Charlie Corr has a great draft primer with some quotes from Frank Klopas. The quotes from Klopas are not really anything new but I did take special notice of the quote at the end from Carlos de los Cobos.
Carlos is in a different place from the beginning," Klopas said. "He knows the league and the players now, and we're trying to bring in good soccer players to help on the field. One year in, he definitely knows the league better. We made some decisions last year, and not all of the decisions added up. At the end of the day, it's about getting the results.
The Chicago Fire decided this fall that two of the decisions that didn't add up last year were retaining First Assistant Coach Mike Matkovich and hiring Fitness Specialist Alvaro Briones. The Fire hope that yesterday's hiring of new First Assistant Coach Leo Percovich will help set the course right. Again a quote from Klopas.
Leo is an accomplished coach with experience at the highest level," said Chicago Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas. "He brings with him a unique perspective and a winning attitude. We expect Leo to be a great addition to our technical staff and believe he is the perfect fit to help guide our team.
His experience is two years as an assistant coach at Toronto FC. To be snarky, I'll say that Percovich's winning attitude sure didn't help Toronto do anything these past two years. To be realistic, Toronto has been an absolute mess due to the wild direction of the ownership group and Director of Soccer, Mo Johnston. It's unfair to pin anything on Leo Percovich and TFC isn't all bad. We would take Dwayne De Rosario in a heartbeat, no?
Nery Castillo to Greece as a loan has been kicked up again and again and kicked back down again and again to the point that I've stop mentioning anything about it. However, the latest bit of the rumor mill has Nery addressing the issue himself on his facebook page. MLSsoccer.com mentioned it in their news of the day. Guillermo Rivera over at Fire Confidential provided a good translation in the comments of his draft bit.
According to the report, Castillo said through his Facebook account that "Some people may be confused by remarks made by my brother Alex Castillo. For those who don't know, I'm in Greece and we're negotiating with a European club. Hopefully everything goes well and we can make the move. All I can say is we will keep you informed through my Facebook or his. Thank you all for your support."
Rivera is very good about adding stuff in the comments after the first post of the day. This is a very good example of that. On Castillo, Klopas said they chose not to do a short-term loan. This is the first concrete information I've seen suggesting that Castillo was actively exploring leaving the Fire permanently.
Getting back to the draft, the Chicago Fire will hosting a live draft chat. Myself and other Chicago Fire voices will be putting in their two cents as the draft rolls on. The live chat starts soon and ESPN 2 will be covering the first round of the draft starting at 11:00 AM. Good luck to Klopas & Company. Here's to picking 4 winners... or making good trades too. Should be a very exciting day.