Thursday, December 21, 2006

Assistant to the Interim Manager?

That's what Peter Nowak is leaving DC United for? To be Bob Bradley's assistant? That seems like a big step down to me. Why would you leave the best team in the league to play second fiddle to a guy you outperformed over the past three years? Could you imagine that scenario in any other league than MLS? Hopefully (for his sake) he has something lined up in Europe.

So that's two MLS coaches gone for the national team. I guess it's likely that Bradley will end up being that coach over the entire next cycle. After all, why would you leave your club just to be an interim coach for six months (he couldn't do both?) ? That's just great. So in 2010 we'll make the round of 16 if we're lucky, get eliminated, and be right back where we are now.

So the failure to get Klinsmann or Pekerman not only is a lost opportunity, but now it hurts MLS as well. Great. And of course, you can't get good foreign coaches to replace Bradley or Nowak, because they're not familiar with the league's system of drafting, allocations, and playoffs. Not that they're worth it, because it doesn't matter how you do for 90% of the season anyway.

Comments on "Assistant to the Interim Manager?"

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (9:02 AM, December 23, 2006) : 

This is more rant then serious thought here.

I think we are underestimating Bob Bradley's ability to gain the trust of his players.

I'm all for this move. Clearly we couldn't get a Pekerman (would we really want to?) or a Klinsman (and why exactly is he considered the next Mourinho?), so we go for the next best choice...Bradley. Combined with Nowak, and it's a fantastic situation for the nats.

 

Blogger scaryice said ... (4:43 AM, December 24, 2006) : 

Yeah, I know.

 

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