The Vancouver Whitecaps have parted ways with assistant coaches Denis Hamlett and Colin Miller,
the team announced on Wednesday.
With incoming head coach Martin Rennie taking the reins and acting head coach Tom Soehn moving
back to the front office, it's not a big surprise that Rennie would want to bring in his own staff,
but the move leaves two experienced assistants available for other positions.
Through a couple twists of fate, Saturday's match between D.C. United and the Vancouver
Whitecaps will be an unlikely clash between a mentor and his onetime apprentice.
Vancouver interim coach Tom Soehn will be matching wits on the touchline with Chad Ashton,
his top assistant when he coached United from 2007 to 2009.
Vancouver sports fans have a lot on their plate right now. Now, we all love soccer, but how
distracted from a regular season match would we be if one of our sports teams was in the Finals of
another sport? Probably a bit. That isn't the only issue facing Vancouver Whitecaps supporters. The
Canadian National Team is competing in the Gold Cup, and despite the 2-nil loss the the United
States should still advance from the Group Stage, but they have a match down in Tampa and some of
their supporters and Whitecaps supporters crossover.
For American soccer fans, we are entering a frantic month of soccer. Â In addition to our normal
MLS action, we will have the chance to see the Gold Cup and an impressive friendly against Spain. Â
With the action spread out across the U.S., this may be the most soccer saturated this country has
been since the 1994 World Cup - cities across the country even without MLS teams will get to see
the beautiful game at a high level.
This past weekend saw two MLS teams parting ways with their managers: Teitur Thordarson of the
Vancouver Whitecaps and the Chicago Fire's Carlos de los Cobos.
The moves happened within 24 hours of each other, but otherwise seem to make sense. Both teams
are currently at the bottom of the tables in their respective divisions with seemingly no end in
sight to their struggles.
Ex-Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson. de los Cobos is out of a job after Fire axe.
We're barely a third of the way through the season but already poor form is drawing consequences.
Two head coaches were let go from their positions yesterday as their clubs seek an immediate
turnaround in fortunes.
Yesterday was certainly an eventful Memorial Day for many MLS fans as two teams decided to ditch
their respective head coaches. Our friendly neighbors to the north, the Vancouver Whitecaps, bid
adieu to their long time USL coach Teitur Thordarson and the Chicago Fire opted to seek out a
different direction than where Carlos de los Cobos was taking the team.
Carlos de los Cobos was outed in Chicago. (Getty Images)
Of course the day I decide to take most of the day off to rest, relax, buy a new bed, all that
usual holiday stuff is the day that not one but two MLS coaches get canned. Teitur Thordarson in
Vancouver and Carlos de los Cobos in Chicago.
Teitur Thordarson is no longer the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps, the club announced on
Monday. Thordarson exits with Vancouver bottom of the Western Conference with nine points from 12
games. Goalkeeper coach Mike Salmon is also no longer with the club. "Teitur and Mike have served
the club extremely well in recent seasons but we feel that today's changes are necessary in order
to accelerate the process of turning around our difficult start.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Benny Feilhaber drew a penalty and should have had his first MLS goal as the
New England Revolution defeated Vancouver Whitecaps FC 1-0 at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.
Shalrie Joseph easily stroked home the penalty kick in the 49th minute for the Revs first goal
in 236 minutes.
Behind goals from Cam Weaver, Bobby Boswell and Will Bruin, the Houston Dynamo earned their
first victory of the 2011 season, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 in front of 12,047 at
Robertson Stadium.
It was a nearly perfect first half for the Dynamo. They were controlling possession, making good
passes, creating chances and generated two goals.
VANCOUVER, BC Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced Nizar Khalfan and Gershon Koffie as their first two
international player signings on Wednesday. The duo became the sixth and seventh signings from last
season's USSF D-2 Pro League squad and the latest in an ever-growing pool of African MLS players.
Eschewing big name signings like David Beckham [.
PHOENIX – The absence of creases on the cheekbones of his weathered face tells you enough.
Vancouver Whitecaps coach Teitur Thordarson is not one for smiling.
But Thordarson couldn't help but force a hint of a smirk after the Whitecaps' 2-1 win in a
scrimmage of two 45-minute halves over the Columbus Crew at the Reach 11 Soccer Complex.
CASA GRANDE, Ar Looking to build on Tuesday's victory over Real Salt Lake, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
return to preseason action when they take on Pacific Northwest rivals Seattle Sounders FC at Grande
Sports World in Casa Grande, Arizona, on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. PT. Despite being together for
less than two weeks, Teitur [.
CASA GRANDE, Arz Playing their first-ever preseason training match as a Major League Soccer club on
Tuesday, Vancouver Whitecaps FC defeated 2009 MLS Cup champions Real Salt Lake 2-1 at Grande Sports
World in Casa Grande, Arizona. Goals by the Canadian duo of Russell Teibert and Terry Dunfield have
Teitur Thordarson's side a positive [.
Almost two months ago, I wrote about the fact that the Sounders were one of only two teams in
the league (along with FC Dallas) who were still in the running for all five potential trophies.
Remarkably - despite a grueling schedule both in the league and in cup play - Seattle outlasted
Dallas and still remains in the running for every one of those cups (though their claim on the
Supporters Shield is pretty tenuous as the Los Angeles Galaxy pull away in that race).
While any of the three teams could win the Cascadia Cup in the next two Saturdays in MLS play,
the Seattle Sounders are in the driver's seat. With a win over the Vancouver Whitecaps they not
only qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, they also get their first trophy. Or more appropriately,
their fans get their first trophy as this is a Supporters Cup.
Generally when a team fires a coach midseason, they will schedule it before a series of easier
opponents. This gives the new coach a chance to start off his tenure with some good results, and
from a PR perspective it makes it easier to convince the fans that the change was for the better
based on those results.
Happy Monday everyone. The Sounders are back in town this week after a scoreless draw against
the Chicago Fire on Saturday. The match had some good possession midfield play from both teams, but
it would be hard to call it must watch soccer. Although I still admire Arlo White for trying to
sell it as such during the broadcast.
Before we get into the weekend's soccer links, I would also like to say a special thanks to the
men and women serving our country in the military and the peace corps. The last decade has been
some of the most trying times for our men and women in uniform and their families, we especially
note those who have sacrificed their very lives for the well-being of the nation.
The Sounders play the Chicago Fire after a great win against Real Salt Lake. Meanwhile, the Fire
will be dealing with plenty of changes as they released coach Carlos de los Cobos this week and
installed Frank Klopas as the interim head coach. He'll be looking to get more out of the Fire
while searching for a long-term coach for the team.
For those of you who haven't been following the drama happening within FIFA, you really should
be. It's fascinating how such an inward, closed-off organization was finally pried open, if only a
little bit, for the rest of us to see how it works. Over the last week or so there's been a lot of
upheaval within the organization over corruption to the point where FIFA had no other option than
to address them properly.
Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America writes of the task at hand for new MLS coaches-
Asking which of the new coaches hired by MLS teams in the past few months will get off to the
quickest start or last the longest really aren't the most pertinent questions regarding the futures
of Robin Fraser, Aron Winter and Ben Olsen.
This week on ATL Extra Ted and Zach spend some quality time with fan correspondent Jim Sanderson
from Vancouver getting some excellent insight in to the firing Teitur Thordarson and why the
Whitecaps are not your typical "expansion team". We discuss the PK controversy from Portland last
weekend and preview all the weekend's MLS matches.
BREAKING: Whitecaps part ways with head coach Teitur Thordarson.
From the @MLS Tiwtter account.
I can't imagine what the supporters are going through in Vancouver. I'd be revolting were the
Timbers to oust John Spencer. Then again, Spencer has been having a better season thus far.
Vancouver has hired Carolina RailHawks head coach Martin Rennie to take over their team for next
season. Watch video of the official introductory press conference here. He will finish this season
with Carolina, and Tom Soehn will finish this season running the Caps, then he will step back
upstairs.
