Hired To Be Fired – East

By Mike Miller InsideSoccer WEB EDITION

Four of the seven eastern teams return with the same coach as last season. Bruce Arena was the only coach fired last season in the east. Mo Johnston moved upstairs in Toronto and Osorio left Chicago for New York. One evolution of the league is the number of former MLS players now in charge. This season 8 of the 14 coaches played in MLS. Former MLS players have also become prominent in various executive positions.

Sigi Schmid Last year Sigi was on my list of one of the most likely to be fired. Despite missing the playoffs Schmid managed to hang onto his job. Columbus has not made any major off-season acquistions and a slow start to the season should see Sigi being the first out of the door.

Juan Carlos Osorio Osorio coached the Chicao Fire through the last half of last season. Chicago were undefeated during the last eight games of the season and made the playoffs on the last day of the season. Osorio made the off-season switch to New York to replace the fired Bruce Arena. Osorio was a former assistant coach in New York. No major off-season signings but New York has enough talent to move up to second place.

Steve Nichol The former Liverpool player begins his seventh season as head coach with New England. The Revolution lost in the MLS Cup final to Houston and are always competitve. The Revolution have depended on the draft in the past but made their first foray into Central America to sign two players in the off-seaosn. Look for New England to challenge for second. Nichol is as safe a bet as there is to not be fired.

Denis Hamlett Hamlett was the interim coach for Chicago before the hiring of Osorio. This is Hamlett’s first head coaching position. Chicago only major off-season signing was Tomasz Frankowski, can he overcome previous injuries to contribute? Hamlett will need a huge contribution from Blanco to make the playoffs once again. According to reports Blanco is in great shape and ready to go.

Tom Soehn As a rookie coach last year Soehn lead DC United to first overall in MLS. What do you do when you are the best?

You trade away two former all-stars and sell two of your young players to European clubs. With the windfall of money Dc then went to South America and signed 5 new players. DC United will be heavily favoured to repeat as regular season champions.

John Carver Carver joins TFC from Luton Town of the Championship league in England. While he has had experience in various assistant roles in England, this will be his first full-time effort at running a team on a day-to-day basis. The key to his succes will be if his duties are clearly defined in relation to those of Mo Johnston. Solid in the mid-field the team will need improved defence and more goal scoring to make the playoffs.

Curt Onalfo Kansas City traded away two of their top defenders from last season in Garcia and Burciaga. Defender Chance Myers was the first pick overall in the draft. The big off-season signing was forward Claudio Lopez from Argentina. Onalfo has enough for a middle of the pack finish and enough to stay around for another season.