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Are the Red Bulls in Queiroz’s future?

Carlos Queiroz (Reuters)

After all the head coaches to pass through with the New York Red Bulls and the MetroStars before them, it is easy to forget who the first coach to run the club was (trust us, we know).

That man was former New York Cosmos head coach Eddie Firmani, who lasted just eight games as MetroStars head coach. What may also be forgotten some 13 years after the fact is that Firmani was replaced during the inaugural 1996 season by none other than Carlos Queiroz, current head coach of the Portuguese national team. Although he is currently employed, Portugal's shaky position in World Cup qualifying could mean that Queiroz will be looking for a job in a month. Does that mean he should be considered as a candidate to coach the Red Bulls in 2010?

It just might if you consider the following developments: Queiroz was in the New York area this week and took a tour of the new Red Bull Arena, attended the Red Bulls' 1-1 tie vs. New England on Friday night, and sources tell SBI that Queiroz is finalizing the purchase of a condominium in New York City.

These may all be coincidences, but given the fact that the Red Bulls haven't settled on a head coach for 2010, there just might be something to the the former MetroStars' head coach's sudden interest in his former club.

Would Queiroz make a good pick as Red Bulls head coach?

Queiroz did a good job in his one season in charge of the MetroStars in 1996, guiding the club to playoffs and to the brink of a playoff series victory against eventual champions D.C. United before leaving to coach in Japan. Since leaving the club, Queiroz has served as head coach at Real Madrid and assistant coach at Manchester United, before returning to coach Portugal.

If Queiroz were hired by the Red Bulls. his arrival may not necessarily go over well with the large Portuguese community near the team's new stadium, Red Bull Arena, especially if Portugal fails to qualify for the World Cup (it would mark the second time in his coaching career that he failed to qualify Portugal to the World Cup, the first time coming in 1993).

It has long been assumed that Queiroz would return to Manchester United if he failed to qualify Portugal for the 2010 World Cup, having enjoyed two successful stints as an assistant coach with the English champions, but the lure of a new stadium and a chance to finish what he started 13 years ago just might be enough to entice the 56-year old to return to MLS.

What do you think about Queiroz as a possible new head coach for the Red Bulls in 2010? Still hoping Richie Williams is given the job? Think Portugal will find a way to qualify for the 2010 World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It’s not the coach, it’s the players. RB needs to replace Agoos with someone who won’t make excuses but will instead do what other successful GMs in the league have done. Richie Williams can coach, but nobody can coach without players.

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  2. i’m not saying this guy will be (crap) or will be great, all i’ll note is that the last time you talked about a former metro staffmember being a coach…well, we all know how that ended up…

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  3. Considering we’d be the next stop in his coaching freefall, & that any potential Portuguese fans from the Harrison area will hate this man for making moves under their noses when he doesn’t qualify Portugal, next candidate PLEASE.

    On a larger note, can we possibly get a coach with present day MLS experience, a solid & proven work ethic sans supposedly celebrated coaching resume but coming here to ‘do us a favor’, and especially… sans DRAMA?? Give Richie a chance for fooks sake before he becomes yet another former Metro that achieves glory after leaving!

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  4. HA! The Metros sucked when he coached them, no idea what he did at ManU, and the Portuguese Nats now suck with him as head coach. Therefore, he’d be the perfect fit for the Red Bulls.

    MLS needs coaches who can coach, not coahes with glamorous resumes.

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  5. hiring CQ would be a repetition of the same mistakes that metros/redbulls have been making for years….not a fan of CQ mainly because MLS is not the same as it was in 1996….i think that richie williams should get the job just for the sake of continuity/consistency…every year, new coach, new system, but yet we still lose…have been a metros/red bull fan since the inception of the league, so imagine my frustration….also, if i remember correctly eddie firmani started out as head coach and CQ finished out the season…

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  6. one further note–

    Since dependence on speed is a fatal flaw with DP’s imo, I doubt Thierry Henry will be as good as everyone hopes should he go to RBNY. I’d rather see an opportunistic poacher like Pippo Inzaghi in NY. Kaka, Xavi, Gerrard are other players I could see being successful DP’s a few years down the road

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  7. re: the Figo question

    Ives, would you write an editorial sometime on what type of player you think makes the best DP’s? Seems like the best DP’s to date (Angel, Schelotto, Blanco) have been older players with skill who play in the middle and not the wings. Unless you have the ridiculous service ability of Beckham, you simply can’t be slow and justify a high salary if you play on the wings. Wingers don’t touch the ball enough. Figo falls into this category

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  8. I was at the 1-1 game on Friday. Williams’ tactical changes entering the 2nd half of the game (3-5-2 vs.4-4-2 with a pathetic Rojas) along with the results he has been getting convince me that he should get his chance. It seems ludicrous to mention Queiroz and Rich in the same sentence as it relates to name recognition, but if a “big-time, big-money” coach is not head coach of Redbulls, I’d place Richie first. If an American coach, who knows all the subtleties of the Mls, be hired, Richie is the man.

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  9. Even though he has been at big teams, Queiroz is better known for recognizing talent. ManU is ever grateful for Carlos taking Ronaldo there when still teenager. Queiroz is very methodical,knowledgeable, organized, a great communicator but lacks the arrogance and titles of Mourinho. In the past he has done work for US Soccer Federation. Queiroz coming to Harrison would be a nightmare, Portugal out of the WCup.

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  10. “finish what he started”

    What does that even mean? He coached for a season. It’s not like the guy built an empire or anything.

    (SBI-He was the team’s first coach, right? So he “started” the team’s history. The team hasn’t won a title yet, so, in essence, if he came back, he would have a chance to finish what he started. Get it? Try reading it slowly, maybe that would help. Go ‘Cuse.)

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  11. MetroStars/Red Bulls get themselves in trouble as an organization by trying to be world class before they’re even competent. Queiroz has the kind of pedigree that Ruud Gullit had. Now maybe he’d be a good coach in MLS, maybe he wouldn’t. But I tend to think he’d be most successful with a club that has the infrastructure set up to let him just be a coach.

    But for MLS (and especially NYRB), that isn’t possible. Arena would have been perfect (except he came to you when he was burned out and it showed–look at the job he has done with LAG and the foundation he’s built with young talent like DeLaGarza and Gonzalez).

    The argument that CQ “knows” American soccer is way off-base. He isn’t familiar with the talent at the U17 Bradenton academy or at the colleges. I be he hasn’t scouted in the Carribbean ever. Probably couldn’t name the 2-5 best players in El Salvador or Guatemala (but I bet any MLS coach could). He doesn’t know how discovery claims work, what allocations are–any of that stuff.

    The team should NOT go for a high profile foreign coach. It should NOT use the second DP (that’s something that JCO got right and I said so at the time–sign two DPs and your depth is gutted). Ideas of trying to sign Thierry Henry as a DP are delusional. Doing things like pursuing Henry, signing Quieroz are examples of going for the glitz and the glamour rather than building a strong, solid team.

    Richie Williams would be a fine coach. He proved that once, he’s proving it again. Paul Mariner would be an outstanding head coach. Ultimately, it’s not the coach that’s critical–the Red Bulls organization is a mess (though not as bad as it was). And bringing a foreign-based coach into that mess won’t solve that.

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  12. Aside from Zambrano, Queiroz is the most successful coach in MetroStars history. He knows MLS and the American system, since he was the one charged with writing a huge report for USSF on how to improve U.S. soccer.

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  13. So you would rather have Richie Williams than a guy who has coached the Portugal national team and was a long-time assistant to Manchester United? Hmmm. I wouldn’t be upset if he was an assitant to or a replacement for Bob Bradley.

    (SBI-Some people would rather have the guy who has proven himself to be a capable leader of this team, who knows this league and knows the college scene over a man who has been away from MLS for 13 years and whose best work has been as an assistant coach rather than a head coach. Also, mentioning Queiroz’s Portugal credentials might not be the best idea. In his two stints in charge of Portugal he’s led them to miss the World Cup once and Euros once, and just might lead them to miss a second World Cup in 15 years. Not exactly a resume booster, if you ask me. Not saying Queiroz couldn’t be a good fit, he might be with the right MLS-experienced GM to build the team, but I’m not sure anybody can call him a slam dunk of a pick.)

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  14. A lot of the commenters here who think Queiroz for head coach in New York is a good idea clearly don’t seem to be New York supporters (Tony in Quakeland, DC Josh, etc.). They have no idea what it’s like.

    Those of us who have actually been with the team from the beginning and have gone through big and expensive names in the past only to know failure every season know better.

    Ignore all the shiny lights. The man at the helm right now should be the one at the helm when RBA opens.

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  15. This is a joke for two reasons…One- CQ should be focusing on one thing and thats GETTING PORTUGAL INTO THE WC and Two- Why the hell does RB want to hire that joke of a coach again?…They should look at what they got right now…Riche is the man in charge

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  16. If he is good at discovering domestic talent. That im all in. Its time for the days of the American Teen Sensations. alot of the Tri-state areas best U-18’s go staright to college because all MLS will do is hand out a lowly Developmental contract…..so the players will wait for GA deal or if they dont get it..get a 4-year degree and than try-out for MLS(by which that point they lost 4 years of crucial development as a Pro)

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  17. This guy is not what you could call a successful head coach at any level that might impress me. I hope Williams gets a shot.

    I won’t complain if Quieroz becomes the coach, but I have no reason to believe he will be any better than the slew of coaches this club has gone through over the years.

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  18. Sorry I forgot some of the punctuation…

    I am ambivalent about Q. While he was the coach of the Metros the team was mediocre… Yes he has previous MLS experience and was hired by the USSF to gauge the youth system for Project 2010 but I am not sure he is the guy for RBNY.
    I like Richie Williams and think he could be a player’s coach but I am not sure he can do it right away which is what the club wants for the new Red Bull Arena. Q knows many good EPL players but can he lure them here? Has he stayed in touch with the league while at Man U and Portugal? I doubt it. I think all this will be a moot issue anyway as I think Portugal will make the WC.

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  19. I am ambivalent about Q. While he was the coach of the Metros the team was mediocre… Yes he has previous MLS experience and was hired by the USSF to gauge the youth system for Project 2010 but I am not sure he is the guy for RBNY.
    I like Richie Williams and think he could be a players coach but I am not sure he can do it right away which is what the club wants for the new Red Bull Arena. Q knows many good EPL players but can he lure them here. Has he stayed in touch with the league while at Man U and Portugal. I doubt it. I think all this will be a moot issue anyway as I think Portugal will make the WC.

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  20. any chance that Williams would still take a assistant coaching position? Queiroz would be a great coach and even better for the RB’s player development. Those two combined would make that team very strong into the future.

    would it be ironic that the guy who wrote the 2010 Plan for US Soccer takes a job in 2010 in the US?

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  21. Ramon is correct.

    If I’m looking for a new coach after one of the worst seasons in MLS history, I want a guy who knows MLS inside-out. A guy who has had success before (with at least 1 team, if not more). Arena was that guy. Steve Nicol is another. Preki… Sigi.

    Just do what Seattle did — tamper with another team’s coach (go for Nicol) and pay an allocation amount when MLS finds out.

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  22. Sorry, Queiroz may or may not be a good coach but MLS is driven by:

    1. identifying and drafting american talent,

    2. identifying and signing talent (usually S. America) out of contract which MLS can afford.

    Queiroz doesn’t have these skill set. he’s used to finding the best players in the world and paying their teams $20mill for them. MLS doesn’t work that way. He’s going to get frustrated when he can’t simply buy out the competitors best talent year in and year out (Ruud Gillet anyone?). He’s used to dealing with superstar personalities. Hard to deal with but requires a different skillset than dealing with an american kid that makes $35K and may wonder why he even wants to put up with some foreign coach screaming at him.

    MLS is a unique animal. Hire someone that knows the system, not just another foreigner who lost his job and is looking for another paycheck (and will leave once he gets a better offer).

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  23. RB needs to stop screwin around and realize that the best coaches in MLS are the ones that have been around the US game and MLS for a long time. They screwed up and were too quick with Arena. Stop playing this big time foreign experienced coach game. Being a good MLS team is based on knowing and getting the most out of the college system and the less expensive talent available here. Coaches that aren’t greatly paying attention to soccer in this country already aren’t gonna cut it.

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  24. Any of you who actually think he may be a half way decent coach, please go talk to any Portuguese like myself. He is a freaking moron, who has never been decent at anything but assistant. Why would we want rudd gullit round two ?

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  25. I’m underwhelmed by the notion. I don’t see how Queiroz could possibly live up to the incredibly high standard of note-taking that Juan Carlos Osorio established during his time with RBNY.

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  26. wow ..RB is clearly not f(ool)’n around.

    he’s coached in MLS before and has an idea how the league works. his connections also ensures we’ll have a better chance of signing a better class of DP

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  27. Queiroz is respected and valued by Sir Alex. I’m no Sir Alex fan but his approval is an indication of Queiroz’s coaching abilities. He’s said to have discovered Portuguese legends like Victor Baia, Rui Costa, and Luis Figo. The guy has connections from his time in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and obviously Europe. I want to say he’s served as a “special advisor” to USSF at some point. Not 100% sure of that but I remember hearing and/or reading that once. Basically, Carlos knows his stuff. He has the experience. His MLS return would be welcomed. He’s the type of manager this league needs. Not some guy who was a fitness coach at Man City and the Metrostars that “passed” as a manager.

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  28. Would rather have a player that is 36 (37 by the 2010 opener), spent a year off from the game, to come back and make a couple million all while using our 2nd DP spot

    theres a lot of better options out there than figo at this moment

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  29. I still don’t really see Portugal not qualifying. They have an easy final two games and the Swedes and the Danes will cancel one or the other out.

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