By JOHN BOSCHINI
Juan Carlos Osorio was all set to coach the Honduran national team, and looked primed for a return to the United States this summer in charge of a new team, but Osorio is still in Colombia and Honduras is still searching for a manager after a dispute over Osorio's arrival date led the former New York Red Bulls head coach to pass on his first national team job.
Osorio turned down the Honduran job last Friday after initially agreeing to accept it, in large part because of the Honduran federation's insistence that he join the team sooner than in June, which is when the sides originally agreed he would take over in order for him to see out his contract with Colombian side Once Caldas. Once the Honduran federation let it be known it would prefer Osorio join sooner, Osorio declined the position.
Osorio is an MLS coaching veteran, serving as an assistant with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 2000/2001, head coach of the Chicago Fire in 2007 and head coach of the New York Red Bulls in 2008/2009.
Here are some other stories to get your Monday going:
WEST BROM FIRES DIMATTEO
After a promising start to his Premier League campaign with a victory over Arsenal and draws against Manchester United and Tottenham, Roberto Di Matteo's tenure as manager of West Bromwich Albion came to an abrupt end over the weekend.
"This has been a tough decision but we, as a Board, believe it is the right one to give the Club the best possible chance of remaining in the Premier League," the West Brom said in a statement.
Di Matteo, 40, became the fourth Premier League manager to be sacked after a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City ran West Brom's league win-less streak up to nine games. Di Matteo, who was hired in the summer of 2009, was put on "gardening leave" which means he will remain on payroll but will no longer serve as manager. First-team coach Michael Appleton will take over in the interim.
INTERPOL NOT INVESTIGATING ARSENAL/NEWCASTLE DRAW
Interpol is refuting claims that it is investigating Newcastle's stunning comeback against Arsenal over the weekend. French media outlets reported Sunday that German officials alerted the International Criminal Polic Organization of unusual betting patterns during halftime when Arsenal held a commanding 4-0 lead.
"Interpol is not aware of any request for for assistance and any investigation would be conducted by national authorities. Interpol's general secretariat has not been asked to provide any assistance in this matter," an Interpol spokeswoman told The Telegraph.
The English Premier League also said it has not received any notice of an investigation into the game or referee Phil Dowd.
GERRARD RULED OUT OF ENGLAND SQUAD
England will be without Steven Gerrard when the Three Lions face off against Denmark on Wednesday. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish confirmed that Gerrard, who would have captained England in the absence of Rio Ferdinand, picked up a groin injury in Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday. Liverpool was angered by Gerrard's participation in England's friendly with France in November where the midfielder aggravated a hamstring injury.
BAFANA BAFANA CONSIDERING NAME CHANGE
The South African Football association is considering changing the name of its national team from Bafana Bafana. 2010 World Cup Chief Danny Jordaan will lead a three-man investigation into the name change after the SAFA ran into issues trying to copyright the name. In 1994, a local businessman patented the name and the association's attempts to copyright it were struck down in 2002.
BLATTER CONFIRMS SUMMER WORLD CUP FOR 2022
After drawing international critcism for voicing his support for moving the World Cup to winter in 2022 to avoid the scorching heat of Qatar, FIFA President Sepp Blatter backtracked on those claims, saying the Qatar World Cup will be played in the summer.
"Everything is settled now for summer and all 64 matches will be played in the territory of Qatar," Blatter told the BBC.
———————-
What do you think of these stories? Disappointed to see Osorio not take the Honduras job? Did Di Matteo deserve the sack? Think England will miss Gerrard's presence? Is the matter of when the 2022 World Cup will be played finally settled?
Share your thoughts below.
Oh, come on..that was kind of funny. We can also have Osorio playing the Hoffman role in a remake of “The Graduate.”
“Honduras…are you trying to seduce me?”
He’s a very handsome well-dressed man that Osorio! Las Peliculas should NOT be out of the question for him!
Btwm the whole IDEA of sports is inherently childish because its a GAME! (& I say that as a fan). If we can’t have fun with sports, we may as well give up living. Where else do grown men go and jump up and down & sing & not get ridiculed? It’s SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. AND SOMETIMES FUNNY!!!!!
And that all I’m doing. It’s not like I’m wishing ill will on the man personally.
The way things are going in the Middle East and northern Africa these days, Qatar may not even be a country by 2022.
At first glance it seems like it’s a fairly kind gesture, to keep him on the payroll until he’s placed elsewhere.
Of course, it’s probably because they don’t have the funds to pay him the remainder of his contract outright, and would rather keep paying him his wages monthly.
Chief Brody from Jaws has him beat for the role.
well, Qatar better start building now. I hope there are milestones in place to change the progress…
“Osorio v. Osorio” in which the coach fights with himself whether to take a series of coaching jobs in locales his wife may or may not like.
(SBI-Seriously man, let it go. It’s childish at this point.)
What is the advantage of placing your manager on “gardening leave” instead of just firing him?
(From this photo) A “tanned” Dustin Hoffman (circa mid 90’s) could totally play JCO in a “made for Cable” flick….what would it be called?
I think Blatter is an idiot. As I’ve repeatedly writtem — it might even be possible for Qatar to build climate-controlled stadia. What about the tourists, though. the rest of the time? Moore importantly, what about the players? Where will they train? In Qatar? Are they going to build 32 climate-controllled practice fields, too? Are they going to be flying in for games? How many runways does the country have, anyway?
This is a cluster-f@ck waiting to happen.
Oh — and way to go, Charlie!!
He will coach Once Caldas
He will leave Once Caldas
He will stay with the Fire
He will leave the Fire
He will coach Chivas USA
He won’t coach Chivas USA
He will coach Honduras
He won’t coach Honduras
The Soap Opera of Juan Carlos Osorio
Agreed, though scoring three goals in a half is a good thing even against sucky competition, if Davies can be half the player he was I think DC could do some good things this year
Charlie D scored. Huzzah!
We’ll see just how good they are when we starting playing a competitive game.. Hard to get excited about the u20 Canada team… BUT any sign of something good is better than last season!!
I very much wanted JCO fired from the Red Bulls but have to admit it is pretty honorable that he turned down Honduras to see out his contract.
Ngwenya with a first half hat trick for DC in a friendly against Canada’s under 20 team, seems like DC has made some great moves this offseason
More nonsense from Blatter. If it were a banana republic instead of FIFA, there would have long ago been a military coup.