Fire and Whitecaps in tough spots

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Icon SMIIt was a bad week for head coaches, as Chicago's Carlos de los Cobos and Vancouver's Teitur Thordarson were both fired.

At first glance, the Chicago Fire and the Vancouver Whitecaps would appear to have little in common. Chicago has a long and impressive history, including an MLS Cup, a Supporters' Shield and four U.S. Open Cups in its trophy cabinet. Vancouver's soccer history is long, as well, yet it amounts to just 12 league games in terms of MLS.

But on Monday, the two clubs found themselves in the same, uncomfortable position. They not only fired their respective head coaches but also replaced each with his immediate superior. In the case of Vancouver, director of soccer operations Tom Soehn took over the reins from Teitur Thordarson; in Chicago, technical director Frank Klopas now sits in the hot seat once occupied by Carlos de los Cobos.

Both appointments followed a peculiar pattern in that an executive largely responsible for the team's construction has been tasked with coaching the players. Granted, it's not as though Thordarson and de los Cobos were operating in a vacuum and simply accepted whatever players their bosses threw their way. No doubt they had some input. But Soehn and Klopas bear some accountability for their respective team's predicament.

That especially applies to Klopas, who has been an executive with the Fire since 2008. It was Klopas who was the prime mover behind the disastrous acquisition of designated player Nery Castillo, whose lack of fitness and effort saw him depart after just half a season. And Chicago's steady erosion in talent has happened under Klopas' watch.

On a conference call with reporters, he said that he bore some of the blame for what has transpired yet is still backing the team he assembled to turn things around. He also said he wasn't feeling any additional pressure.

"In every situation, there is pressure to win" he said. "Look, there is pressure to win even more with a team like this because the expectations are always high. It is not something that affects me, though. The most important thing for me is that I know this group and I believe in the players and talent that we have."

Certainly, the marriage between the Fire and de los Cobos seemed impractical from the start. Obviously, the Chicago brass felt they were getting a coach whose stock was on the rise after de los Cobos' impressive stint in charge of El Salvador's national team, one that saw the squad punch well above its weight in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. But, once again, we have an example of a foreign coach struggling to repeat that success in MLS. His personnel decisions, including the staggering choice in 2010 to jettison veteran goalkeeper Jon Busch, who has gone on to perform spectacularly at times for San Jose, calls into question his ability to evaluate talent. When the results didn't come, his firing seemed an easy decision. Now, it's up to Klopas, who was among those in the room when such decisions were made, to try to put things right.

Soehn appears to have a bit more wiggle room than Klopas, given Vancouver's expansion status. Yet one would think that this same line of thinking ought to have applied to Thordarson. Is 12 games really a sufficient amount of time to get an expansion side to jell on the field? Clearly, it isn't, especially given some of the injuries to key players such as Atiba Harris and Jay DeMerit. Granted, every team has injuries, but accumulating depth represents the biggest challenge for first-year sides. That's why managers, particularly those of first-year teams, usually are given more time before their performance is judged, the better to take into account the inevitable ups and downs of a season.

For that reason, you can't help but wonder whether there was more to the decision than just results. Thordarson's tactics, the business of selling tickets to the soon-to-be-opened BC Place and the initial success of the Portland Timbers have all been thrown out as potential reasons. Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi insisted that none of those factors had an impact. As for his vow to be patient and build for the long haul, Lenarduzzi had an answer for that, as well.

"Patience has many different forms," he said. "If we start overhauling the roster and altering other aspects of the technical side, then I think that would be viewed as a change in direction. But ultimately, this is an opportunity to change the fortunes of the club. In spite of the fact that it is early, we just felt that it was necessary."

So, Soehn is on tap to turn things around. He struck a similar tone to Klopas when he said, "I do feel we have a talented team, and I think getting the right mix of players together and building a confidence that we can win games is something that we're going to have to inject immediately."

And if he doesn't, what then? Will Vancouver make the same decision 22 games down the road that it made Monday? If true stability is to be achieved, management will need to give Soehn more time than that, which makes the decision to rid the team of Thordarson all the more puzzling.

Koke isn't it in Houston: On Monday, it was announced that Houston Dynamo forward Sergio Koke, who only joined the team back in April, had his contract terminated at his request. In an interview with MLSSoccer.com, Koke insisted that homesickness was the primary motivation behind leaving the Dynamo, especially given that he left a 2-year-old daughter behind in Europe.

There have been whispers, however, that there was more to Koke's unhappiness than family issues. His fitness has been called into question, as well as his willingness to dig deep and earn his spot. Houston manager Dominic Kinnear refused to throw Koke under the bus, even as the Spaniard was attempting to make a soft landing back in Europe.

"I think everything was a bit too different for him culturally," Kinnear said. "He was lonely, and he was disappointed with his playing time. We had a good conversation; he was nice about it, very professional. He basically said, 'This isn't good for me.'"

Although there is no accounting for how a player will adapt to a different culture, Koke's departure leaves Kinnear in the uncomfortable position of having to explain yet another failed foreign signing. Koke follows in the footsteps of Franco Caraccio, Ade Akinbiyi and woefully unmotivated Luis Angel Landin. Only midfielder Lovel Palmer has made a positive contribution.

So what gives when it comes to Houston assessing foreign players? Kinnear insists it's not through lack of effort. He saw Landin play in person "five or six times." Koke was watched roughly 12 times. Yet something is clearly missing, with Kinnear hinting that the physical demands Houston's climate places on players make finding the right signing difficult.

"Houston is one of the hardest places to play because if you're not fit, it's hard to get fit," said Kinnear, alluding to the city's brutal heat and humidity. "You have to come in prepared physically."

Dallas is little different, however, and that franchise has had considerable success integrating foreign talent in recent years, a fact Kinnear didn't dispute.

"David Ferreira struggled in MLS initially, but he stuck to it," he said.

or a variety of reasons, that's something Koke wasn't prepared to do.

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Justin Edmonds/Getty ImagesToronto's Adrian Cann will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

No Cann-do in Toronto: It's times like these that you almost feel sorry for Toronto FC manager Aron Winter. Has he made some mistakes in terms of his personnel choices? Without question. But just three days after Toronto shipped six goals at home to Philadelphia, the news that defender Adrian Cann will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee is an absolute killer.

Toronto is short of depth at center back as it is. With Cann out of the picture, and with fellow central defender Dicoy Williams off with Jamaica at the Gold Cup, that situation is exacerbated. The only good news to come out of this is that Nana Attakora, who reportedly has been frozen out under Winter because of his refusal to sign a new contract, could return to the lineup.

"It is a disappointment because Adrian has had a good start to the season and has been playing well, we will certainly miss his presence in the line-up," Winter said in a press release. "While it is difficult there is now an opportunity for younger players like Nana Attakora and others."

Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN.com. He is also the author of "Soccer's Most Wanted II: The Top 10 Book of More Glorious Goals, Superb Saves and Fantastic Free-Kicks." He can be reached at eljefe1@yahoo.com.

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Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPNsoccernet.