It seems like the scrutiny put on soccer coaches grows and grows with every passing season. Just look at the Premier League for instance; betting on which coach gets sacked is just as popular as betting on the Golden Boot winner these days.
Though the carousel of MLS coaches doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of its Premier League counterpart, it can still be fun to watch at key times during the season. With just over a month to go in the regular season, each side only has four or five matches remaining. Though that’s not much time, it is still enough time for a coach to change some opinions among upper management. Any winning run or losing skid at this point will almost certainly be put under the microscope.
So where does the job security of your team’s coach stand entering the home stretch of the MLS regular season? In case you missed it, here’s my look at the Eastern Conference coaches from last week. This week, I’m looking at the various coaching situations in the Western Conference.
Chivas USA:
Wilmer Cabrera, coach since start of 2014 season
And to think I thought that Chivas were going to be a decent team back when the season first kicked off.
They haven’t won a match since July. They’ve lost a whopping seven in a row, and in each of the last six of those they’ve conceded three or more goals. Off the field they continue to reach new lows, and the popular belief now is that they won’t be playing in MLS, or in any league for that matter, in 2015.
I do partly feel sorry for Cabrera, having been thrown onto a sinking ship without a life vest. But if there’s anything positive to take out of Cabrera’s tenure at Chivas, it’s that he put the final nails in the coffin so that nobody else would have to take on such a reputation-killing burden.
But as long as somebody is willing to take him on as a coach in Mexico, he’ll be just fine.
Predicted Status: Either forced out of a job through the franchise folding or sacked
Colorado Rapids:
Pablo Mastroeni, coach since start of 2014 season
Like Chivas, Colorado let me down this season. Also like Chivas, it can’t all be blamed on the head coach.
Dillon Powers is by far and away the best player on the Rapids. Deshorn Brown is a clear-cut second. The supporting cast ranges from MLS journeymen to unknowns to goalkeeper Joe Nasco. It’s bad.
Owner Stan Kroenke is arguably the league’s biggest penny-pincher, and it has reflected poorly on Mastroeni. Club legend status has protected his job during an awful run of form (winless since July, just like, you guessed it, Chivas!) but it probably won’t be enough to keep him around for next season.
One can only hope that the real root of the problem gets addressed sooner rather than later.
Predicted Status: Sacked
FC Dallas:
Oscar Pareja, coach since start of 2014 season
Pareja did well in Colorado without many resources at his disposal. Put him in Dallas, where he has the likes of Blas Perez, Mauro Diaz, David Texeira and many more in a very solid roster of players, and the results have been even better.
This is a fast, young side that is exciting to watch. Save for the 33-year-old Perez, the core of this side has the chance to remain intact for many seasons to come. The hot start may not have held for the entire year, but Dallas have consistently shown they can compete with anybody.
Of the four really good sides in the West (Seattle, L.A., Salt Lake, Dallas) they are the weak link. But in three years from now we might be saying differently.
Predicted Status: Safe
L.A. Galaxy:
Bruce Arena, coach since August 2008
The Galaxy continue to keep pace with the Seattle Sounders in the Supporters’ Shield race. In Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, and Gyasi Zardes, the Galaxy have a three-headed scoring machine. The supporting cast might be the best in the entire league.
Arena may already be the best coach in MLS history, but if he can win yet another MLS Cup his argument will look even better.
Landon Donovan is gone after this season, and Robbie Keane won’t be playing forever. How Arena transitions into a new era will be fun to watch. But as long as the Galaxy are still willing to spend big, it might not feel like a transition at all.
Predicted Status: Safe
Portland Timbers:
Caleb Porter, coach since start of 2013 season
Over the weekend, the Timbers lost control of their postseason destiny. They also lost their captain, Will Johnson, for the rest of the season to a broken leg.
Portland and Vancouver are both top-heavy sides. But defensively, Vancouver’s shoddiness has been nothing compared to Portland’s absolute disaster. Everything else is equal between them. Four games left. Two games against good teams, two against bad ones. Two games at home, two on the road. But while David Ousted and Kendall Waston have been trending up, Donovan Ricketts and Liam Ridgewell have been on the down.
One point isn’t so surmountable anymore. If the Timbers miss the playoffs, Porter could be done. It’s incredible, considering how good the Timbers were in 2013, but not impossible.
Predicted Status: Sacked
Real Salt Lake:
Jeff Cassar, coach since start of 2014 season
It began after the 2012 season with the departures of Fabian Espindola, Will Johnson, and Jamison Olave. It continued after nearly winning MLS Cup in 2013 when Jason Kreis stepped down as head coach to take on the same job for New York City FC. Yet with the turnover they’ve faced, Real Salt Lake is still Real Salt Lake.
New players like Luis Gil and Joao Plata have entered the fold brilliantly, while stalwarts like Nat Borchers and Javier Morales continue to deliver. It is only one season in, but Cassar’s win percentage as head coach is actually higher than Kreis’.
There is bound to be more turnover this offseason as the holdovers from the MLS Cup championship team of 2009 get another year older. But you would be foolish to doubt RSL’s ability to find replacements.
Predicted Status: Safe
San Jose Earthquakes:
Mark Watson, interim head coach from June-October 2013, head coach since then
The Goonie era is long gone is San Jose. This team turned away from death for so long, but now they’re surrounded.
Their identity revolves solely around Chris Wondolowski. When he’s off form, the Earthquakes may as well not bother stepping on the pitch. Wondo is still hitting double digits in goals (five straight seasons now), but not as impressively as he once did.
The Houston Chronicle reported this week that the Houston Dynamo are letting Dominic Kinnear speak to the Earthquakes about the head coach position. Seems like a match made in heaven to me.
The Dynamo are on the down, but the Earthquakes may have hit rock bottom already. There’s nowhere to go but up in 2015.
Predicted Status: Sacked
Seattle Sounders:
Sigi Schmid, coach since start of 2009 season
The Sounders have only known one head coach since coming into MLS. It’s staying that way.
On paper, the Sounders are filthy good. Led up front by what I like to call the Fab Five (Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Kenny Cooper, Chad Barrett, and Lamar Neagle) they have an excellent opportunity at becoming the first American team to ever win the treble. Having already secured the U.S. Open Cup and in pole position for the Supporters’ Shield, they are among the current favourites to win their first ever MLS Cup.
Pull that off, and Schmid achieves legendary status. That is, if he isn’t there already.
Predicted Status: Safe
Vancouver Whitecaps:
Carl Robinson, coach since start of 2014 season
I’ll admit my bias here and say that Carl Robinson was one of my favourite Toronto FC players back in the day.
Regardless, Robinson has performed modestly this year in his coaching debut. Could he be better? Coaches can always be better. But despite early season defensive concerns that have now migrated to the other end of the pitch, the Whitecaps are still in the playoff hunt.
If their offence starts clicking again, like we all know it can, the playoffs could just be the beginning. There is still work to be done in the offseason. Bringing in another central defender to pair with the brilliant Kendall Waston, as well as a more proven MLS goalscorer (Camilo anyone?) to help the kids along are top of the list.
But Robinson is the right man for the job. This team has potential. Give him another season to see if it can fully be realized.
Predicted Status: Safe
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