By Robert Scorca
Even though I am a very big fan of Miami FC, I am often puzzled by the way they do business. When it comes to the way they are towards the fans and the Miami Ultras they have been great. They have always made me feel special and appreciated. I have not heard any complaints in this area.

Chivas USA became the second of five teams to fill their hole at head coach yesterday, when they hired former Chivas USA, L.A. Galaxy and Bayern Munich Assistant Martin Vasquez to lead the squad.

Vasquez (who is on the far right in the adjacent photo) replaces former Chivas USA and current Toronto FC Head Coach Preki at the helm of the Los Angeles club.

Not a lot of former Wizards are playing right now, but there has been some news in regards to former Wizards. First, former Wizards Will John and Carlos Marinelli have been found. John is playing for Croatian second division side NK Vinogradar. Marinelli is back in Argentina now, set to play with CA Aldosivi in the Argentine second division.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Some three weeks after parting ways with former head coach Preki, Chivas USA has settled on its new head coach and the Goats have settled on a familiar face.

Chivas USA will hire former assistant and former Bayern Munich assistant coach Martin Vasquez, sources told SBI on Tuesday.

Familiarity breeds contentment. That's the theme surrounding this year's NCAA Women's Soccer National Championships. Familiar foes give this year's installment of the College Cup a seven-degrees-of-separation feel.

Or, in this case, maybe two or three degrees.

No. 1 Stanford (24-0) meets Pac 10 rival and No.

So headed down to Canberra United recovery today where the mood was pretty much still amazement, particulary after co-captain Ellie Brush made the 2-0 result over Perth even more exciting after an early call. Late on Saturday night, Brush heard the score from another source, except that she heard Melbourne won 2-0 and when she did, there was actually 20minutes left in the Perth game.

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

Please stop crying. No just...just stop crying. Please? Stop crying! [101gg]

Gael Clichy has a gold iPhone AND a gold Blackberry. Meanwhile, my phone has a crack in it.

The announcement is set for noon at Home Depot Center.

Former Galaxy, Chivas USA and Bayern Munich Assistant Coach Martin Vasquez is expected to become the first Mexican-American head coach in MLS.

Former Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson was also reportedly in the running, but given his baggage I'd be amazed if Chivas USA made such a PR blunder.

First brought to you today by Thad at The Back Post, the Wizards named former Metrostars and Galaxy coach, Octavio Zambrano, their new assistant coach. There had been rumors since the Wizards were looking for a new coach that Zambrano could be on his way to Kansas City in some form. His time in Hungary and the Wizards trailing one of his former players were just two hints that there was some relationship forming.

* The Chicago Fire have whittled their head coaching candidates down to two choices: former DC United head coach Tom Soehn and current Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch.
* American goalkeeper Nick Noble has signed a contract with Ljungskile SK of Sweden. The 25-year-old was a member of the Chicago Fire from 2007 - 2009 but never made an official league appearance with the first team.

Tony Sanneh told IMS last week that he was flying from LA to the Twin Cities to celebrate Christmas with his family. According to MLSnet.com, the St. Paul native spent Christmas with his mother's eight brothers and sisters. But after celebrating Tony was soon on the the move again. According to the article, Sanneh traveled to St.

Chivas USA is set to name a new head coach tomorrow afternoon at the Home Depot Center and according to both SBI and Steve Goff that man will be Martin Vasquez.

Vasquez apparently beat out former LA Galaxy and USMNT head coach Steve Sampson for the gig. Obviously his roots were a big factor for this hire, not to mention his background with clubs in Mexico and with Bayern Munich in Germany helped him out.

Former Chivas USA assistant coach Martin Vasquez has returned to the club as the head coach, replacing Preki. Vasquez was a Chivas USA assistant from 2005-07 and was most recently an assistant with Bayern Munich. He also spent the 2004 season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Galaxy. "I am honored to return to Chivas USA as the club's new Head Coach," Vasquez said.

If my information is correct, Octavio Zambrano will be named as a new assistant coach for the Kansas City Wizards in the near future. He previosly coached in MLS with LA as an assistant and then head coach in 1996-99 and with New York 2000-02.Coach Zambrano brings some needed experience coaching to Kansas City.

It has taken him seven years to get back into the MLS mix, but Octavio Zambrano is set to return to Major League Soccer.

Zambrano is poised to join the Kansas City Wizards as an assistant coach, sources have confirmed to SBI. We mentioned the Zambrano-KC connection a few weeks back and the sides appear to have finalized a deal to bring the former MetroStars and LA Galaxy head coach back to MLS as a member of Peter Vermes' coaching staff.

It has taken him seven years to get back into the MLS mix, but Octavio Zambrano is set to return to Major League Soccer.

Zambrano is poised to join the Kansas City Wizards as an assistant coach, sources have confirmed to SBI. We mentioned the Zambrano-KC connection a few weeks back and the sides appear to have finalized a deal to bring the former MetroStars and LA Galaxy head coach back to MLS as a member of Peter Vermes' coaching staff.

Familiarity breeds contentment. That's the theme surrounding this year's NCAA Women's Soccer National Championships. Familiar foes give this year's installment of the College Cup a seven-degrees-of-separation feel.

Or, in this case, maybe two or three degrees.

No. 1 Stanford (24-0) meets Pac 10 rival and No.

* Former New England Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner has formally taken the reins at Championship side Plymouth Argyle after a 4-12-3 start led to the dismissal of Paul Sturrock. The main focus for Steve Nicol's long-time wingman will be to keep the club in England's second division; they currently sit second from bottom, in significant danger of being relegated to League One for next season.

Sarayoot agrees Thai Port deal
Sarayoot Chaikamdee is set to sign a deal with Thai Port in the next few days. His contract with Osotspa Saraburi doesn't officially finish until the end of December, but it seems that an agreement has been made to terminate his contract early. He has already started training with his new team mates at PAT Stadium.

Fort Lewis College men's soccer coach Oige Kennedy led the Skyhawks to the Division II championship in his first year in charge. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Fort Lewis College President Brad Bartel and Athletic Director Kelly Higgins have removed the word interim from Oige Kennedy's title, making him the official coach of the men's soccer team, the school has announced.

The weekend provided a few examples of footballers not reacting well to the words of various members of the general public. First, there was Tottenham's Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who tried to go after a fan who merely said "you're s***" after Spurs' 1-0 home loss to Wolves on Saturday.

If it weren't for the intervention of Spurs assistant coach Joe Jordan, Assou-Ekotto would have gotten himself an assault charge for taking the mundane (and pretty true) comment way too seriously.

The Thai FA have temporarily suspended Steve Darby after the Under 23s failed to win gold at the SEA Games or qualify for the World Cup or finish a rubric's cube in less than seven seconds.
I have no idea what a temporary suspension entails and the story, below, sheds no light on events. But when you consider in three weeks time the Thais have an Asian Cup qualifier then temporary can mean very temporary.

The Toronto FC of the Major Soccer League has been through some major changes after the end of this season. With a new head coach scheduled for the 2010 season much has been done to shake things up. Today they have announced that they will be replacing their assistant coach as well.

Toronto FC

John Carver will be replaced by Leo Percovich, who acted as a goal-keeper coach for Chivas USA.

According to the Thai FA website Thailand will play Oman in a friendly at the Thai Japanese Stadium on 27 December.
Which is odd. On a number of levels.
First the Singaporeans thought they were playing Oman on 28 & 31 December.
Unless Oman will finish the game in Bangkok then hotfoot it down to Singapore with barely time for a shower?

Russell Payne is one of the real good guys in college soccer, and after six successful seasons as an assistant coach at Maryland, was recently named as the head coach at the United States Military Academy.
Payne was one of Sasho Cirovski's first big recruits at Maryland and became the captain of Cirovski's first ACC Championship team in 1996.

University of Maryland had their second assistant coach plucked from them in as many days as Rob Vartughian will be leaving Sasho Cirovski's staff to join the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer.
Vartughian joins Russell Payne as a recent departure from the Terps staff - Payne was recently hired as the head coach at Army.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Just a day after having Akron head coach Caleb Porter turn down the job, D.C. United has now missed on two other potential candidates for the position.

D.C. United was turned down by the San Jose Earthquakes after requesting permission to speak to head coach Frank Yallop about the D.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Just a day after having Akron head coach Caleb Porter turn down the job, D.C. United has now missed on two other potential candidates for the position.

D.C. United was turned down by the San Jose Earthquakes after requesting permission to speak to head coach Frank Yallop about the D.

On the day it was announced that Plymouth Argyle's proposed new stadium would host World Cup games if the England bid was successful, the club announced a new assistant coach. Joining former New England Revolution assistant and now Argyle manager Paul Mariner will be former Toronto FC coach John Carver.

MLS coaching openings are still hot topics of debate in Chicago, DC United and New York.
New York seems to be close to the vest with their search.
With Akron's Caleb Porter given a contract extension with the Zips, Curt Onalfo appears to be the chief candidate for DC.
In Chicago, rumors have their search down to two candidates - Tom Soehn and Jesse March - although, according to ESPN Chicago's Charlie Corr, there are other candidates just as worthy.

Yesterday, Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America came out with a report that stated -- amongst other things -- that the Fire's head coaching search is nearing its end. Citing a source within the Fire organization, the report stated that the search is down to two former Fire players: ex-D.C. head coach Tom Soehn and current Chivas USA player Jesse Marsch.

Curt Onalfo has been tabbed as the next head coach of D.C. United. The 40-year old Onalfo is the sixth head coach in club history and will be officially introduced at a press conference at RFK Stadium on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Onalfo has a long history with United, having played for the team during the 1998 and 1999 seasons (he won a few trophies, too), and having served the club as an assistant coach and director of youth development from 2000 to 2002.

Former Minnesota Thunder player Brian Pederson and his wife Stephanie will soon be leaving the North Star State for the Lone Star State. Pederson is taking a new position with the Austin Aztex.

On January 4, 2010, Pederson will start his new job as Director of Camps for the Aztex. Pederson had a similar position as director of the Minnesota Thunder Academy (MTA) North.

DC United ended their coaching search by hiring former Kansas City Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo to lead them in the 2010 season.
Onalfo is a former DC United assistant, and appreciates the task of rebuilding this proud franchise.
I am very excited to lead D.C. United into a new era, building on its storied and successful history," said Onalfo.

If I was going to create a blueprint for success for a Major League Soccer franchise, it would start with management that has a clear level of experience in identifying American talent.
Where some clubs are willing to look at new candidates from a pool of young American coaches - DC United interviewed 34-year old Akron head coach Caleb Porter before setting its sights on 40-year old Curt Onalfo - others like the New York Red Bulls still think the answers are abroad (passing over young assistant Richie Williams in favor of foreign-based candidates).