According to multiple reports, former New England Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner will be named technical director at Toronto FC. Mariner's name was originally linked to the head coaching position in Toronto until Aron Winter's name recently surfaced as the new favorite to take the coaching reins.

*Neither the Galaxy nor MLS have responded to a report Sunday that had leading scorer Edson Buddle rather embarrassingly snubbing a new contract with MLS for a struggling second-tier German outfit.

It's hard to blame Buddle, who turns 30 in May, for wanting to make some serious coin if reports of his likely paycheck are accurate.

By Pieter Brown - Today was a nice day for soccer. So I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale baseball stadium to take in the Strikers Open Tryouts. Players from all over the world showed up to impress the coaches. One of the coaches they were trying to impress was none other than former Miami Fusion captain Jim Rooney.

My assistant coach for the last 4 years, Jerome Millett, kindly put together this slideshow of some of the magic moments coaching our college soccer team over the last 4 years....

Slideshow: WC 2007-2010 - Slideshow

Coach Kiley Cirillo, Indianapolis Greyhounds

INDIANAPOLIS- Former Greyhound assistant coach Kiley Cirillo has been named the fifth head coach in UIndy women's soccer history, effective Jan. 1, 2011. Cirillo, an assistant under former head coach Geoff VanDeusen for the past two seasons, will make his return to the head coaching sidelines in 2011.

Winter in Toronto has never seemed so good

Mainstream media reports are flying out of The Netherlands this morning that former Dutch International star and ex-Lazio, Inter and Ajax legend Aron Winter has been named as Technical Director of Toronto FC. There is yet to be any official announcement from the club itself but Winter has been quoted extensively including the following excerpts (poorly translated into English) in the major Dutch news paper De Telegraaf:
　

Aron Winter in Canada today to Toronto FC to sign a three year contract as technical director.

Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

With the Major League Soccer Combine and SuperDraft just days away and the start of the 2011 preseason following shortly, it appears as if another team has filled its coaching vacancy.

As first reported by ESPN Deportes, Chivas USA will hire Real Salt Lake assistant coach Robin Fraser to be its next head coach.

Well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad!

When MLSE VP Tom Anselmi opened today's important press conference with an admission that the club had been "going in the wrong direction" it was hard not to point the finger squarely at the man himself. For four years under Anselmi and MLSE's direction, TFC was allowed to flounder, mostly at the hands of Mo Johnston, and on this site as in many other places, the ownership was rightfully criticized.

It's official now. MLSE and TFC held a press conference today to confirm that Aron Winter, Paul Mariner, and Bob de Klerk will be joining Toronto FC. In a nutshell, here is what our staff will look like for the new season:

Aron Winter Head Coach & Technical Director
Paul Mariner Director of Player Development
Bob de Klerk - First Assistant Coach
Earl Cochrane - Director of Team and Player Operations
Stu Neely Head of Academy
Nick Dasovic, Jim Brennan, and Danny Dichio will all remain a part of the organization; official roles yet to be named

Basically, Winter is our main man.

There are a couple of good stories on the Chicago Fire, Section 8, and everything Chicago soccer that should not be missed. Let's start with Guillermo Rivera of Fire Confidential with some quotes from Frank Klopas. On the players taking part in the MLS SuperDraft Combine right now, Klopas had this to say:

These players have been off for a few months so it's tough to judge guys on these games, we've seen most of them before now so we're looking for the best fit based on who's available when we pick.

Rumour is the Matildas will have just two friendlies at this stage, in May prior to the World Cup.
Surely they'll have more?
And the new Matildas Assistant Coach - Spencer Prior, former Norwich City, recent Fox Sports and Australian arrival and recent completion of all his Coaching Badges.

Cobi Jones with Manny Lagos at the 2007 Copa Minnesota at the Metrodome. Photo by Brian Quarstad.

Cobi Jones has left the Los Angels Galaxy after 15 years and 300 matches played for the club. He retired in 2007 and came back with the Galaxy the following year as an assistant coach in 2008 and '09.

Chicago Fire Name Leo Percovich First Assistant Coach

Leo Percovich comes to Chicago with four years of coaching experience in the MLS under his belt. He was most recently an assistant coach with Toronto FC. More on this story later today.

The Chicago Fire have plenty of work to do in molding the pieces for their 2011 squad, and one outlet is through this Thursday's MLS SuperDraft at the Baltimore Convention Center (11 a.m. CT start, televised on ESPN2).
"We've lost players in every line, so we need to address all three areas," Fire technical director Frank Klopas said.

It is, perhaps, a bit unseemly to post twice in such quick succession. But there are a few juicy tidbits worth mentioning today.

First, Curt Onalfo, formerly coach at DC, has joined the Galaxy as an assistant coach, taking Cobi Jones' place. Arena now has two assistants who have each had their own MLS team.

The Atlanta Silverbacks announced that Mexican Jose Manuel Abundis is their new coach. They also announced that one time Miami Fusion star Alex Pineda Chacon will be the assistant coach. Check it out:

The Atlanta Silverbacks announced today that JOSÉ MANUEL ABUNDIS will join the club as its head coach.

When Juan Carlos Osorio decided to stay in Colombia instead of going back to Major League Soccer, Chivas USA was left to go back to the drawing board. It turns out they didn't have to look too far as ESPN Deportes is reporting this morning that the club is set to name Real Salt Lake assistant coach Robin Fraser as their next head coach.

Aron Winter. Get used to hearing that name. By all reports out of Toronto and Amsterdam this gentleman, currently an Assistant Coach with famous Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam, is about to be appointed Technical Director of Toronto FC. There will be a presser later this week sources tell me when he, along with Paul Mariner and Ajax youth academy coach Bob de Klerk, will be announces as the new Triumvirate in charge.

Robin Fraser will be introduced to the media at a noon Wednesday press conference.

He has spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Real Salt Lake and is freqently mentioned in connection with MLS head coaching vacancies.

Fraser, 44, takes the club's reins immediately ahead of the Jan.

The 37-year-old central defender signed a new one-year contract, the club announced this afternoon.

Berhalter slowed visibly last season, his second with the Galaxy after a 15-year career in Europe, and by season's end was mulling retirement.

Injuries limited Berhalter to just 16 games last season.

SANDY, Ut Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA announced Tuesday that RSL Assistant Coach Robin Fraser has departed the 2009 MLS Cup champions after three-and-a-half seasons on the Utah club's sideline to take over the head coaching duties at the Southern California side, effective immediately. The recently turned 44-year-old Fraser becomes the sixth coach [.

On Tuesday afternoon the Los Angeles Galaxy came to terms with veteran defender Greeg Berhalter and re-signed him to a one year contract. With this new signing, Berhalter became the first player in team history to serve as player and assistant coach.

"We are very excited to have re-signed Gregg Berhalter and look forward to having his experience and leadership for the upcoming season," said Galaxy GM and Head Coach Bruce Arena in the press release.

Gregg Berhalter has signed a one-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the club announced Tuesday, with the defender's duties expanded to those of a player-coach.
The 37-year-old, who participated in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups under Bruce Arena, will now join Galaxy GM and head coach Arena's staff as an assistant coach.

Former US National Team player Greg Vanney will be joining Robin Fraser at Chivas USA. The club announced Vanney will be an assistant, returning to Major League Soccer after retiring as a player at the end of the 2008 season.

Former Galaxy defender and Real Salt Lake assistant coach Robin Fraser was introduced as the club's sixth coach in seven years at a rather vague news conference today that offered plenty in terms of abstract philosophy and little in the way of specifics.

"The owners have a phenomenal vision about where they want this team to go and how it's going to get there," said Fraser at the outset of the press conference without offering concrete examples.

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America writes about the relationship between Chivas USA Head Coach Robin Fraser and former teammate and assistant coach Greg Vanney.
Though Robin Fraser is the man in charge of Chivas USA, he's quick to point out that his former Galaxy teammate Greg Vanney will be performing vital duties as an assistant coach.

and
In case your resolution was to avoid online chatter, here is the official TFC leadership group announced at the ACC press conference today.
There is a team approach to the new TFC leadership. So forgive me if my labels are simple. Aron Winter seems to be both coach and technical director.

Toronto FC announced Today that Aron Winter has been named the club's new head coach and technical director, and Paul Mariner will be the teams new director of player development.

A statement on the TFCweb site said:

"Aron will oversee our entire soccer operation and set the soccer direction of Toronto FC.

Ipswich Town soccer club fired manager Roy Keane, 20 months after the former Manchester United midfielder took on the job.

Keane, 39, replaced the fired Jim Magilton in April 2009 after spending two years at Sunderland, which he led to the Premier League. He won 12 major trophies during nine years playing for United.

The Fire are holding their annual open tryouts at the Bridgeview Sports Dome today and tomorrow. The Sun-Times' Len Ziehm has a short preview here and HotTimeInOldTown has a look at the tryout format here.

The Fire are also providing tryout coverage here. With 209 players participating and travellers coming from as far as China and Bolivia it's a busy weekend for assistant coach Larry Sunderland, who is running the tryouts.

Uche Okafor (right) coaches at ESPN Caribbean/Flow Montego Bay Football clinics. Photo credit: Anthony Harris

Former Sporting Kansas City and Nigeria World Cup defender Uche Okafor died Thursday at his Dallas-area home.

Okafor, 43, was African football pundit for ESPN Soccernet Press Pass, the daily soccer analysis show.

Adelaide has shown that it is a club that is serious about the A-League. Its new acquisition Francisco Usucar stared to crush Melbourne Victory 1-4. For Adelaide this victory was about revenge and ensuring that they reward their fans with a trophy this year - probably in the grand final, maybe against Brisbane, maybe CCM or Gold Coast.

IMS has been looking for a sports injury and preventions sponsor for sometime. As is the case with all my sponsors, I seek out those that are soccer people and I can form relationships with. I'm very happy to announce that Laurus Rehab will partner with IMS by contributing stories on sport injury and prevention.

UPDATE: According to Stoke City's official website, Stoke City have completed the signing of striker John Carew on loan for the rest of the season.

January 20th, 2011: According to Sky Sports News, Aston Villa striker John Carew has passed a medical as he appears set to join Stoke City.

Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney writes of the Vancouver Whitecaps' hiring of Denis Hamlett to add some MLS experience to their coaching staff.
During its job search the Vancouver Whitecaps made it clear to potential candidates that it needed someone with MLS experience to join the staff as an assistant.

US National Team alum Cobi Jones was announced as the new Associate Director of Soccer for the New York Cosmos. Jones has been an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Galaxy since 2008. He retired as a Galaxy player in 2007. "I am both honored and blessed to have had such a wonderful career with the LA Galaxy and I am thankful for everything the club, the fans and the community has done for me.

For months, the long-promised revival of the New York Cosmos, once the crown jewel of the North American Soccer League, has been the elephant in the room of MLS expansion, if everyone in the room mentioned the elephant in every other sentence. What bothered me, though, was that it came off looking more like a marketing ploy than the basis for a soccer team.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

For the second-consecutive year, Lionel Messi has been voted the best player in the world.

Messi, 23, beat out Barcelona teammates Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta to take home FIFA's inagural Ballon d'Or award. FIFA merged its World Player of the Year award with France's Ballon d'Or award last year with Messi winning both awards in 2009.

"There have been plenty of times since I've been coaching where I have watched training sessions and thought 'this would really be fun to be playing.' Today was not one of those days."
U.S. assistant coach Jesse Marsch, after today's rather demanding 90-minute training session.

LOS ANGELES, Cal. German second-division club Ingolstadt has signed United States forward Edson Buddle. Buddle's contract with Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy had expired. He was MLS's leading scorer for most of last season despite missing more than a month for the World Cup. Buddle ended the regular season as the second-highest scorer [.