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The Montreal Impact has finally signed a new head coach, Marco Schallibaum, the Swiss tactician who most recently managed FC Lugano in the Swiss Super League. In Schallibaum, the Impact gains a coach with a tremendous amount of experience, and fulfils their criteria, too, for a multi-lingual coach.
With a plethora of international talent in Montreal’s roster, Schallibaum will attempt to find the correct combination of players as the Impact head into their sophomore season. He, like many European coaches before him, will need to quickly learn the ins and outs of Major League Soccer, if he hopes to find any success within it.
Schallibaum is not the first foreign coach to come to MLS. In the leagues’ history, there have been over 45 coaches from all across the globe, from the far stretches of Europe and South America, to Canadians, and even to Iceland.
Many have tried to figure out Major League Soccer – few have succeeded. The question that Schallibaum will need to answer during his tenure at Montreal, is the question all foreign head coaches are asked: can he adapt to MLS?
There have been those who have stuck around and have actually established themselves in this league – Polish head coach Robert Warzycha is still at the helm of the Columbus Crew; Martin Rennie from Scotland is doing well in Vancouver for the Whitecaps. However, the vast majority of current MLS coaches are American: 12 of 19 head coaches in the league today are from the United States.
What does this mean for foreign coaches in MLS? It’s a mixed bag, really:
Juan Carlos Osorio managed the Chicago Fire back in 2007, moved to New York in 2008 through to 2009, lead the Red Bulls to their worst ever season, picked up a 23.08 per cent winning ratio, and was promptly fired, for another foreign coach, Hans Backe.
Backe was one of the more successful foreign MLS coaches, leading the New York Red Bulls (now infused with real Thierry Henry action!) to playoff berths and 41 league wins during his time with the club. Backe earned an impressive 41.84 per cent win-to-draw/loss ratio and left the league with his head held high.
There have been failures, though, some massive. Toronto FC fans know all to well the story of last two seasons, when Aron Winter and the 4-3-3 invaded BMO Field. The new club philosophy was reflective of Winter’s experience with Ajax in Holland, and the concept of Total Football took the city by storm. Yet, Winter kicked off the 2012 season with a league-worst nine consecutive losses, and was fired soon after.
Winter didn’t last two seasons with the club, a trend that is surprisingly common for foreign head coaches in MLS:
Carlos Alberto Pereira (Brazil) – 1997-1997
Denis Hamlett (Costa Rica) – 2008-2009
Teitur Thordarson (Iceland) 2011-2011
Walter Zenga (Italy) – 1999-1999
Carlos de los Cobos (Mexico) – 2010-2011
Hans Westerhof (Holland) – 2005-2005
Ruud Gullit (Holland) – 2007-2008
These are some of the notables who survived only about a season (some more, some less) in MLS. While Carlos Alberto Pereira eventually went off and won a World Cup, his time in MLS was short; Ruud Gullit is a Dutch legend but was a disaster for the LA Galaxy. Like Aron Winter, these coaches could not establish a European style or could not adapt to the level of physicality in MLS.
Then there’s Osorio’s fellow countryman, Columbian Oscar Pareja from the Colorado Rapids. His incredible story of during his time as captain of Colombian side Independiente Medellin makes him one of the most interesting head coaches in MLS. Pareja played during the reign of drug lord Pablo Escobar, and was once summoned, along with his teammates, to play football in a jail with Escobar himself.
“That day I can't forget," Pareja said to ESPN. "[Escobar] sat next to me talking about (soccer) with great passion and knowledge, for an hour. He knew everything. He said to me, 'Why do you yell at the refs so much, Guapo? We pay them. This does no good.'”
Still, his story is not the reason Colorado hired him – Pareja was an assistant coach with FC Dallas since 2005, and became head coach of Colorado last season. He took an MLS Cup winning Rapids outfit and delivered 10 wins, three draws and 19 losses in the 2012 regular season, a win percentage of only 31.25 per cent.
His predecessor was Englishman Gary Smith, who won the MLS Cup with the Rapids back in 2010, picked up a 41.96 per cent win ratio and left the league as one of the most tangibly successful foreign head coaches in MLS history.
He’s not the only foreign head coach to win the MLS Cup though: Dutchman Thomas Rongen won is back in 1999 with D.C. United; Bob Gansler of Hungary won it with Kansas in 2000; Frank Yallop, a Canadian, has won it twice with San Jose back in 2001 and 2003; Peter Nowak from Poland won the cup back in 2004 with D.C. United; both Sigi Schmid and Dominic Kinnear have won the cup twice, and are considered Americans, but Schmid was born in Germany and Kinnear in Scotland.
Here’s a full list of MLS Cup winning head coaches:
1996 – Bruce Arena (D.C. United) United States
1997 – Bruce Arena (D.C. United) United States
1998 – Bob Bradley (Chicago Fire) United States
1999 – Thomas Rongen (D.C. United) Netherlands
2000 – Bob Gansler (Kansas City Wizards) Hungary
2001 – Frank Yallop (San Jose Earthquakes) Canada
2002 – Sigi Schmid (LA Galaxy) United States
2003 – Frank Yallop (San Jose Earthquakes) Canada
2004 – Peter Nowak (D.C. United) Poland
2005 – Steve Sampson (LA Galaxy) United States
2006 – Dominic Kinnear (Houston Dynamo) United States
2007 – Dominic Kinnear (Houston Dynamo) United States
2008 – Sigi Schmid (Columbus Crew) United States
2009 – Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake) United States
2010 – Gary Smith (Colorado Rapids) England
2011 – Bruce Arena (LA Galaxy) United States
2012 – Bruce Arena (LA Galaxy) United States
Interesting to note that 11 of 17 MLS Cups have been won by an American head coach.
So success in Major League Soccer is not a strictly American concept. Some foreign coaches have come to this league and flourished. Gary Smith, the latest coach from abroad to pick up the title, represents the qualities that do succeed in MLS – perseverance, a powerful offensive style, physical players, and, most importantly, adaptability.
Colorado did not play an English game by any means. Smith knew that in order to win in MLS, he would need to create an MLS-quality outfit. They won the cup using players like Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. Smith showed the league that winning the MLS Cup did not require an abundance of foreign talent or star European players like David Beckham or Thierry Henry. This made Smith the most successful English coach in MLS, though he’s not alone.
England has produced many MLS coaches, too, the most recent being Paul Mariner for Toronto FC – actually, Toronto FC has had more English coaches than any other team in MLS, three in total – Mariner, John Carver and, then, Chris Cummins.
Toronto FC fans know well enough the fates of two of the three Englishmen: Carver left MLS stomping his feet, Chris Cummins did well enough before being replaced by Preki, and Paul Mariner was heading into 2013 with the highest expectations of any manager before him at Toronto.
Ultimately, he was canned in favour of New Zealander Ryan Nelsen of Queens Park Rangers. Toronto FC have dismissed yet another coach. This is a disturbing trend amongst foreign coaches, though, and not just with Toronto FC – longevity is almost non-existent. Coaches from abroad come to MLS, find it hard to adapt, and leave with their tails tucked between their legs.
Nelsen is no stranger to MLS, however – he was involved with D.C. United during their glory years, and was instrumental in capturing the MLS Cup in 2004. Nelsen’s fate is entirely in his own hands at the moment, but for some coaches like him, MLS has been a difficult league to figure out.
It comes down to finding that happy medium between personal experience and the qualities of the league. British managers have attempted, in the past, to impost an English style of play, and while some have failed, there have been those who succeeded.
This is not an entirely unique situation to England – Scottish managers have found themselves in MLS, too, Steve Nicol of New England enjoying the longest tenure of all foreign coaches, starting his MLS journey in 1999 as an interim head coach for the Revs, and stayed there until 2011.
Nicol won a SuperLiga title back in 2007-2008, picked up the U.S. Open Cup in the ’06-07 season, and took New England to the MLS Cup Finals in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He never won it, though, poor guy.
His dismissal comes at a time when the Revolution look like they need a revolution of their own – the club has slumped to new lows, lost many of their regular players such as Shalrie Joseph, and have missed out on playoffs for the last three seasons.
His fellow Scotsman, John Spencer, took charge of the Portland Timbers during their transition into MLS. He did a decent enough job, but left the post after one season.
And then there was Mo Johnston. Once in charge of the Red Bulls, Johnston oversaw the formation of Toronto FC during their first four years. He was head coach in 2007, moved up to general manager the following year, and stayed there until Toronto FC fans called for his head and Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment obliged.
There has been a lot said about “Trader Mo,” but the simple truth is, his story in MLS did not have a happy ending. He was fired, alongside Preki, and hasn’t found work since.
However, we can’t forget the most famous of all British head coaches in MLS, Ray Hudson from England, who managed D.C. United back in 2002, though that’s not what the football world knows him for.
Here’s a little mid-article jewel for your viewing pleasure:
Could you imagine the conversations between Kevin Payne and Ray Hudson? Payne sitting there, listening to Hudson comparing Ryan Nelsen to a “Jedi Knight?”
“No, better than that– a Templar Knight!”
Classic!
So, what can Montreal expect with head coach Marco Schallibaum? Well, it depends.
If Schallibaum embraces Major League Soccer’s unique style of play, infuses his roster with MLS-quality players and doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel, he has a chance, as history has shown. However, if he chooses, instead, to focus on establishing a European style of play foreign to MLS, well, the precedent isn’t too kind.
Schallibaum can learn from the likes of Aron Winter, Ruud Gullit, and those coaches who came to MLS and attempted to make it something that it simply wasn’t. Success in this league comes from embracing MLS for its flaws, its non-technical play, its salary cap and rules and restrictions and international spots.
But if Schallibaum is here, like Winter, to revolutionize the league, he may just be in for a shock.
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