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Report: Chivas USA to hire Sanchez as head coach

Chivas USA has been rumored with several head coaching candidates, but reports suggest they have settled on a candidate with a strong coaching resume and the Mexican soccer pedigree that appears to be a perfect fit for what owner Jorge Vergara wants for the Goats.

Medio Tiempo in Mexico is reporting that Chivas USA has hired former Puebla and Tecos boss Jose Luis Sanchez Sola to be the team’s new head coach.

Chivas USA has yet to announce a hiring, but Sanchez has already begun answering questions about the new job on his Twitter account, @elchelis.

Candidates ranging from Steve Sampson to Ramon Ramirez to Jesse Marsch were linked to the position, but in terms of being a coach who has experience and the pedigree as a veteran of Mexican soccer, Sanchez makes sense for what Vergara has stated he is looking for.

What Sanchez doesn’t have is experience working in MLS. If he is the pick it will be interesting to see what Chivas USA does to make up for that lack of experience in the league. As of this writing, the club had yet to hire a new general manager after parting ways with Jose Domene.

What do you think of this development? See Sanchez succeeding in MLS? Think he will be another foreign coach who fails to meet expectations in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Pretty condescending with his comments, I would say the teams with young US coaches play significantly different than other teams, as well as a handful of others. I think you will find a dominant style of play in every league. It doesn’t mean those teams are bad or boring, it just means that that is the most effective style.

    I don’t wish the guy any bad luck, but I hope the US new blood coaches run circles around him.

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  2. The owner wanted a Mexican imprint on the team. Easier to find a Mexican coach than enough good players of Mexican origin who will sign an MLS contract. (Don’t forget that it is MLS who doles out players according to some arcane processes that I, and probably most of us, have yet to understand.)

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  3. This team will be only slightly better than Chivas USA 05. I’d love to see what happens if they succeed though. A latin style MLS team would be cool. I’ve been a bit disapointed with Chivas as a Galaxy fan. We have a very good reason to dislike them since Vergara thinks he can come in an act like a ass with his lame racist tactics. I’d like a worthy adersary on the other side of the hall in the HDC, but I don’t think this is the way. Hopefully when this team sets records for being crappy, they will get with the program and rebrand into anactual MLS team, or sell the team to someone who will.

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  4. Yes. Sampson is going to be advisor or GM. Sampson is going to work closely with Chelis.

    Chivas junior rejects to Chivas USA would regressing to Year One. They need focus bringing DPs that are MX stars like Benitez ( I know he’s America), Chaco, Suazo, Ayovi etc…maybe bring back Nunez or Beasley.

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  5. Why don’t they just pack up their s**t and go south, the obsession of being a Mexican club in an American league is disgusting. First the owner asks people to learn spanish soon then they want more Mexicans on the club, what kind of crap is this. I hope they continue to fail, the arrogance and discrimination this club has is ridiculous. Vergara is a stupid if he thinks all Mexicans are Chivas fans, and only Mexican-americans live in L.A.

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    • I agree that all this has been a giant of a mess from the very beginning. If it don’t get fixed I expect at the very least a complete rebrand and hopefully new ownership. To not take advantage of the fact that you play out of the great city of Los Angeles is absurd. This franchise needs not just deep pocketed owners but ownership who put the game above all else. Stay Tuned…..

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  6. Why do people forget that Carlos de los Cobos (a Mexican) also coached in MLS after leading El Salvador through a good, although failed Hexagonal. His time with Chicago Fire was not close to succesful, but he did come in with modest expectations. I guess an outside coach should not be like Ruud Guillete (arrogant) or de los Cobos (humble). Chelis seems to come with a confident, sure of himself, attitude.

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  7. I knew from his hiring from ESPN Deportes, some days ago. I do credit Sanchez doing well with MLS rejects (Nunez, Ruiz, Gomez) turning their careers back. Chelis done well with low budget & limited stars, and great scouting. I believe Sampson is going to be his liason in MLS.

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    • Obviously you know much more then I do, since that’s the case-I definitely wish him well. Wasn’t Agudelo going to Celtic?

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      • Agudelo went to Glasgow to TRAIN with Celtic. At this point it’s nothing more than an off-season fitness trip.

      • Chivas LA rejected any Celtic buyout / loan.

        As I type this, Agudelo is in Colombia on vacation. He said he’ll be there for about a week 1/2.

  8. I like the move on Chivas part. ChivasUSA wants a different style of play, more Mexican, so why not hire a Mexican coach. However he’s going to have a hard time finding players with skills to match the Mexican league. El Chelís coached Herculez Gomez in 2010 the season he tied with Chicharito with ten goals. I credit him for reviving Gomez career at a time when MLS had given up on Herc. I wish him and ChivasUSA a good 2013 season.

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  9. baropbop, I live in Metropolitan Los Angeles and I don’t know of any substantial effort Chivas USA is making to sell tickets, either. I still think that Vergara is using the club as a tax writeoff. That’s why he’s so cheap with it.

    el paso tx wants NASL, El Chelis might be using this gig as a stepping stone to some other position, or he’s worn out his welcome in Mexico. He’s the first notable Mexican club coach (outside of Bora Milutinovic, who’s in a different category, altogether) to come here since the league started. It says something that no other Primera Division or Liga MX coaches have done so. Of course, he just might want a new challenge. But, frankly, I don’t see this lasting. El Chelis and Vergara are two very strong personalities, and they will come to blows (figuratively) often.

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  10. “Chelis” is a DISASTER waiting to happen, and his hiring signals the beginning of the end of that joke of a team known as Chivas Yu-Es-Ey.

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  11. I forgot to mention that his family lives in the US or canada and his older kids go to college in canada and US and if I’m not mistaken, he knows about canadian soccer because he lived there and even played there. One thing for sure, he will make SOME Mls teams look like shit once he gets enough time in the league. For those who don’t know chelis,he acts like a college football coach and he talks with the thruth about everything and according to him, he doesn’t care about the money just the game and he even paid his players out his own pocket one time in Puebla. Did u guys know, his very good friends with cautemoch and a bunch of good mexican players. Galaxy better be ready next season.

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    • “For those who don’t know Chelis,he acts like a college football coach and he talks with the thruth about everything and according to him, he doesn’t care about the money just the game and he even paid his players out his own pocket one time in Puebla.”

      I agree “No Holds Barred”

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    • You obviously know nothing about Chivas and MLS if yhou think he can turn this franchise around quickly. Most foreign coaches come in and fall on their faces. You really seem clueless.

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  12. Am I the only one bugged by the sentiment from the owner that not being “Mexican enough” is what’s wrong with this team? Not only is that absurdly arrogant, what if other teams did the same? What if RSL wasn’t white enough? What if NYRB wasn’t black enough? What if USMNT was too much German or Latin and started only playing those with American roots? People would go nuts yet, somehow, this owner gets a pass… unbelievable

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    • Don’t take it to the heart. All this has to do with a style of play. We all want our teams to do well. Let’s see how this plays out before we clean house again.

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  13. I hope this fake mexican team never wins a game all season. I feel bad for Agudelo though. Should have gone to europe when he had the chance. I would much rather sit on the bench than play for this joke of a franchise

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      • Learning? What the f*ck is he gunna learn from this team. Id rather a player fight and earn his spot in Europe than waffle around at Chivas USA

    • I don’t think that requires a wish. This circus just continues its downward spiral. If they have another other bad season and go through 3 coaches and a couple gms, I think the league should step in.
      Most importantly I don’t see them doing anything to sell tickets.

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  14. Very good option for chivas usa. He is actually a good coach and in reality he has never had the chance to manage a fancy big team from mexico and if he does good in mls, he will get a chance to coach a big mexican team or be hired by another Mls team. Another thing about him, he is known to study other leagues a lot and he likes Mls but many soccer heads say the same thing, “all Mls teams play the same way, by running like a freak and kicking the ball in the air.” Finally a mexican coach has jump over to the Mls and I believe he will be set the example for other mexican coaches and he will attract mexican players. If he gets his players and vergara backs him up and learns fast from the Mls, then chivas usa will be a scary team to play. However chivas usa has hired a mexican coach, which means they still plan to concentrate on the mexican market, right?

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    • “all Mls teams play the same way, by running like a freak and kicking the ball in the air.”

      Stereotyping MLS play is pointless. It’s like me claiming that Liga MX is full of teams that never play defense and give attacking players way too much time on the ball.

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      • Oh I forgot how RSL made it to the final with a roster that got paid less than Humberto Suazo! Oh, and MLS teams will never beat a Mexican team in Mexico…..er…..

        Is LigaMX better? yes. It also has a LOT to do with the money they can pay players, and truthfully, the gap isn’t THAT large.

        But we’ll see how this hire turns out. I just don’t have a lot of hope from a guy who already stereotyped 19 teams as playing the same way.

      • RSL made it to the final, went down to Monterrey and pulled out a great result. They then lost to a depleted Monterrey squad at home. That’s awesome. It is certainly fun to brag about losing the continental club championship at home.

        The fact that people are getting caught up with what he said about MLS highlights the homerism.

        You might as well steer away from the international coverage of MLS Cup Final or you’ll end up killing yourself.

      • That Monterrey team had the same players on it they had the first leg, and was not depleted. The remains MLS teams are getting closer and closer to Liga MX. In 5 years it will by pass Liga MX.

      • Monterrey was missing deNigris, Luis Perez and Jesus Zavala for the second leg. Their starting #9 and their two central midfielders while RSL trotted out the same exact lineup at Rio Tinto with the exception of Andy Williams replacing Kyle Beckerman due to suspension.

        Sorry to burst your bubble bud.

      • The Mexican league being by far the highest-paying league in the Americas tends to do that. Mexican teams are going to get more talented players as long as they’re paying players 4-5 times as much as MLS teams do.

      • To eric, I honestly think mexican soccer has gone down in terms of level and skills. The mexican league should be a top 7 by now, but they keep repating their mistakes and that is why they want to be like the MLS now, by renaming their league to LigaMX and even getting a league theme song. However MLS is getting better every year in terms of skills and I believe that in 10 years, MLS will be better than LigaMX. For now, MLS teams should be trying to get foreign coaches from all over the world in order to teach american coaches new skills. For instance, imagine bob bradley and javier aguirre of mexico together in mls as partners.

      • Agreed that MLS could always do well to look to other soccer nations for new ideas to integrate into the league but I’m thinking that it’s hard to do that with bringing them in as head coaches without any previous experience in the league. If anything, MLS should be finding younger foreign coaches and bringing them in as assistants to begin with, where they can still contribute their ideas and get used to the ins and outs of the league before taking over as head coaches.

      • The Mexican league is widely considered on of the top 10 leagues in the world and on par with the 2nd tied European leagues like Dutch, Portuguese, Greek and Russian Leagues. Not to mention one of the top three leagues in the Americas.

        Also I’m not really sure what mistakes you’re talking about but they brought in EPL consultants in order to rebrand the league. I don’t really know where you got the idea that they want to be like MLS but it certainly doesn’t appear that way to me. I also wasn’t aware MLS had a theme song.

        As far as the quality and growth of MLS, I mean, it certainly has come a long way from where it started in 1995 and I would know since I’ve been attending Metrostars/RedBull games from the very beginning but the quality is still subpar and business model will prevent it from growing at the rate you’re predicting.

        It’s like a homeless man bragging about finding a homeless shelter in order to sleep at night after sleeping out in the park benches for months.

        Of course the league was going to grow, it had nowhere to go but up.

        But you’re making the same mistake plenty of my fellow USMNT fans have made thinking the growth was only on our side of the fence. We are improving but so is everyone else.

      • Many top teams in Europe are in shaky financial condition. A prominent Spanish economist recently wrote that only a few teams in Spain and Italy are financially viable. I was skeptical of the MLS approach for a long time, but I think history has shown it has been correct. As I have written before, TV revenues are key and MLS is starting to make big strides. With enhanced TV money they can significantly increase the salary cap and improve the league. MLS has a big advantage over other “minor” leagues. Footballers like the US, especially places like NY and LA. Once salaries are competitive, MLS will start to draw a lot of good, young players.

    • While we all get your gist, Americans aren’t gringos in our own country, even though there are areas where you might question that.

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      • I’m not really sure what you mean by that but Gringos is a nickname in Spanish for people from the US….just like “Chapines” for Guatemalans, “Cuscatlecos” for Salvadorians, “Catrachos” for Hondurans and “Ticos” for Costa Ricans…. the nickname is more about being Spanish as to where it’s used..

      • Not entirely correct Edwin de L.A.
        Hondurans call themselves ‘Catrachos”, Guatemalans refer to themselves as ‘Chapines’, Someone from Costa Rica would call themselves “Tico”; however Americans don’t refer to themselves as Gringos…the closes you could get to a similar term in Spanish would me “Yanqui”.

        Gringo is originally a derogatory term, derisive and usually meant as an insult.

      • Yeah I don’t know where you get that from…..
        Nobody at Pachuca called Torres gringo as an insult…..it’s about the nickname for the person’s nationality. I’ve hardly ever heard NATIVE Spanish Speakers use the term “Yanqui”….. who are from Central America, Mexico and the South Americans I’ve known….maybe Cubans but even that is another story

        I don’t know where this notion that it’s an insult comes from??? Canaleros is for Panama, Cafeteros for Colombia….seriously how do you figure it’s an insult or offensive remark?

  15. I’m totally skeptical, for now I think MLS should stick with mostly American coaches or foreign coaches who respect and know our game. I think it’s an arrogant move, to think a subpar Mexican coach can succeed in MLS. I hope I’m proven wrong, Chivas fans deserve a competitive franchise.

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  16. From the MLS website:

    “I believe that in MLS almost all the teams play the same,” he reportedly said. “The champion plays the same like all the teams; it’s not that you want to improvise, but I don’t have the sensibility to do what they do over there. It could be good as far as points and achievements, but I don’t think I have the profile to play that kind of soccer.”

    So you think every team in MLS plays the same, and also recognize that you’re not sure how to improve a team’s style in MLS? Great hire

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    • It’s not far from the truth; off the top of my head, only RSL plays differently from the rest of the teams. The rest play pretty predictable soccer. There is not a lot of ad hoc creativity, most of it is scripted by the coaches.

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      • You clearly did not watch the playoffs let alone the MLS Cup final.

        Hard to argue against the notion that MLS has subpar play.

      • you are not so fortunate, not with that comment. there is a “notion”, perception, that mls has sub par play but to those that don’t really follow the league much -like if you don’t have a team of your own. that perception is outdated (approx 5 yrs now) and no longer held by TRUE mls fans.

      • Yeah all that subpar play in the Seattle/Rsl series did nothing for me.

        You clearly don’t watch much MLS soccer. Hard to argue that it has sub par play (see what I did there? I just love non-defensible statements)

        Facepalm.

      • Saying the standard of play is subpar is not an insult. Even games in the EPL and La Liga have their lows.

        The average MLS player is less technically sound than those in more prestigious leagues so it is a no brainer that the standard of play would be lower on average.

        RSL-Seattle was a decent series with some good play but the MLS Final was awful.

        Not that it matters but the international media and even the spanish speaking media have focused on that particular game and its lack of good play so take that for it’s worth.

        I personally did not enjoy the game but then again I rarely enjoy any RedBull games as it is.

      • Helium-3 is very accurate. All Chelis is saying is that most of the teams in MLS play a boring style of football compared to what he’s used to. His statements are no different than most hard-core soccer/football fans who know the sport inside and out, who like a Barcelona style of ball control type system where the ball does the talking. Who ever says they don’t want an awesome style of play is a moron.

        You can’t compare the excitement & flair the NBA gives you with the Euro Basketball league.The same applies.

        By the way I am an MLS supporter but I’m not embarrassed to talk about in public the deficiencies this young league has. It’s still growing and it WILL improve through the natural process of evolution (Soccer Culture).

        If you ever wanted a coach who is very blunt with you. Chelis is you’re man. He don’t beat around the bush.

      • How many teams play Barcelona style football? A lot of teams want to, but only Barcelona does. Does Real Madrid? No. And they don’t try to. This is a stupid comment. It’s about like saying all English teams play the same or all Mexican teams do.

      • The Barcelona style of play is plagued all over the eredeviese Dutch league. That’s actually where it comes from. All he saying I that there is not much parody between the MLS clubs and its true. Outside of RSL and Seattle and galaxy everybody pretty much plays similar. That’s why anything can happen in the playoffs. I still love the MLS and agree that it has grown but is still developing. Chelis is not far off with his comment.

      • The dutch league clubs does not play the same style, Barcelona sends much higher pressure then any eredeviese club. Also Sporting Kansas City does not play a similar style. Again you have no clue what you are talking about.

      • I agree that it’s healthy to talk about the league’s deficiencies. I think people are objecting to the demonstrably false claim that MLS teams play a uniform style. In fact, there’s a pretty wide variety in terms of formation, style, approach, etc. The problem in MLS is that teams are slow to change tactics within and between games: RSL, for instance, is going to stick with their diamond come hell or high water. This doesn’t have anything to do with uniformity across the league.

        It’s also true that MLS teams do not play the fluid passing game many Mexican teams do. This has something to do with a difference in technical quality, but mostly to do with the fact that Mexican teams don’t press with anything like the intensity MLS teams do (because of the altitude). No team in MLS is going to play the kind of ball possession style you’re talking about because no MLS team (a) has the quality of players Barca does (b) the time on the ball Liga MX teams typically enjoy.

      • I’ve watched a lot of Mexican league games and been to a Xolos game at Estadio Caliente, ball possession is not a hallmark of Mexican teams. They give the ball away a ton. I’m happy the goats are making the same mistake again.

      • Mexican teams don’t press?

        Pressing is one of their known qualities.

        It’s actually more present when Mexican teams, club or national teams, play against other countries or clubs from other countries.

        look at Mexico’s first goal against Brazil in the Olympic final for example.

        or two of their three goals against Japan in the semis

        or two of their goals against Senegal in the quarters

        or their goal against the Swiss in the group stages

        or Monterrey’s showing against Ulsan in the Club World Cup

        or Chivas’ run through to the Libertadores final

        or Cruz Azul’s run through to the Libertadores Final

        or Pachuca’s run through to the Copa Sudamericana final

        I could go on but I think you get the point.

    • Yeah…. another coach coming in with no idea of what MLS is. Better get your hiking boots out, because it’s going to be a steep hike up that learning curve!

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  17. Looking over the guy’s record with teams in the Mexican league, I’m skeptical to say the least. His best season was in the 2007 Clausura where he managed to win 11 games. After that, he never managed a dominant record anywhere. Hard for me to believe that what appears to be a mediocre coach in the Mexican league is going to come in and suddenly turn Chivas USA into a contender in MLS.

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    • This is akin to using wikipedia as a source when writing college papers.

      Ask around, Chelis is very highly thought of in Mexico and a guy that manages to get more out of average players and usually has his teams overachieve.

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      • i been watching mexican soccer for 20 years and i really never heard a lot of this dude. i will take your word for it and see if C-USA can be competitive again. we’ll see.

  18. Well as with all foreign coaches… I think it depends on who you pair him up with as far as GM…if he has an MLS Savy and experienced GM or former coach who can draft well as there’s very little few gems in the college game or pro ready players who can make an impact in their 1st year….and give him at least 1 assistant coach who knows the game in the US…then he has a good chance at being well counseled and okay….

    This guy actually worked wonders with bad or low budget teams in Mexico as of recent and even got them to the playoffs with a high table placement

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