I am not sure if this is big news or if anyone cares, but maybe we lost out on a great coach , sounds like he was a gem among few experienced coaches here in the states. He has been invited to assist the Portuguese National Soccer Team as they strive to win the prestigious European Championship in 2004. All the best to him. link http://www.soccer365.com/EUROPEAN_NEWS/Rest_of_Europe/page_109_46775.shtml a quote from the article "Arguably the most experienced U.S born coach of all time Gaspar has had professional stints in Portugal, Japan, Gabon, South Africa and here in the United States with the NY/NJ metrostars franchise of Major league soccer. Until former U.S National team coach, Steve Sampson's recent appointment to the Costa Rican National staff, Gaspar stood alone as the only United States soccer coach to ever be invited to work professionally with an overseas national team (Portugal 1994, South Africa 2000)."
Its the old "Can't be them so join them" thing. Watch, if we beat them this summer, he will be fired.
Before anyone sheds too many tears, while this guy has some nice clubs on his resume, he also has some blemishes. He spent the past couple of seasons coaching the Connecticut team in the A-League and they were among the league's worst teams while he was there. Somehow, Gaspar became buddies with Carlos Quieroz a ways back and CQ has had Gaspar playing Pancho Villa to his Don Quixote on and off for about a decade. If you look closely at the stops on Gaspar's resume, most of them (aside from Connecticut) coincide with when the well-traveled Quieroz was at the same club. This includes the Portuguese pro teams, Portugal's U20 teams, the club in Japan, writing the Project 2010 report, coaching the MetroStars, etc... In fairness to him, CQ is now at ManU and Gaspar appears to have landed this latest gig on his own (though who knows if Quieroz made a phone call or not). While I certainly think he has some things he could offer the US Soccer community, it's not like this guy is Alex Ferguson or Aime Jacquet.
the link I posted says otherwise Sandor, here is the quote to his performance as coach in CT. "Most recently as the head coach of Connecticut's pro soccer team, the Connecticut Wolves, Gaspar led the team to its most successful season since its inception ten years ago. Gaspar guided the team to the New England cup championship and the national D3 Semifinals. Along the way the team achieved third in attendance in the league and was inducted into the United Soccer leagues Hall of Fame. Unfortunately the Wolves owners, the City of New Britain failed in their bid to find a new buyer for the team ending the team's ten year tenure as Connecticut's only Pro Soccer team"
Ahh ... the old story of the revolutionary bandit of the early 20th century and the romantic, deluded knight of medieval times. I get all gushy just recalling it ... It reminds me of that other fantastic duo from history, Satchel Paige and Vanzetti.