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Goal.commentary: MLS Hot Seat Report
By Seth Vertelney

Spring has given way to summer and in MLS, that means it's high time for speculation over some coaches' jobs to run rampant.

As some underachieving teams start to show that their slow starts
weren't aberrations, calls for some coaches heads will grow louder and louder as the weeks go by. The fairness and effectiveness of sacking coaches mid-season can be debated, but there's still a chance some heads will roll before the season's up. At the very least, there will be a changing of the guard in some MLS cities before the 2010 season gets underway. Here's a look at four coaches who might need to buy season tickets to see their clubs in action next year, ranked, naturally, by how hot their respective seats are:

Still chilled…for now:

Denis Hamlett, Chicago Fire
Hamlett's not in any real trouble yet, but if he can't find a way to
curtail his squad's maddening inconsistency, tensions will rise in a
hurry. The Fire currently reside in second place in the Eastern
Conference, a position which belies just how frustrating 2009 has
been.

After snatching draws from the jaws of victory countless times to start the season, the club finally put together a three game
winning streak, only to back that up with their current three-game
losing streak. Their puzzling inability to win at home has become a
staple of Hamlett's now year-and-a-half in charge- just one home win in six matches this season to bring his total mark to 8-7-6. All in all, Hamlett's tenure hasn't been a total disaster by any means, but
one really has to wonder if a side with this much talent shouldn't be
rolling over the league, rather than struggling to establish itself
amongst its elite sides.

Following a fairly indifferent 2008 (13-10-7), it really is time the Fire started playing like the elite team most believe it should be. If not, Hamlett might eventually have to fall on the sword in Chicago.

Lukewarm:

Chris Cummins, Toronto FC
The life of an interim coach is precarious and fascinating- success
could mean a permanent promotion, but unconvincing results will usher in a new regime and probably, a pink slip. It truly is the proverbial sink-or-swim situation.

So far, Cummins is veering dangerously towards the former, posting a 2-3-2 record in league play. His side also stands on the brink of elimination from the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, which would preclude them from the CONCACAF Champions League this season.

Despite the fact Cummins has only been in charge six weeks, patience is razor-thin north of the border, and his interim status means his job security is minimal compared to that of a full-fledged head coach. This was supposed to be the year TFC finally made their mark on the league, with native son Dwayne De Rosario front-and-center in a lineup of new acquisitions.

Currently though, the Reds sit fifth out of seven teams in the East, with only New York and a New England side who've played two fewer matches below them. The schedule gods smiled on Cummins just as the pressure started to mount though- TFC gets two straight home matches against the Red Bulls, the first of which was a 2-1 win on Saturday.

Heating up:

Frank Yallop, San Jose
Yallop deservedly developed a reputation as one of the finest coaches in North America after leading the Earthquakes (now the Dynamo) to MLS Cups in two of his first three seasons as a head coach (2001 and 2003). In 2004, Yallop resigned to take over Canada's national team.

After three years in charge, he left to return to MLS, adding his name to the long list of managers who've failed to lead our neighbors to the north to any real soccer success. In June 2006, he took over the L.A. Galaxy and in just under two seasons, the last of which was highlighted by the David Beckham circus coming to town, he posted an uninspiring 18-21-12 mark, missing the playoffs in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Yallop returned to San Jose in 2008 to coach the expansion Earthquakes, who struggled in their inaugural season to the tune of a league-worst 33 points.

For Yallop, year two has brought about two adverse developments: First, in Seattle, Sigi Schmid has cast aside any doubt that an expansion team could have immediate success. Second, and more critically, his Earthquakes side seems to have regressed, as new signings like Bobby Convey and the now-traded Cam Weaver have struggled to make an impact.

After an ugly offseason contract squabble, influential midfielder Ronnie O'Brien departed, and it seems Yallop's club haven't figured out how to fill his void yet.

Once again, the 'Quakes find themselves propping up the league and
quite possibly, if they continue down the road they are on, a new
coach will be filling Yallop's void come 2010.

Hades in August:

Juan Carlos Osorio, New York Red Bulls
When a team is floundering as badly as the Red Bulls are now, there
are always both tangible and intangible reasons used to explain the
futility. Tangibly, the Red Bulls have gone a league-record 20 road
matches without a win, including an 0-7-1 mark this season. They are dead last in the league in goals scored, goal differential and points.

Intangibly, Osorio's constant lineup tinkering seems more the move of a desperate coach throwing starting elevens against a wall than an
expert tactician at work. More importantly, it seems like Osorio has
lost his troops, perhaps best demonstrated two weekends ago when the Red Bulls ostensibly mailed it in during the second half of their 4-0 loss at New England. They at least put in a better effort in last
weekend's loss at Toronto, but a loss it still was.

The club's Cinderella run to the MLS Cup final last season was a great story, but in evaluating Osorio, the club's undistinguished regular season should take precedence over three positive results in the playoffs. It now seems a matter of when, and not if, he will get the axe. Watch for him on the sideline this coming weekend, constantly jotting down notes as he is wont to do. This time though, he might just be updating his résumé.

Two New Beginnings
David Rice looks at how the NASL differs and compliments the way MLS approaches finances and structure.

By David Rice
Mar 22, 2010

Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union players only had to look as far as the other side of the halfway line last Friday night to see another team trying to make a fresh start in American professional soccer.

The expansion Union faced off against the newly formed FC Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League at the University of Tampa in their final preseason clash, a game they lost 1-0.

While the differences between the leagues weren’t very apparent on the pitch in this one match, they’re pretty clear off of it.

Philadelphia assistant coach John Hackworth interviewed for the Rowdies' head coaching position, but eventually went in a different direction after seeing the challenges that forming a team in the NASL presented. With no draft, and the fact that the clubs own player contracts instead of Major League Soccer’s single entity structure, buying talent and structuring contracts is a challenge, given the budget of many clubs in the NASL.

“It’s very subjective, but I would say generally what clubs in the NASL are looking at is a player pool of second tier players,” Hackworth said. “The contracts they can offer are based on the club's budget whereas with MLS, the league signs the player, so it’s an entirely different process.”

For players, the NASL structure allows for more of the freedoms that were recently at the center of the MLS labor debacle, which was barely settled in time for the upcoming season, which begins Thursday. With clubs owning the contracts in the NASL, players are more able to move around the league from club to club without being in violation of any league policies.

“There is no salary cap in this league (NASL), and the clubs are owned by their own people, so they have more freedom,” Rowdies midfielder Stanley Nyazamba said. “With that comes more freedom for the players, too. It’s easier to go to a new club here.”

The advantages of the NASL structure don’t stop there for aspiring players either. Most players in the league have guaranteed contracts, according to Rowdies owner Andrew Nestor. While the contracts are presumably not as lucrative as MLS contracts, the players at least know that their deals will be fulfilled.

The NASL doesn’t use an expansion draft like MLS nor do they have a draft to bring up college players. The clubs simply rely on a network of scouts around the globe that bring them players who are in search of place where they can develop. For the Rowdies, the process of building a team has been a considerable task, but one that Nestor favored over having an expansion draft.

“Without the single entity structure we had a clean slate as to how we wanted to build this team and how we were going to structure player contracts,” Nestor said. “We didn’t actually want any expansion drafts because we felt that we had a good network of scouts and that if we put in the hard work we could find the players that we want to fit our system.”

Philadelphia, on the other hand, will go into its inaugural season with a mixture of players already experienced in MLS, draftees and guys that they have discovered on their own.

“Discovery” is an important part of building an MLS roster as teams are allowed to put 10 players on a discovery list. This means that as long as the player is not a part of any other MLS club or on another club's discovery list, the team that has discovered him has the first right to the player. They do not sign the player themselves, however, they basically just authorize the league to sign the player for them.

Issues have been raised by the MLS Players Union about the way the league handles player contracts. Hackworth was quick to defend the league’s current structure for how it has aided the league’s growth, but sees how it doesn’t always work to the player’s favor.

“The single entity structure has absolutely been positive in developing the league, but I would make the distinction between what is good for the league and what is good for selecting an individual player,” Hackworth said. “MLS facilities are top notch, more teams have their own stadiums, the crowds are bigger and you can be on television every week. MLS is the only league in this country that can offer a player that. But for NASL teams, if you want to sign a player and you have the money you can do it. That being said, you’re usually looking at players not being considered by MLS, the country’s top level of soccer. There are pros and cons for both.”

The approach of NASL this time is different from that of the United Soccer League, which was always insisting that the USL was not a second division. No one in the NASL is clearly saying they are America’s second division, but they aren’t denying it either.

“Both the MLS and NASL want what is best for the sport,” Nestor said. “Our focus is not only to build up the talent pool but also to build up markets that MLS is not currently in. Markets like Montreal, Tampa Bay, and St. Louis are important markets for soccer’s growth. There is a sense of collaboration between the two leagues that wasn’t there before even though we don’t have anything formal.”

On the pitch, the NASL is America’s second tier league, but perhaps the teams in the NASL aren’t as far behind as one would expect. The Zimbabwean Nyazamba has played in every American league, from MLS to USL and now the NASL and says he sees little difference between the leagues.

“Everywhere you go soccer is soccer,” Nyazamba said. “I really don’t think that the talent level is lower here. Players play in different leagues for different reasons. Sometimes a player just wants to play in this league so he gets more opportunities.”