Latest news with #ex-MLS
Fox Sports
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Former MLS stars lace up the boots for an amateur Iowa team in US Open Cup
Associated Press Unknown to most, the Des Moines Menace have got some big names on their roster — retired MLS stars Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber among them — and they're aiming to make some noise in the U.S. Open Cup. Problem is, they've never played together. The Menace open the 110th edition of the Open Cup on Wednesday with a first-round match at Sporting Kansas City II. In addition to Kljestan and Feilhaber, other retired stars on the Des Moines roster include Dax McCarty, Osvaldo Alonso, Justin Meram, Matt Hedges, A.J. DeLaGarza and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The team was meeting in Kansas City for a lone practice on Tuesday night. Part of the game plan will involve figuring out which players, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s, can still go a full 90 minutes. 'Fortunately for us Benny Feilhaber used to be the head coach of Sporting KC II, and he's got a good scouting report on them," Kljestan said. "He's going to be helping us out tactically and how to set up the team.' The Menace are part of USL League Two in the fourth tier of the soccer pyramid in the United States. Because the team's season is during the summer months, the Menace draws many elite college players who want to continue to train and compete in the offseason. The MLS stars aren't taking up roster spots on the regular team and won't be paid. But they will undoubtedly help the team — with its angry red-eyed soccer ball logo — get some attention and even sell some merchandise. Last year, Kljestan was at a Southern California gym owned by a former Menace player who introduced him to the team's GM, Charlie Bales. Even though Kljestan — an MLS Season Pass analyst for Apple TV — hadn't played for more than a year, Bales convinced him to suit up for the Menace in the 2024 Open Cup. The Menace won their first match against Southern California club Capo FC on penalties after a 2-2 draw, with Kljestan netting the game-winning spot kick. But the team was eliminated in the next round with a 3-1 loss to Union Omaha. Kljestan said Feilhaber asked him if he was willing to give the Menace another go this year. 'He hit me up and asked if I was going to play again this year and if I was, if he could join, too. And I said, `OK, we're doing this, let's do it right, and let's get a whole cast of ex-MLS All-Stars and really give it a shot.'" Kljestan said. "So it was pretty easy to get most of the guys to join once Benny and I were in and threw the possibility out there.' Founded in 1914, the Open Cup is the nation's oldest soccer competition. It includes both MLS and lower-tier teams, including amateur sides like the Menace. Since the start of MLS in 1996, the only lower-division team to win the competition was the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL's second-tier A-League, which beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final. In late 2023, MLS said it would pull senior teams from the tournament, and instead enter developmental clubs from MLS Next Pro. After blowback, eight MLS teams competed in 2024. This year there are 16. 'I love the Open Cup. I think it's a fantastic competition with the most history of almost any team sport in the United States. I'm glad that they found a solution and we got MLS teams back in the Open Cup because that's where they belong," Kljestan said. "I went to the final last year to watch LAFC play against Kansas City, and the atmosphere was fantastic and LAFC lifted the trophy. So I'm glad that they found a resolution that works right now." ___ AP soccer: in this topic
Associated Press
18-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Former MLS stars lace up the boots for an amateur Iowa team in US Open Cup
Unknown to most, the Des Moines Menace have got some big names on their roster — retired MLS stars Sacha Kljestan and Benny Feilhaber among them — and they're aiming to make some noise in the U.S. Open Cup. Problem is, they've never played together. The Menace open the 110th edition of the Open Cup on Wednesday with a first-round match at Sporting Kansas City II. In addition to Kljestan and Feilhaber, other retired stars on the Des Moines roster include Dax McCarty, Osvaldo Alonso, Justin Meram, Matt Hedges, A.J. DeLaGarza and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The team was meeting in Kansas City for a lone practice on Tuesday night. Part of the game plan will involve figuring out which players, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s, can still go a full 90 minutes. 'Fortunately for us Benny Feilhaber used to be the head coach of Sporting KC II, and he's got a good scouting report on them,' Kljestan said. 'He's going to be helping us out tactically and how to set up the team.' The Menace are part of USL League Two in the fourth tier of the soccer pyramid in the United States. Because the team's season is during the summer months, the Menace draws many elite college players who want to continue to train and compete in the offseason. The MLS stars aren't taking up roster spots on the regular team and won't be paid. But they will undoubtedly help the team — with its angry red-eyed soccer ball logo — get some attention and even sell some merchandise. Last year, Kljestan was at a Southern California gym owned by a former Menace player who introduced him to the team's GM, Charlie Bales. Even though Kljestan — an MLS Season Pass analyst for Apple TV — hadn't played for more than a year, Bales convinced him to suit up for the Menace in the 2024 Open Cup. The Menace won their first match against Southern California club Capo FC on penalties after a 2-2 draw, with Kljestan netting the game-winning spot kick. But the team was eliminated in the next round with a 3-1 loss to Union Omaha. Kljestan said Feilhaber asked him if he was willing to give the Menace another go this year. 'He hit me up and asked if I was going to play again this year and if I was, if he could join, too. And I said, `OK, we're doing this, let's do it right, and let's get a whole cast of ex-MLS All-Stars and really give it a shot.'' Kljestan said. 'So it was pretty easy to get most of the guys to join once Benny and I were in and threw the possibility out there.' Founded in 1914, the Open Cup is the nation's oldest soccer competition. It includes both MLS and lower-tier teams, including amateur sides like the Menace. Since the start of MLS in 1996, the only lower-division team to win the competition was the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos of the USL's second-tier A-League, which beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0 in the final. In late 2023, MLS said it would pull senior teams from the tournament, and instead enter developmental clubs from MLS Next Pro. After blowback, eight MLS teams competed in 2024. This year there are 16. 'I love the Open Cup. I think it's a fantastic competition with the most history of almost any team sport in the United States. I'm glad that they found a solution and we got MLS teams back in the Open Cup because that's where they belong,' Kljestan said. 'I went to the final last year to watch LAFC play against Kansas City, and the atmosphere was fantastic and LAFC lifted the trophy. So I'm glad that they found a resolution that works right now.' ___
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Pat Noonan showcases his voice as his profile as an MLS coach grows
There's a scene in Onside, the new MLS and Apple TV+ docuseries, that sums up modern attitudes toward American soccer coaches pretty well. It's in an episode that digs into the 'Hell is Real' derby through the eyes of its two coaches, FC Cincinnati's Pat Noonan and the Columbus Crew's Wilfried Nancy. The former is a no-nonsense, ex-MLS defender who studied coaching under Bruce Arena, the godfather of American men's soccer coaches. And the latter arrived from France with little more than a backpack and has become the darling of MLS, frequently touted as the next of the league's coaches to move abroad. Advertisement Noonan is shown communicating with his players bluntly, directly and often obscenely. Nancy's approach feels more esoteric, rife with platitudes. Both coaches feel adept, but Nancy's delivery feels more likely to endear him to the deep thinkers in the audience. Noonan's approach won't win over any of the elitists. Noonan unpacks his thoughts on Nancy's affect in the documentary. 'When we go down the road of philosophy and culture, it's a little bit cringe at times for me,' he says. 'I think it's just because you hear and see coaches that just want to sound really smart. The way people talk about 'cultures, philosophies and game models.' And you're just like 'I gotta rewind that. What does that mean? When did that term come about?' Maybe it's because I don't have the vocabulary where I can use these crazy, made-up words to sound really smart.' GO DEEPER 2025 MLS anonymous executive survey, Part 1: Predictions, superlatives It's fantastic television, and one of the best moments in the docuseries. There's just one problem. He wasn't talking about Nancy. 'They took two conversations and made it look like that was directed towards Wilfried, who is for my money the best coach in the league,' Noonan told The Athletic. 'It had nothing to do with Wilfried. We were talking about the way coaches speak these days, how much verbiage is out there and how it's become so complicated in some ways and how sometimes coaches use that to sound maybe smarter than they really are. I guess one of these days I might have to call Wilfried and clarify all of this.' Inaccuracies aside, one thing the documentary does get right is its portrayal of Noonan's coaching style and philosophy. After three years at the helm in Cincinnati, Noonan has left an indelible mark on the club, helping convert it from a league laughingstock into one of MLS's most competitive sides. And Noonan has often done so by eschewing the traditional American approach — stay sound defensively and be opportunistic on the counterattack — in favor of something that feels much easier on the eyes, even to the casual fan. Some of Noonan's technique, though, feels distinctly American. Like Arena, who has used his ability to connect with players to reach the very highest levels of American soccer, Noonan has earned a reputation as one of the league's better man-managers. It was Arena who pushed Noonan into coaching, making him an assistant on the LA Galaxy sides of the mid-aughts that were among the greatest squads in MLS history. Noonan was along for the ride when Arena took the reins of the U.S. men's national team in 2017, and he was there when the USMNT crashed out in Couva, a formative experience. Advertisement 'That was the biggest failure that I have been a part of,' Noonan said. 'I was a part of it. I had a good role in that staff in the preparations leading up to Trinidad. It was a very humbling experience. I remember I didn't wanna wake up the next day. That's the first time in this game that I've felt so vulnerable and so inferior. But it helped me to understand failure, how I felt it and internalized it.' GO DEEPER MLS anonymous executive survey Part 2: Confronting the league's future Noonan is the latest in a long line of American-born MLS players-turned-coaches. A third of MLS's current head coaches got their start as players in the league. Though the league continues to turn toward Europe and South America in search of new coaches and coaching philosophies, Noonan, along with a handful of others, are making steady, incremental progress in changing the perception of the American coach abroad. It's tough sledding, though. That perception — that the American coach is tactically inept, or doesn't have the fundamental understanding of the game that coaches abroad possess — persists. Many of MLS's best coaches have been American, and few have ever drawn interest from top-level sides abroad, let alone landed a job there. 'There are a lot of American coaches out there with good ideas that if they were given opportunities could go into difficult environments, top leagues and succeed,' Noonan said. 'The perception of the American player, that has changed. How do we get the American coach to that level? It only comes with time and opportunity. I think more coaches need to be more brave in throwing our names out there. We aren't overly aggressive, boastful or confident like some global coaches are. We mostly aren't putting our name out there with agents, asking for rumors to be started that link us to all these opportunities. That's not how we are as American coaches, and maybe that doesn't help the narrative either.' GO DEEPER Olivier Giroud still can't score in MLS, and it's getting embarrassing Noonan laughs when thinking about his own coaching evolution, admitting that he 'knew nothing' during his earliest assignments. From Arena, he says, he learned about the importance of loyalty. Noonan spent three years as an assistant under Jim Curtin in Philadelphia, where he learned to have patience and belief in the club's youngest players. His evolution has accelerated greatly in Cincinnati, which is among the league's highest-spending teams on and off the field. Even by MLS's rapidly-increasing standards, Cincy is among the league's elite in terms of facilities and investment in player development. Advertisement It's not to say that everything is perfect there. Cincinnati was among the league's best sides in 2024 but suffered a bitterly disappointing, opening-round exit from the playoffs at the hands of NYCFC. Following the match, the club's captain — 2023 MLS MVP Luciano Acosta — suggested he may have played his final match for the club. It was a shocking statement and came less than a year after he'd been given a massive contract extension. But privately, Acosta had expressed disappointment at some of Cincinnati's roster decisions. That discontent eventually spilled out into the open, with Acosta leveling criticisms at Cincinnati general manager Chris Albright. Acosta refused to report to training camp in 2025 and was traded for cash to FC Dallas during the preseason. Cincinnati did well to replace him, acquiring Brazilian midfielder Evander from the Portland Timbers for a $12 million fee. It spent even more on Togolese striker Kévin Denkey, bringing him in from Cercle Brugge in the Belgian top flight. Cincinnati has started strongly this year, though feelings about Acosta's exit persist. 'How that ended was really disappointing,' Noonan said. 'I think we've been very supportive of Lucho, the entire way, in good moments and bad moments. Certain he voiced, publicly, his opinion about the club. And maybe in that moment he didn't understand the challenges that that presents — to him and to the club alike moving forward. Then he doesn't report, and that shows intent. Then he has public criticism towards Chris. It just becomes a situation where you do feel like you supported a player the entire way — whether we got things wrong or not — and it should not have played out the way it did. It was really, really disappointing. 'I can sleep at night knowing that we were very supportive of Lucho and his family during the entirety of his time at this club. You can only hope that as he moves on, he appreciates what he had here.' Acosta's behavior — in particular his use of the press and social media to drive his own narrative — is not atypical in South American football, where Acosta came up. In the U.S., it can feel more alien and even a little childish. To someone like Noonan, who made little more than the league minimum of $11,710 when he debuted in 2002, it can be hard to wrap your head around. On some days, it can be hard for Noonan not to become an old man yelling at a cloud. 'It might be unproductive to talk about 'back in my day,'' Noonan said. 'I really have to bite my tongue sometimes. You want to be like, 'Hey rookie, you have three chefs preparing every one of your meals. (You have) four kit men bringing your boots out to you, because you couldn't be bothered to bring out the right ones. I was living with a host family when I was your age.' I was living with a host family in Boston because I couldn't afford to pay my rent. 'For players to be complaining about anything in this setup is wild. They have no idea just how rough things used to be. I think players now become a little bit spoiled in how much is done for them.' GO DEEPER MLS's record signings make immediate impact for their trophy-hungry clubs Noonan is widely considered to be among the league's elite managers but still grapples with his own development at times. Take one look at him after a tough match — Cincinnati's gut-wrenching loss to Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup semifinals comes to mind — and it's apparent he still struggles to process poor performances, something he readily admits. Advertisement 'Those are hard days for me, in the aftermath of poor performances,' Noonan said. 'I can't wait to get in to address the group, to have the next meeting and talk about what went wrong. I want to get it right as quickly as possible when I don't do my job. Poor performances weigh on me.' Noonan's answer rambled a bit. Eventually, his own self-assessment included words like culture and philosophy. 'I generally try and avoid using those,' he said, laughing. If Noonan isn't careful, he may end up appealing to the purists out there.
