Fire counting on de los Cobos' 'passion'
The Chicago Fire believes Carlos de los Cobos can do what no other coach has done - win an MLS Cup without any prior experience in American soccer.
The Fire handed de los Cobos control of the club's on-field fortunes Monday, signing him to a two-year contract seven weeks after the team decided not to renew the contract of former coach Denis Hamlett.
"Carlos comes in with a lot of new ideas, but also the commitment to work hard," said Fire technical director Frank Klopas, who conducted the search. "He's got a passion, he wants to win, he's committed to do whatever it takes."
Klopas said he contacted de los Cobos, 51, through mutual acquaintances in the soccer world when it appeared the coach would leave his job coaching the El Salvador national team, even though at first Klopas guessed it would be a long shot.
"We have contacts in Mexico through agents and people that we talk to," Klopas said, "and when he decided not to return to El Salvador, we said, 'Hey, this is a guy that we feel is a strong candidate.' And we approached it to have a meeting with him and that's how it started."
Foreign coaches have a terrible record in MLS, but Klopas said he thinks de los Cobos - he and recent Chivas USA hire Martin Vasquez are the first Mexican coaches in MLS - is the man to end that drought.
At the end of his four years coaching El Salvador, de los Cobos led "La Selecta" to a fifth-place finish in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, the country's best finish in 12 years. He played for some of the top clubs in Mexico in his 17-year career, as well as the 1986 World Cup. He has coached under Bora Milutinovic and Manuel Lapuente.
"His resume is very impressive," said Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch when reached in Ohio. "How could you not like his resume?"
De los Cobos said in Spanish through a team translator that he plans an attacking, possession-oriented game building from the back. It's a style of play that fans will like, he said, adding that he might change to a 3-5-2 formation from a 4-4-2.
"What I've noticed from watching games is that the team was at times very defensive-minded, very solid in the back," de los Cobos said. "Perhaps enhance that by adding this other, more offensive-minded type of thing, creating a balance between the two."
While events within a game will dictate whether the team focuses on attacking or defending, "overall I like an open style of football, I like attacking-style football."
"I'm excited to see what he's going to bring to the Chicago Fire," Busch said.
De los Cobos said he has spent much of the past couple of weeks studying videotapes of Fire games from last season.
"Last year when I was in El Salvador, we saw many, many matches, not only the Chicago Fire, many matches in MLS," de los Cobos added without the benefit of the translator.
Events are moving quickly for de los Cobos, who planned to join Klopas on a plane to Florida on Monday afternoon for final day of the draft combine Tuesday. The MLS SuperDraft is Thursday in Philadelphia. Barring a rumored MLS lockout of the players as they negotiate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, preseason training starts Feb. 1 when the players report to Toyota Park before heading to Arizona. The season opener is March 27 at New York.
Klopas said he continues to work to sign players and could sign two before the draft. The Fire has followed Salvadoran right-sided midfielder Julio Martinez "and a couple of other players" for a year and a half, Klopas said. Martinez, now at Leon in Mexico, is rumored to be coming to Chicago.
"That's one of the guys that we feel will do well," Klopas said of Martinez, "... but nothing is finalized or anything like that."
Klopas said assistant coach Mike Matkovich and goalkeeper coach Daryl Shore will get a chance to interview with de los Cobos to retain their jobs. Mike Jeffries will not be retained.