The Kansas City Wizards will name general manager Peter Vermes as the team's interim head coach today, setting the stage for the former U.S. national team standout to help turn around a Wizards squad sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
According to sources, the decision to fire Curt Onalfo as Wizards head coach was made before Saturday's ill-fated 6-0 loss to FC Dallas, with the defeat making the decision a much easier one to follow through with. While Onalfo did help turn things around in Kansas City (the club made the playoffs in 2007 and 2008 after having missed the postseason the previous two seasons), the Wizards were never considered one of the league's top teams during Onalfo's close to three years with the club. The squad hovered around the .500 mark and also struggled to score goals for much of Onalfo's tenure, factors that didn't sit well with an ownership group banking some serious money on a new stadium project.
The decision leaves the club in the hands of Vermes, who previously coached the U.S. Under-20 national team before joining the Wizards front office. One of the most sought-after coaching candidates in the league over the past two seasons, Vermes will now have a chance to show just how good a coach he can be, and whether the Wizards will need to bother bringing in a new coach for 2010.
Vermes won't have an easy first test. The Wizards return to action on Aug. 16 at home against the Chicago Fire, the team with the best road record in MLS.
Here are some other news tidbits to get your day going:
Lescott ready to request transfer
After weeks and weeks of being sought after by big-spending Manchester City, Everton defender Joleon Lescott finally appears ready to join the Blues as reports are surfacing that Lescott is ready to hand in a transfer request.
Everton insists that it won't sell Lescott, but the Toffees appear to be preparing contingency plans, with former Arsenal and AC Milan defender Philippe Senderos a possible replacement if Lescott leaves.
Delph chooses Villa over Man City
Highly-regarded young winger Fabian Delph turned down a potential move to Manchester City and has joined Aston Villa on a £6million move.
Villa is staying busy in the transfer market, with a potential move for Portuguese midfielder Miguel Veloso also still in the works. One possible transfer that could impact the playing time for American right back Eric Lichaj is a potential move for Newcastle right back Habib Beye.
They said it
Aston VIlla manager Martin O'Neill had some praise for American goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who helped Villa win the Peace Cup, but O'Neill also had a nice jab for Guzan, who was the team's penalty shootout hero on Sunday.
“Brad was wonderful. He had a fantastic tournament,” O'Neill said. "”Saying that, I think even I could have saved Alessandro Del Piero’s penalty."
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What do you think of the above stories? Think Vermes can turn things around in KC? Feel Curt Onalfo was fired too soon? Is Manchester City a legitimate title contender if it can add Lescott to Kolo Toure in central defense? Are you starting to see Aston Villa as a serious player this upcoming EPL season?
Share your thoughts below.
With Vermes getting hired, and Hamlett and Kinnear still working as head coaches, that makes thress former Rapids players plying their trade managing teams?
Have any other teams contributed so many coaches at the same time?
I always knew MLS was run by filthy b*****ds. The YA article just proves it …
Great article about Cooper and MLS transfers. Found it interesting that his desire to return to Europe is also fueled by his desire to be on the National Team and they acknowledge that in Bradley’s eyes that is the only way a player can furter develop. It highlights one of the biggest things that holdsback soccer in this country, which is that we have few American stars in MLS and no incentive for any of them to stay. They can’t get paid well or make the national team here. If the league can’t figure out how to fix that, it willbe its undoing.
would everton consider demerit to replace lescott??
If lescott goes, what about demerit to replace him? Considering the job he did against Spain and (for the most part) against Brazil, he’s shown he can play against top quality strikers
BTW Lescott was not even the best CB for everton last year. Jags was. He was pure class all year before the injury. And even with the injury, he was still named player of the year.
And am i the only one who thinks there should be two domestic players for each team whose salary won’t count against the cap.
Peter Vermes is out to prove to himself that he can coach, otherwise, as Technical Director, he’ll have to find someone else.
Or if it turns out that his “scouting” and hand picked player selections is the problem, maybe he should fire himself.
Cooper Sr.’s article was spot on, and I’m not an MLS apologist, but he has to understand that this is a different set up, top ot bottom, than any other league in the world. The fact that its a single entity, teams don’t get all their revenue from home games, bad TV contracts etc. all plays into this business. It’s not like they’re sitting on piiles of money and just trying to take Kenny’s $500k for no reason. He makes a lot of good points though about how they treat Americans in general.
Think Villa is an exciting and fun team to watch and they will challenge if they get depth. They were fantastic last fall and it was their lack of depth and injuries that did them in for the spring. Really like MON and glad both Brads are there. Belive that if Sidwell can stay healthy, he will give them a real spark in the midfield. Looking forward to seeing them alot this season.
Great line:
“I think that this league at times would rather reward a proven failure than unlimited potential.” Kenny Copper, Sr.
Senderos is to fill in for Jagielka who’s out through the end of the year. And yeah, I hate to see a good club like Everton be impacted by the nouveau riche like this. For Man City to take from the already wealthy (Man U, Arsenal etc) is one thing, but to knock those who are struggling to reach the top down a notch or two is, IMO, unwelcome. Lescott can’t be replaced, at least in the short term.
As for Aston Villa, wasn’t there something out there about Michael Bradley joining them? When are we going to hear something about new home for him?
Crap…. this is going to hurt the Toffees.
Lescott is pure class.
Why are Everton going after senderos? Did they not see how bad he was at AC Milan? He was awful.
I think the MLS should model it self after the dutch league. It should push for a wide open attacking style of game. Creating a physical league where road teams sit back or play with 2 d mids won’t help capture fans.
I expect that both City and Villa will challenge for spots in Europe. It should be an exciting season to watch.
I respect K.C. for doing what they felt was necessary (unlike some other teams in MLS). I hope Onalfo lands on his feet. I think he has the potential to be a great coach, but he might need to work under Sigi Schmidt or Dominic Kinnear for a few seasons before he is at that next level. Dave Sarachan is probably name being floated around in K.C.
Aston Villa simply doesn’t have the depth of the other Big 4 + Man Citeh.
Hahaha, I hear that josh! I’ve blown up my fantasy team twice now because I don’t want any Citeh defenders. It’s one thing to have good defenders, it’s another thing to play in a formation and employ tactics that actually helps those defenders play well…
Check out the scathing article at Yanks Abroad regarding Cooper’s transfer. MLS is digging a deeper hole for when the CBA negotiations start.
What the heck… Man City, stop buying the defenders on my fantasy team!