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Osorio: “I will be back next year”

Juan Carlos Osorio 3 (ISIphotos.com) 

                                                                                       Photo by ISIphotos.com

Being the first coach to guide the New York Red Bulls to the MLS Cup final has brought plenty of attention to head coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Some of it good, and some of it unwanted.

Along with the credit being given to him for guiding a short-handed and undermanned Red Bulls squad to a final, Osorio has also been pegged in reports as a coach ready for a change, ready to make what would be his fourth coaching change in two years.

Amid growing rumors that he is ready to leave the Red Bulls after just one season, including reports out of Colombia linking him to a return to coach in his native country, Osorio emphatically denied the reports and stated that he has every intention of being Red Bulls head coach in 2009.

"The reports about me leaving are not true," Osorio said on Monday evening. "I am under contract next year and I have a job to do. This is the job I want and I am not looking to leave.

"I am proud of the things we were able to do this year and have already begun working on next year's team."

Osorio, who will be making a scouting trip to Jamaica later this week before traveling to Colombia for an extended vacation, did reveal that he has turned down a handful of job offers and more than a dozen requests to interview for coaching positions in Latin America. He has been approached by teams from Colombia and Mexico, but insists that he has turned down all approaches.

As for suggestions that he is unhappy with Red Bulls owners over the club's committment to improving the team, Osorio acknowledged that he wants to see what Red Bull will do to strengthen the team, but insisted that reports implying that his concerns about Red Bulls leadership have him considering leaving are off base.

"We need to be better as a team and as a club we are going to need to devote all of our resources to that," Osorio said. " I do want to see what the club will do but I have not lost faith that we will do what is necessary to strengthen the team so that it can compete on all fronts, including the league and CONCACAF."

What is my take? Based on everything I have heard, and all the conversations I have had with Osorio through the year, I do not see him up and leaving New York after just one year on the job. Are there concerns about the club's committment to strengthening the team on the field? Sources tell me that is the case despite the fact that Osorio has never publicly questioned the club's committment. Why? Red Bull Salzburg provided no assistance in the player acquisition department last year even after repeated requests from New York.

The most public of those rebukes involved Dutch midfielder Ernst Obster, a Red Bull Salzburg reserve team player who New York targeted as a potential impact player it could have brought in on loan. Salzburg balked at a loan and offer no other alternatives. While the Red Bulls did sign several players last season, all the players were acquired under the normal MLS parameters and not with the help of Salzburg.

With an MLS Cup appearance in his first year as Red Bulls head coach, Osorio is very likely to press Salzburg for more support in the form of loan deals and the resources for a second designated player, but suggestions that Osorio is ready to jump ship are premature. He has one more year left on his current contract and has the leverage to ask for more support. It doesn't make much sense for Osorio to walk away now.

Comments

  1. I just wish RB would sell the friggin team to an ownership that knows what they are doing. Cause for all of their fizzy drink millions, that’ve done minimal for MLS and Metro.

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  2. “Whew… and for a second I thought he was actually gonna go. Chicago probably should have thought about making him sign a contract.”

    – arriaga

    I’ll second that. JCO has always held his own career above all else. To expect loyalty is naive. And in my opinion, this great run in the cup is a perfect story to sell for a larger contract elsewhere. Although, if he’s going to Mexico, he needs to wait until their season is over, which is will be soon. Be afarid. Very Afraid.

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  3. RB needs depth at just about every position, and JPA looks like he will be leaving, so what does everyone think about new acquisitions next year? I just heard a rumor that Fernando Morientes might be looking to join MLS, Ze Roberto has been floated…If Angel leaves and we have two DP slots and the new stadium opening up next year we should be able to entice at least one of them to come to the greatest city in the world.

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  4. JCO is laying the seeds for a departure. I don’t understand why no one has focused on the fact that he grossly misused the Jozy allocation on three guys who will likely be discarded. Mistakes like that can kill a team’s chances for long term success.

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  5. “the New York Red Bulls desperately need a center attacking midfielder to provide consistent playmaking abilities like a Guillermo Barros Schelotto”

    Great obsservation! So you are saying the Red Bulls need an MVP midfielder? I agree. That would make them a much better team.

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  6. great news..maybe this preseason we could have the bulk of our squad set instead of scrambling for players in august.

    Ives could you get us the scoop on RB’s roster salary cap situation for the offseason? also whatsappening with Reyna’s salary slot. IIRC MLS didnt allow us to use the entire slot when he retired

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  7. The link is fixed Dave.

    And Paul, comparing Dave Van Den Bergh to 2007 Ivan Guerrero is such a stretch. In fact, all the continued hand-wringing over the Guerrero expansion draft situation is pretty hilarious. So much fuss over an overpaid left back who wouldn’t have started for the Fire anyway is pretty funny.

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  8. Red Bull Headquarters must be a hell of a bureaucracy to work through…

    I mean – it’s not like they aren’t pouring in money to the team in the form of a stadium, a training facility, a coach (and yes, he wasn’t cheap), and already 2 DPs.

    But for them not to be actively saying to their MLS coach “How can we help with the actual team?” is insane.

    I’m assuming that the internal communications suck. They need to make it as simple as possible for Osorio or Agoos to pick up the phone/email One person in Austria and get that dialogue going.

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  9. same things we fire fans heard last season… however, i do not expect osorio to leave RBNJ… unlike some fire fans i hope you at least put up a fight in CL, not that im hoping you move on, simply put up more of a fight the NER, CUSA and DCU…. O.o

    as for your relationship with Redbulls other team: doesnt it seem kind of pointless to be affiliated with another team (in this case owned by the same company) and not see any assistance?? i would think that they’d be happy about loaning out some reserves players and hoping they excell and get some quality PT???

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  10. Thanks for the intellectual analogy kingsnake… and thanks for teh sour grapes Chica fans… Oso is here in NYC to win MLS Cup next year!

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  11. Women should not cry foul when their husband — who they first started boinking when he was married to someone else — starts having an affair. Likewise, here.

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  12. Look at the haters out there. Who are your teams? A little bitter? Yes we all acknowledged luck played it’s part but that is sports. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet. It’s not like luck is suddenly a new concept invented by RBNY.

    Agree with Tim F. – either RBNY makes the necessary investments or we will not only crash and burn in all competitions, our new stadium will be pretty empty.

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  13. So Osorio claims he isn’t leaving, and uses the fact that he’s under contract as proof?

    Whew… and for a second I thought he was actually gonna go. Chicago probably should have thought about making him sign a contract. Oh wait… they did.

    It’s great to see that the only thing overshadowing JCO’s lack of loyalty is New Jersey’s inability to hang onto a coach for more than a season. Have fun getting crushed in the Champion’s League next year cows. (Though they probably will have to rebrand it the “CONCACAF Champions and One God Awful Team That Backed Its Way Into The Playoffs On Sheer Luck And Circumstance League”)

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  14. Since the Red Bull’s purchase of the New York franchise, the only things Salzburg has provided are Markus Schopp and Dane Richards’ right MCL sprain by Harald Pichler and to that we say NO THANK YOU.

    It’s time for Dietrich Mateschitz to facilitate another Designated Player signing for the New York Red Bulls to accompany Juan Pablo Angel and to facilitate more loans between his soccer investments. In addition to more depth at all positions except goalkeeper, the New York Red Bulls desperately need a center attacking midfielder to provide consistent playmaking abilities like a Guillermo Barros Schelotto as well as a reliable center back who can help the team to play on occasion with three defenders.

    Does the owner wants his club to “crash and burn” in its first Champions League competition and in the months before moving to a new stadium??? That’s what could happen if these investments are not made.

    Reply

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