MLS Footnotes: Changes paying dividends at LAFC, FC Cincinnati
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Editor's Note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.
Is it too early in the MLS season to talk candidates for the Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year award?
Two months into the 2022 campaign, several bench bosses are building a case. Jim Curtin, the winner two years ago, has his Philadelphia Union back atop the Eastern Conference. Josh Wolff’s Austin FC sit second in the West. Nico Estévez has resuscitated an FC Dallas team that missed the playoffs last year.
Still, the clubhouse leader must be Steve Cherundolo. In his first MLS head-coaching job — in what even he expected to be something of a transitional season for LAFC, following the departure of Bob Bradley — Cherundolo’s team leads the Supporters Shield race.
"We have a quality squad, but it’s really the desire to push and pull together, being on the same page and applying what the coaching staff wants," LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau said ahead of Sunday’s trip to FC Cincinnati (5 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports app). "There’s no secret."
Meanwhile, at 2W-4L-1T, FCC is off to another poor start. But first-year coach Pat Noonan and rookie general manager Chris Albright are slowly changing the culture of dysfunction that existed during the club’s first three years in MLS, when Cincinnati went through five head coaches.
"Pat’s done a really good job being believable and owning the [locker] room and all those things that sometimes first-time head coaches don’t do," Albright said.
And just as LAFC did with the offseason acquisitions of proven MLS players such as Crépeau, Kellyn Acosta, Ryan Hollingshead and Ilie Sánchez, Albright and Noonan targeted known quantities in Dominique Badji, Alec Kann and Alvas Powell to help right the ship. They even lured veteran fullback Ray Gaddis, who worked with both men in Philadelphia, out of his brief retirement. All seven of their winter signings came from within the league.
More than anything, Albright and Noonan went looking for good people, "the kind of guys you’d trust to take your kids to the park," Albright joked. The idea was to stop the bleeding first and bolster the roster later. The club inked Nigerian midfielder Obinna Nwobodo last week.
"To try and bring in a big-name designated player to help a group that needed stability first would be foolish," Albright said. "Before we got here, I think the focus was on identifying talent, not building a team."
The scouting report in the past was that FC Cincinnati didn’t play together. Despite their early struggles, that’s starting to change.
LAFC know better than to take Cincy lightly.
Said Crépeau: "They have a good team."
FOOTNOTES
1. Vela on the verge
As sources told FOX Sports earlier this week, Carlos Vela and LAFC have agreed to a contract extension that will keep the 2019 MLS MVP with LAFC this season and beyond.
The 33-year-old former Mexican national team star’s previous deal was set to expire in June.
2. Other possible moves for LAFC
With Vela set to return, LAFC won’t have to swing for the fences for his replacement in the transfer market this summer. But they could still add pieces as Cherundolo continues the process of rebuilding the squad in his image.
GM John Thorrington could even move out a regular or two, with Cristian Arango and/or Brian Rodríguez potentially available for the right price.
3. A better Brenner?
Now recovered from the injury that limited him to a substitute’s role in early 2022, star Cincinnati forward Brenner Souza da Silva made his first start of the season in last weekend’s scoreless draw with Atlanta United. The 22-year-old Brazilian, bought last year for a near-MLS-record $13 million fee, scored eight goals in 33 games during his maiden MLS season but was reportedly unhappy on and off the field in Ohio.
"I think his expectations weren’t met," Albright said. "It’s hard to lose that many games, to be 2-15 in a foreign country and not speak the language."
Brenner reportedly pushed to return to the Brazilian league; earlier this month, FCC turned down a transfer offer from Internacional.
With Cincy determined to not just keep the former São Paulo FC standout but also get the best out of him, the club hired a fellow Brazilian as the team’s player welfare coordinator.
"We want to help him be successful," Albright said. "He can score 15 goals a year in our league."
4. Kei says goodbye
No, 37-year-old Kei Kamara isn’t hanging up his cleats just yet. But the fifth-leading scorer in MLS history (and one of just 10 players with more than 100 goals) is walking away from the global game.
Kamara announced Thursday his retirement from Sierra Leone’s national team, which he led earlier this year to its first African Cup of Nations appearance since 1996.
Kamara didn’t play in MLS last season for the first time since 2005, when he was a forward for Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills. He spent 2021 in Finland but in February signed for CF Montreal, his ninth MLS team. Kamara also spent time in England, including with Premier League Norwich on loan from Sporting Kansas City in 2013.
He’s eyeing at least a few more seasons at the club level.
"I want to make sure I play until I’m 40. That was always my goal," Kamara told FOX Sports in a wide-ranging interview.
Kei Kamara talks with Doug McIntyre about retiring from Sierra Leone and interviewing David Beckham
5. Almeyda, Losada out — Donovan in?
It wasn’t a good week for Argentine coaches in MLS. One day after the San Jose Earthquakes officially fired Matías Almeyda on Tuesday, D.C. United canned Hernán Losada. Both teams are at the bottom of their respective conferences.
Alex Covelo will lead San Jose on an interim basis, but one intriguing possible candidate for the permanent job could be USMNT and MLS great Landon Donovan. Donovan, now in his third season as coach and part-owner of second-tier San Diego Loyal, began his MLS career with the Earthquakes, leading them to two titles before he joined the LA Galaxy (via Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen) in 2005.
How likely is it? Probably not very. Donovan has a great situation in San Diego, and while he might be attracted to an MLS job, San Jose’s owners surely would have to commit serious resources and thought to improving the product — something they’ve shown little willingness to do — to lure Donovan back to the Bay Area.
6. Landon returns L.A.
Donovan was in another old stomping ground Wednesday: Carson, California, where he coached the Loyal against the LA Galaxy in U.S. Open Cup play. The hosts won 1-0.
Donovan spent more than a decade in Los Angeles, leading the Galaxy to four MLS Cups.
"There’s something really special about this stadium," he said after the game, noting that Dignity Health Sports Park, which opened 19 years ago, is now the oldest soccer-specific stadium in MLS. "There’s real history here, and you can feel that when you walk in. And that’s really special for this league."
7. Hoppe springs in Atlanta
Atlanta United have apparently stepped up their pursuit of U.S. forward Matthew Hoppe, who has barely played for La Liga struggler Mallorca since moving from Germany’s Schalke’s last summer.
MLSSoccer.com reported that Five Stripes scout Jonathan Spector traveled to Spain this week to try to complete the deal.
Hoppe needs regular minutes — and goals — to have any chance of cracking the USMNT’s World Cup roster in November.
8. Behind Vázquez’s early breakout
Few USMNT fans knew Brandon Vázquez before the Cincinnati forward jumped to an early lead in the Golden Boot race. He now shares the top spot with four others, including fellow Americans Jeremy Ebobisse and Jesus Ferreira, but his success so far hasn’t been an accident.
"I said to him in our exit meeting last year, ‘You are a big dude. You need to be a guy center backs hate dealing with,’" said Albright, a former forward himself.
"He’s done a better job with that this year. He’s been really physical, really good in the air and with his hold-up play. Just those things alone can do a job for you on the field, but he’s also scoring.
"Maybe it gets him a look with the national team."
9. Star-gazing
Finally, the MLS announced Thursday that the league’s top players will once again meet their counterparts from Liga MX at the 2022 All-Star Game in Minnesota. Last August in L.A., MLS topped Mexico’s best on Ricardo Pepi’s decisive spot kick.
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
