Klopas gets chance to coach his picks
As technical director, Frank Klopas acquired most of the players on the Fire roster.
Now he’ll get to coach them.
Klopas took to the club’s training field in Fire warm-up gear Tuesday as interim coach instead of watching from the sideline in his customary street clothes as technical director, a job he’ll also retain in the wake of Carlos de los Cobos’ firing this weekend as coach.
Klopas didn’t want to predict any lineup or formation changes just yet.
“This is not a time when you’re experimenting,” Klopas said. “You do stuff like this in the preseason when you have two months to figure things out. I think we just have to fine-tune certain things. If you look at every game I think that as a team we have created opportunities.”
One area Klopas wants to improve is the defense, especially on set pieces, and the team continues to look for an attacking midfielder.
Team captain Logan Pause and veteran defender Cory Gibbs supported making Klopas the interim coach.
“We believe in his vision so we’re motivated to stay on track on what he wants to do and get some victories,” Gibbs said, noting Klopas knows the skills and personalities on the roster. “It’s huge. I think it’s the right decision. He knows the club, the ins and outs of it at every standpoint, so we’re happy for that. We think it’s a great fit.”
“He feels like he’s responsible to step in on an interim basis,” Pause said, “to cover until they decide whatever they want to do, and us as players support him and we’re going to give him all the resources we can to make him successful and our team successful.”
The players agreed there is still time for the Fire to make a run at the MLS playoffs.
“Of course,” Gibbs said. “I looked at the standings today and I think we’re 6 points out of where we need to be. A good run for us is next to come. (But) we have a hard month of June, very hard.”
“There’s always time until it’s mathematically (done),” Pause added, “but if you continue to say, we’ve got time, we’ve got time, all of a sudden it’s going to be September and it’s going to be like, oh, man, I wish we had more time. So we’ve got time, but we also need to keep in perspective that we are 1-4-6 and we’ve got work to do.”
The Fire will try to turn things around starting Saturday night when it hosts Seattle Sounders FC at Toyota Park (7:30 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). It will try to end a nine-game winless streak without co-leading scorer Marco Pappa, who has joined the Guatemala national team for the Gold Cup. A three-game road trip follows Saturday’s match.
Klopas said he and director of player personnel Mike Jeffries will begin the search to find Klopas’ replacement as a permanent coach. There is no timetable for the search. Klopas did not say if he would be a candidate for the job permanently.
“I’m just thinking about the game against Seattle. That’s it. I couldn’t tell you,” he said.
Former Fire player Eric Wynalda and former Toronto and Chivas USA coach Preki are among those thought to be leading candidates. Klopas said he has not had any discussions with any prospective hires.
oschwarz@dailyherald.com