch in Kingston, Jamaica, and a planned November friendly in Europe against an as-yet-unannounced team.

Frank Yallop resigned in June to take over the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy. Hart, one of Yallop's assistants and coach of the national under-17 team, was appointed interim coach in July.

Pipe said the CSA board will meet in December to plan the coaching search.
''There's no intent whatsoever prior to the end of this year to fill that position,'' Pipe said.

Pipe said that was to allow the existing team management to finish out the 2006 calendar.
''And obviously (it was) a chance to take a look at Stephen in action,'' Pipe said. ''We feel we have a couple of options here in Canada. No secret that Stephen and Dale (Mitchell, another Yallop assistant and under-20 coach) are probably two of the names that most people bandy about.

''And then the board will have to determine in December which direction it wants to go: whether a Canadian option, North American option, worldwide option or what have you.''

While the CSA has not yet solicited applications, it is receiving them ''on a weekly basis,'' Pipe said.
When the search officially starts, the association will likely follow past practice and use a headhunter to help identify top candidates, he added.

The association has not seriously considered taking a page from Australia, which in the leadup to the World Cup had Guus Hiddink as its part-time European-based coach, with assistant coach Graham Arnold following the domestic scene. Like Canada, most of Australia's top pros play in Europe.

''The Australians really broke the mould on that one,'' Pipe said. ''In fairness, that has never really been discussed internally.

''We've taken note of it and we've watched the success Hiddink had with the program.''

Pipe said the new coach should be involved with developing soccer in Canada ''not just simply restricted to 15 or 20 players playing solely on the national team.

The Hiddink model is an option, he added, although not a high-priority one. More likely is a Canadian or foreign hire, as in the last two managers: Yallop and Germany's Holger Osieck.

Hiddink, who led 42nd-ranked Australia to the second round in Germany, stepped down after the World Cup to coach Russia.

These idiots running the show really, really, really have no fcuking clue. A meeting to discuss 'search strategy' in December? Are you kidding me?!?!!?

What the fcuk is wrong with these guys!?!?!

 

[Dude]

What pisses me off is the arrogant tone, and that he so easily discounts Australia's model.

Christ...it only fcuking WORKED! The fact that the Aussie domestic football scene is so similar to ours, and they have many of the same challenges, should be more than enough to give it serious consideration.

But, no...these guys will keep doing what they have been doing until they are removed.

 

[Keeper]

The Hiddink model is an option, he added, although not a high-priority one. More likely is a Canadian or foreign hire, as in the last two managers: Yallop and Germany's Holger Osieck.

Is there any other kind? How about extra-terrestrial?

 

[Keeper]

Pipe said the new coach should be involved with developing soccer in Canada ''not just simply restricted to 15 or 20 players playing solely on the national team.

Jeez, they haven't been able to do either yet. So let's not set the next guy up for failure just yet. Let him concentrate on those 15-20 players and someone else deal with the rest of the country.

 

[trece verde]

Funny, I thought Pipe WAS an extra-terrestrial. Kind of like Keeper, but from a different planet; one where nobody seems to have a clue.

Who reviews this guy's performance? The Provincial directors? Is there actually a National board that sits around the trough, dreaming up new ways to allow our national teams to slip even further down the rankings while lining their own pockets? Or is it all just a figment of our imaginations (like Pipe SHOULD be)?

I feel sorry for whoever does end up with the job. It would be interesting to hear what they REALLY think of the CSA brass after banging their head(s) against that particular obstinate granite wall.

Great expectations miserably unfulfilled yet again,

Trece

 

[TheRob]

Klinsman is availible. They should be offering him MILLIONS to come here. MILLIONS!!!!

 

[dezza]

Canadian Soccer Association drops pursuit of Brazilian coach

PETER MALLETT

The Canadian Soccer Association's painstaking quest for a men's senior team coach isn't over yet.

Weeks of negotiations involving Canadian soccer officials and Brazilian Rene Simoes collapsed yesterday after the CSA's executive committee failed to convince the board of directors to approve a contract. So Canada's struggling men's team, ranked No. 103 in the world and without a coach since last June, continues without direction.

"I am not disappointed with the decision, that's business, they had a right to make the decision," Simoes said from Rio de Janeiro. "CSA officials indicated that they wanted me as coach and technical director and even indicated this in a letter to me, but also noted that they needed final approval from their board of directors."

CSA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Simoes was always the top candidate for CSA president Colin Linford and the seven-member executive committee, but contract demands, reported to be close to $500,000, might have been a factor in the failure to sign off on a contract.

But a Toronto-based representative for Simoes, Juan Carlos Ramirez-Gaston, said the failure to hire Simoes had nothing to do with money, and added the decision was a "sad day" for soccer in Canada.

"The reason the deal fell apart ... had more to do with [the board's] opposition to [Colin] Linford as CSA president and politics on the board," Ramirez-Gaston said.

Simoes is best known for leading Jamaica to its first and only appearance in a World Cup, in 1998 in France. He last led Iran's under-23 team to a bronze medal at the Asian Games before resigning in December, and has been reviewing other coaching offers from the national teams of Cuba, Venezuela and Uzbekistan.

"Canada was a great potential location for me and has a great future," Simoes said.

"You have to look at the people in Canada and the many generations of immigrants who bring a rich soccer culture to their adopted nation. In the interviewing process, I gave CSA officials a goal to improve ahead of the 2010 World Cup and beyond and wanted to get more Canadian players playing in countries around the world and finally put Canada on the soccer map."

10 months to find a guy ... only for the board to reject him. Well done CSA!

 

[TheRob]

Klinsman is still availible.

Isn't he?

 

[dezza]

Actually, no. Coincidentally it was just announced that Klinsmann signed on as a commentator with the TV Station "Arena".