December 1, 2009
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Will Red Bulls go for two foreign bodies and try to buck MLS trend?

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- So it's a fait accompli that Erik Soler will become Red Bulls sporting director.

But there are rumbling that the former Norwegian international is considering hiring a foreigner as coach.

If that is true, it is downright scary because foreign-born coaches don't exactly have the best track record of being successful in MLS. Add the fact that there would be two men in charge who aren't familiar with the complicated maze of MLS rules and regulations and the restrictions imposed by the current salary cap and it becomes a potential double jeopardy.

Of course, there is always a first time for everything. Sometime in the future there will be a breakthrough by a foreign coach who not only do well in the league, but win it as well? Perhaps it will be 2010. Perhaps not.

There haven't been many indications of that in MLS in recent history that will change any time soon.

With the opening of a new stadium -- the grand Red Bull Arena -- the team cannot afford to make another mistake.

If Soler goes that way, perhaps he knows something everyone else doesn't and has a unique vision.

If he's right, he will look like a genius.

If he's wrong, well, he will be following tradition by hiring another Red Bulls coach after yet another failure.

Last month Dietmar Beiersdorfer, the sporting director of the entire Red Bull soccer empire, said he realized that if he picked a European to be the team's sporting director, he would need someone who understood the complexities of MLS or someone who could learn very quickly.

"This is the gap to close because if you hire one who has not at least the ability to get used to the system, at least the intelligence to accept what the rules, that we cause us problems," he said Nov. 4.

"Therefore, we have to make a decision which will last at least for a good development of the structure of the club."

There is a famous saying from philosopher and poet George Santayana:

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Will the media wind up using that quote to talk about the Red Bulls' 2010 season? Or will they find a way to break from the past?

I just hope they know what they're doing.

Michael Lewis would like to hear from you. If you have a comment, drop him a line at email.