By IVES GALARCEP
With Montreal’s coaching hire on Monday morning, the New York Red Bulls are now the only MLS team that hasn’t hired a coach for the 2013 season.
That looks likely to change this week and a new name has emerged as a candidate to be Hans Backe’s replacement.
Alexi Lalas has identified Portuguese manager Paulo Sousa as the new leading candidate to take over as Red Bulls head coach, saying in a recent episode of his podcast that Sousa is “a good bet” to be New York’s next head coach. Sousa has most recently been manager of Hungarian side Videoton, but he has now left that position, which could open the door for his move to the Red Bulls.
Lalas also stated that Claudio Reyna will join Sousa as an assistant coach, a development first reported by SBI last week.
Sousa, 42, has spent time coaching English sides Queens Park Rangers, Swansea City and Leicester City before coaching Hungarian champions Videoton.
The emergence of Sousa as a leading candidate for the Red Bulls job has come at a time when Gary McAllister has gone from favorite to be hired for the position to fading afterthought. Sources tell SBI there had been some internal debate about hiring McAllister (a move Gerard Houllier wanted to make), but
What do you think of this possibility? See Sousa being a good fit? Think the Red Bulls are making a mistake by not hiring an American coach?
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