Ready for a red-blooded Canadian?
NATIONAL TEAM: Former players think time is right for Canada to hire domestically for Floro’s replacement Marc Weber
Two of the heroes of Canada’s last significant achievement in men’s soccer want to see a Canadian in charge of the program again.
“I really do think we have coaches in this country who are capable of doing well with our national team,” said former goalkeeper Craig Forrest, MVP of the 2000 Gold Cup.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Carlo Corazzin, the Golden Boot winner at that memorable tournament.
On Wednesday, Canada Soccer announced it wasn’t renewing Benito Floro’s contract as coach.
The Spaniard failed to guide Canada to the Hex, the final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“It is a results business,” Canada Soccer president Victor Montagliani said on a conference call. “The program needs now another elevation.”
He thanked Floro for his professionalism and said he “has brought a lot to the program from a technical, tactical perspective.”
And now the question is: Who’s next? And what’s important in that hiring process.
An interim coach will be in place ahead of a still-to-be-announced October friendly and Montagliani said the coaching search won’t be rushed.
“We want to be exhaustive,” he said. “We want to cast a net, not a fishing rod.”
He said the association must remain open-minded and look at domestic candidates, but also elsewhere.
Forrest and Corazzin believe we have answers at home. Understanding the Canadian identity and the quirks of playing in CONCACAF are critical to the role.
“There’s two things that are very important to me,” said Corazzin, who played 59 times for Canada between 1994 and 2004 and sits eighth on Canada’s all-time scoring list. “The hiring has to have a well-versed background on the Canadian soccer player and the trials and tribulations of managing in Canada. And second, they need to understand and have experienced CONCACAF.
“Those are two massive hurdles that, if you’re taking a guy who doesn’t know either one of those, it’s going to take a lot longer to get them up to speed. And will they ever truly understand it? There’s a couple of guys here who’ve not only played it, but coached it at various levels.”
Nick Dasovic (63 caps and a former Canada U-20 and U-23 coach) is one name that has been thrown around in soccer circles. He has also spent time in MLS as an assistant with Toronto FC and San Jose and was interim coach with TFC in the latter stages of 2010.
Mark Watson (78 caps and former assistant for Canada, San Jose and Orlando City), who was also part of that 2000 Gold Cup-winning team, is another.
Colin Miller has FC Edmonton sitting second in the 12-team North American Soccer League and Marc Dos Santos has built a good resume at 39, winning in Montreal and Ottawa.
No one has expressed public interest in the just-vacated position.
“I sympathize with international managers and I feel for Benito,” said Forrest. “They’ve got a few days to work with the players and they get hired and they get fired.
“But what does (a foreign coach) know about Canadian identity? And then understanding Central America and CONCACAF is a different animal.
“You need someone who can rally the troops. Someone who can get them going and who has their back. The players have to believe in whoever it is.”
Not everyone agrees, of course, that the next Canadian coach has to be a Canadian.
David Norman, who played at the 1986 World Cup and wore the Canadian shirt 51 times, sees it as an ideal outcome, but not a prerequisite.
“I want the best guy for the job,” he said. “If that’s a Canadian, I love it. I’m hoping the best candidate is Canadian. But I don’t think that’s the most important thing.
“If Bob Bradley (the former U.S. and Egypt boss) or a Bob Bradley type applied, I think you have to talk to him.”
Bradley is currently in charge at Le Havre in France’s Ligue 2.
Norman said that given Canada’s pool of young talent and the runway the program has ahead of the 2022 World Cup, the most important thing now is to find someone with a track record with youth.
“I just think it’s so important for them (Canada Soccer) for the October friendlies and leading into the (2017) Gold Cup to have as young a team as possible and someone that can work with those players,” Norman said.
“I also think it’s important to have a great communicator and someone that can create a unity with the clubs where the players play.”
Floro struggled to communicate his ideas and messages to the media and fans, although Montagliani dismissed those gripes Wednesday.
“If a coach gets a result and doesn’t speak a lick of English, I’m not sure you ask that question,” he said. “The reality is you’ve got to get the right person. I’m not sure language is at the top of that list (of important attributes).”
Terry Dunfield, who played 14 times for Canada, including games under Floro, also said a Canadian coach is preferable, but not essential.
“I think the biggest one is CONCACAF experience and I think MLS experience would help too,” he said.
Dunfield also believes Canada needs to embrace its “blue-collar identity” more.
There were certainly times during the recent qualifying round when you wondered just who Canada thought they were — the first half at home to Mexico, for example.
The irony here is it was a German, Holger Osieck, who guided Canada to that 2000 Gold Cup, although he had played in Vancouver and been an assistant with Canada in the late ’70s.
“He brought something that was needed at the time: A structure to the national team when there was virtually no structure,” said Corazzin.
Corazzin believes Canada is well past those days now. And he believes there are Canadian coaches around with the experience to do the job.
Floro will likely be best remembered in Canada as the coach who capped Junior Hoilett and Scott Arfield, who both committed to Canada on his watch.
We’ll have to wait and see, though, if this was something of a Spanish experiment or the start of a trend.
“I want the best guy for the job. If that’s a Canadian, I love it. I’m hoping the best candidate is Canadian.” — David Norman