Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images

San Jose rookie Steven Beitashour looks like a good, young prospect. Then again, he's gotten into only seven matches this year. He's the perfect example of how young talent languishes without a reserve league.

In one day the Houston Dynamo cut loose a Designated Player that bombed and probably more importantly saw one of the league's best assistant coaches step down for personal reasons. Yes Dynamo fans I believe you are entering a slight rebuilding phase now.

Luis Angel Landin, signed last August as Houston's first DP, was released Tuesday by the Dynamo.

Yesterday I featured the 16 players that were All Star worthy. Today I will highlight 16 All Star caliber players that didn't live up to their billing this summer.

Goalie

Robert Green: England

Enough has been said about Butterfingers Green and the infamous fumble against the USA.

Rumors of the MLS bringing back their reserve league for 2011 appear to be true, and Steve Davis reports on the talks.

Significant momentum is rising to resurrect Major League Soccer's reserve league in 2011. I really believe it will happen, and the league really will be better for it.

It is a frigid and rainy day in Fort Lauderdale as Major League Soccer's top draft prospects prepare to play in the 2010 MLS Player Combine. It's a truly miserable day, but one the potential draftees will have to endure.

Before I get to our primer on the Combine, here are some tidbits MLS fans will be interested in:

New York Red Bulls fans wondering who will be scouting prospects and running the draft will be happy to hear that former technical director Jeff Agoos will not be part of that process.

From US Soccer.com:

CHICAGO (Oct. 23, 2010) The U.S. U-15 Boys' National Team is set for a 36-player training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., from Oct. 24-31. The camp is the first at the U-15 level that is made up exclusively of players born in 1996, as the first half of 2010 saw the '96s with Manny Schellscheidt's U-14 BNT.

How does a young college or university assistant coach get a job as a head coach?
I have been told by more than one athletic administrator that when going through a search, most athletic directors look for coaches who have previously successful head coaching experience (maybe at a level tier than the potential position) or have been an assistant coach at a very successful program (having a 'blueprint' of what it takes to be successful at that level).

As the MLS world check their passports and descend upon Toronto, the league's premier and winningest team is searching for its next manager, its third in the past three season (if you include interim Ben Olsen). The team let go of Curt Onalfo toward the end of the season and turned the reigns over to team legend Olsen.

Head Coach Curt Onalfo and assistant coaches Mark Simpson, Ben Olsen and Kris Kelderman share a drink at last night's 'Meet the Coach' event at BlackFinn.

See more photos from the evening over at our Flickr account.

The New York Red Bulls have announced the hiring of 57-year-old Swedish coach Hans Backe as the team's new head coach. A long-time confidant of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Backe most recently worked as head coach of English League two side Notts County, a job he quit after just seven weeks.

Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News and Big Apple Soccer recently had the chance to catch up with US Under-17 National Team head coach Wilmer Cabrera, and was able to hear his thoughts on player development here in the United States.

Sounds like Wilmer Cabrera wants to start a revolution in this country, a modern soccer revolution.

They maybe leading the Eastern Conference MLS table with 2 victories from 2 games but, the New York Red Bulls are a team in Mourning. Their coach Hans Backe is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to remove his gall bladder. Backe who complained of Severe stomach pains just before his sides 1-0 victory over Seattle looks set to miss the rest of the season.

FC Dallas announced this morning that they have named former Penn State head coach Barry Gorman as their new technical director. FC Dallas Investor-Operator and Hunt Sports Group Chairman Clark Hunt will introduce Gorman to the media before the club's training session today.

Gorman's duties will include directing the club's player personnel operations including international and domestic scouting, trades and acquisitions, player contracts, and team administration.

When talking with US assistant coaches, they candidly reference Michael Bradley as being a player that the team cannot do without.
There is no nepotism hinted, because despite being the son of US national team head coach Bob Bradley, it is obvious to see that the midfield linchpin is indispensable to the US team.

In the last week Mike Leach, coach of college football program Texas Tech, was fired from the school due to inappropriate rehabilitation methods he forced a student athlete to participate in following a mild concussion the player had suffered earlier in the week in practice. Apparently Leach forced the receiver to sit in an equipment shed and on another occasion in an electric closet that was adjacent to the squad's practice field.

Swedish coach Hans Backe takes over a tall task of coaching the New York Red Bulls. (Getty Images)

After weeks of waiting for the New York Red Bulls to hire a coach today they have announced the hiring of 57-year-old Swedish coach Hans Backe. He most recently worked as head coach of English League two side Notts County, a job he quit after just seven weeks.

It is a frigid and rainy day in Fort Lauderdale as Major League Soccer's top draft prospects prepare to play in the 2010 MLS Player Combine. It's a truly miserable day, but one the potential draftees will have to endure.

Before I get to our primer on the Combine, here are some tidbits MLS fans will be interested in:

New York Red Bulls fans wondering who will be scouting prospects and running the draft will be happy to hear that former technical director Jeff Agoos will not be part of that process.

Found some video of the Onalfo and assistant coaches at Black Finn.

Kris Kelderman, Mark Simpson, and Benny Olsen will be the assistant coaches for Curt Onalfo. Kelderman was Onalfo's right hand man in Kansas City and also has experience as a player for DC United and coach of the U-17 team for the club. He was also previously an assistant at George Mason University.

Chivas USA today announced the hiring of former San Diego Spirit coach Carlos Juarez, former Bayern Munich assistant coach Nick Theslof and goalkeeper coach Daniel Gonzalez to the club's coaching staff.

The trio join Carlos Llamosa as assistant coaches to Head Coach Martín Vásquez on the team's technical staff.

Second from bottom if the Indonesia Super League, Persitara are in the market for a new coach. Dutch Dick Buitelaar (spelling) hasn't been seen for a while with assistant coaches taking the reins.
Despite the club being short of money there are no shortage of applicants with Bambang Nurdiansyah, Suimin Diharja, Rohanda and Rudy Keltjes among the names being linked plus perhaps one or two others in the pipeline.

Hull City fired head coach Phil Brown on Monday, leaving assistant coaches Brian Horton and Steve Parkin in charge of the club until a permanent replacement could be secured.

Jozy Altidore's squad currently sits in 19th place in the Premier League and is in real danger of being relegated as the Tigers sit what amounts to four points away from the drop zone due to a league-worst goal difference.

I was at my 12-year old daughter's youth soccer tournament this weekend, and as much as I enjoyed watching her play, I had almost as fun watching parents and coaches - how they behaved, interacted with their children, the officials, etc.

Soccer Classroom had a great article on what traits a youth soccer coach should have-

Coaches come in all shapes and sizes, but there are certain coaching attributes that will assist you in creating a positive, learning environment where your players can thrive and develop as people.

Reports from Honduras and Ecuador claim that Honduran national team coach Reinaldo Rueda is about to take the similar post in the South American country. One of Rueda's assistant coaches gave an interview with one of the radio stations in Ecuador saying that "it would be an honor" to coach the national team and that he and the rest of the staff are working out the remaining details with the federation.

In 2008, the Argentine Football Association shocked the world when they hired the legendary Diego Maradona to coach the nation's soccer team. Less than two years later, that experiment is over. The AFA decided not to renew Maradona's contract after Maradona refused to replace a number of assistant coaches.

Notre Dame midfielder Dillon Powers isn't a goal-scoring machine, or a dynamic playmaker, but for many experts his well-rounded game makes him the most complete player in the nation, and arguably the best pro prospect in college soccer.

A key figure on the U.S. Under-20 national team, Powers has established himself as a mature midfield force who has grown considerably since being one of the youngest members of the 2009 U.

While we await the kickoff of tonight's Galaxy-Union game nibble on this roundup of local news and links:

*Chivas USA pair Dario Delgado and Osael Romero will miss Saturday's game in Carson against Toronto after being called up by their respective national teams. That Costa Rica should select Delgado, a defensive mainstay for Chivas USA this season, for games Friday against Peru and Tuesday against El Salvador isn't surprising.

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- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome.

I've always been told Toronto can be like a bizaro-world. I guess that is certainly the case with this news out of Toronto that TFC is set to hire Jurgen Klinsmann.

Oddly enough he won't be hired as a GM or as a head coach but as a consultant. Here's the blurb from The Globe and Mail article:

The former German national team player and coach will be given a free hand to rebuild an organization that has failed to make the playoffs during each of its four seasons of existence.

Major League Soccer earned a cumulative B+ grade in the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport's annual report on race and gender hirings performed by major sports leagues. It was the fourth consecutive year that the American soccer league received a grade of A in the category of racial hiring, but the league did suffer a grade of an F in the subject of minority general managers.

More photos » Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images

9 days ago: SEATTLE - OCTOBER 31: A fan of the Seattle Sounders FC looks on during the 1st leg playoff game against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Qwest Field on October 31 2010 in Seattle Washington.

By Michael Lewis – NEW YORK, NY (Nov 11, 2010) US Soccer Players -- Memo to the powers that be of MLS who are pondering the future of the playoff system: Here is some unsolicited input from the ones in which the post-season matters the most - the coaches. After all, their livelihoods live and die about reaching the playoffs.

The Portland Timbers announced their MLS coaching staff, including two assistant coaches and a goalkeepers coach. While they gained a coach with MLS experience in player development, they rewarded two former USL Timbers assistants who contributed to the team's success in 2010.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The Portland Timbers are a busy bunch this week.

They're opening a downtown Portland team store on Friday morning, and select fans and media get to preview the new spot when the club formally introduces four of its new players on Wednesday -- defender Eric Brunner, midfielders Adam Moffat and Peter Lowry and defender-midfielder Rodney Wallace, all acquired on Nov.

Amos Magee

The Portland Timbers announced today that head coach John Spencer has secured Minnesotan Amos Magee along with Tervor James and Adam Smith as assistant coaches for the newly elevated MLS team.

The 39 year old Magee spent some time playing in MLS himself with the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Chicago Fire from 2000 through 2002.

PORTLAND, Ore. – New players, new jerseys, new assistant coaches: This has been a busy couple of days for the Portland Timbers as they prepare to join Major League Soccer next season. First the team rounded out its coaching staff, then they introduced a bunch of new players. On Thursday they unveiled their inaugural uniforms, [.