Yesterday on a Argentine program called el sello, Marco talked about his life in the United States and his whole career in general. He stated that after he retires, and that is this year, he will join "his friend", as he said, Bruce Arena as a assistant to the USA national team. Marco is living his dream of ending his career with Bolivar, while his family still live in DC, he will join them soon to beging work as US assistant coach.. This program is called EL SELLO it aired on TyC Sports, if you have direct TV it's channel 427, and will re air on sunday.
Good. The guy is a key figure in US Soccer history, and I like that US Soccer wants him to keep being a key figure in US Soccer's future.
I've always adored Marco and thought that behind Valderamma he was the second most influencial foreigner who helped MLS become what it is today. Sometimes I gripe about MLS but let's face it, what it has been accomplished in 9 years is astonishing. Marco has given so much to US Soccer and it would be an honor to have him an assistant. Convey certainly has benefitted from his him.
I loved Marco in his prime, but the last few years, he was a parody of himself in some ways (partly injuries, partly slippage, partly attitude). Personally, I don't think he'd make a good coach- he always seemed to me to be in the 'wrong player' category to be a coach (someone uber-talented who couldn't understand/relate as well to the less talented, someone who didn't/couldn't adjust once his talent left him, and someone who was not a team first, me second guy). I think there are much better choices, however, in a limited role (kind of like a receivers coach for wide receivers) maybe....a mentor to Bobby?
Since the right foot is used only for balance and to avoid falling over while running they will bring in Preki to teach that proper use. (After he recovers, of course.)
As an apprentice, I'd say give the Mullet a chance....CAnnot be as ineffective as Mooch has been for some stretches with Colorado, and youth teams on his own....Who knows, he might prove a worthy replacement to be second in command in the near future for the USMNT...Plus, judging from the appearance of more and more Hispanics/ ethnic players in the youth ranks (U-17 and below), he is not necessarily a bad example to follow (as long as he does not ballon Maradona style once he retires) as a coach in those type of teams either...No one can say he lacks the personality to lead
--Seeing how popular those 1950-inspired jerseys were, we should have another throwback game. Everyone wears jerseys from the early 90s and grows out their mullets.
Around 99, Bruce has said in his own words that he thinks Etch is a great teacher and he would like him to join his coaching staff when Marco retires.
I think you're wrong. I don't think Bruce has any assistants with as much experience as Etcheverry. Etcheverry has almost done it all. National team caps for his country, Copa Americas/Copa Libertadores + long club career and the MLS playing experience.
I think this would be an excellent addition to the coaching staff. As has been said previously, he has done it all, and has been through the trenches. Sure, his last couple of years have not been as good as his first, but then again, whose twilight years in their career are as good as their peak years? If he can teach like he played, Etcheverry will certainly help our younger, up-and-coming offensive-minded midfielders become sharper with their passes, identify attacking opportunities better, know when to change the tempo of the attack (speed things up or slow things down), when to take players on and shoot rather than passing, and make better choices in running the offense. These are things that I believe can best be taught by someone that has the experience of playing at the level he has played. As an example, look at the way Mark Lisi has developed. He's done very well offensively the last couple of years and, IMO, part of that can be attributed to watching, playing with, and learning from Etcheverry while he was at DC United. In the past, I've advocated bringing the top up-and-coming US players into a post- or pre-season camp (for a couple of weeks) with *experts* to work on their technical skills. Could this be the start of this process? We've got Etcheverry to help the midfielders, and Klinnsmann to work with the forwards -- maybe we can get a quality, experienced defender (Dooley?, someone else?) to work with the defenders. Once the players fine-tune and sharpen their technical skills, and learn some of the more advanced *tricks of the trade* that only former players can teach, then they can elevate their game that much more, improving the overall technical quality of the team in the process. And if you have the technical *stuff* down, then all you need to do at that point, is to work on the tactical and strategic *stuff* (sure, easier said than done, but it's a start.) I, for one, like the direction this seems to be going in ...
Great News MonoMario. I think el diablo's ways and aggressiviness will help the USAMNT a lot. In addition, el diablo knows almost all USA players.
myernick and onalfo are still the assistant coaches according to ussoccer.com. was this just wishful thinking on el diablo's part? or is he joining them later this year?