After finishing 15th out of 22 sides during the 2017 MLS season, no one expected miracles from first-year coach Brad Friedel in 2018, despite his standing as arguably the finest playing export in U.S. soccer history. And so it’s proven for the 47-year-old, whose side will likely finish the season in 16th place this time around.
Despite only being appointed manager of AS Monaco on Saturday, Thierry Henry has had to approach his first head coaching job like one of his trademark goals from the left wing: with remarkable speed. The traditional Ligue 1 power sits in 18th place after nine matches, and Saturday’s trip to Strasbourg represents a massive opportunity to begin the climb out of the relegation places.
The World Cup was an absolute shit show for Argentine manager Jorge Sampaoli. Jettisoned into the job in May of 2017 as the savior of Argentina’s horrendous qualifying campaign, the former Sevilla boss managed to secure passage to Russia on the final match day (although Lionel Messi’s hat trick in Quito certainly helped).
However, with one armageddon avoided, the next promptly arrived — the finals themselves revealed what many had known about La Albiceleste since the cycle began: The beaten 2014 finalists weren’t very good anymore, apart from Messi.
Forget MTV or TMZ, one need not look further than this Pogba Mourinho stuff at Old Trafford for some of the most eye-popping, high-profile drama of 2018.
There has been trouble abound in paradise for England’s most storied club in recent weeks as the Red Devils have stumbled early on in the season with a less-than-stellar start in domestic play, a manager who is feeling the pressure and discontent in the locker room.
Frank Lampard made many trips to Old Trafford as a player in a long career with West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City. Perhaps the greatest midfielder in the history of the Premier League returned once more to face Manchester United on Tuesday — not as a player, but a manager of Derby County.
Lampard faced off against his former coach at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho. Lampard went home with an unlikely win.
Earnie Stewart’s search for the next USMNT manager hit the news wires this week after the U.S. General Manager was spotted at MAPFRE Stadium to watch Gregg Berhalter’s Columbus Crew defeat Colorado 2-1, and the flames of the fire were further fanned with the rumor that Stewart had held talks with FC Dallas coach Oscar Pareja — a rumor that was later quashed by Yahoo! Sports.
If the Daily Mirror is to be believed, former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has already held preliminary talks with Inter Miami owner David Beckham over potentially being instilled as the club’s first-ever manager for its maiden MLS season in 2020.
In the end, Shakhtar Donetsk’s trusted strategy of supplementing its Ukrainian core of players with a bunch of Brazilians proved, once again, a masterstroke — this time in spoiling the appearance of the youngest manager the Champions League has ever seen, Hoffenheim’s 31-year-old whizkid Julian Nagelsmann.