Farewell Philadelphia

After four-plus seasons with the Philadelphia Union, I have decided it's time to move on. Before we discuss the new job, let's look at how my final season with the Zolos was playing out.

CONCACAF Champions League
The final draw saw us paired with Club America. In the first leg in Mexico, Michael Adeyinka gave us a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute. America would equalize in the 60th to salvage a draw, but a 1-1 result was positive for us. Back in Philly for the second leg, Juan de Dios Rodriguez struck first in the 28th on a set piece. However, just out of the locker room after halftime America would put us back on level terms in the game and on aggregate with a strike in the 47th. But Felix Garcia put the team on his back and would bag a brace with goals in the 56th and 77th to help us win our first CONCACAF Champions League title with a 4-2 aggregate victory.

Group play for the 2012/13 competition started and we were drawn in Group B with Toronto FC (CAN), Atlas (MEX), and Alianza FC (PAN). Results were going our way, with three wins and a draw from four matches played. We beat Toronto FC 3-1 at home and 3-0 away. We played Atlas to a scoreless draw in Mexico, and pounded Alianza 5-0 at home.

SuperLiga
We drawn in group A with Puebla, Club America, and Real Salt Lake. We won at RSL 2-1, 4-1 at home against Club America, and 2-1 over Puebla in Foxboro to take maximum points. Our semifinal opponent was MLS outfit Kansas City Wizards. They never stood a chance, as we were up 3-0 only 15 minutes into the affair. The final score was 6-0 and we were headed to the final for the second year in a row to play Club America at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. As he did in the Champions League final, Felix Garcia cemented his legend as Club America-killer, netting a hat trick in our 4-0 win. Garcia scored twice in the Champions League final, twice in the SuperLiga group match against Club America, and three goals in the final for a total of seven goals in 3 matches against the Mexican giants.

US Open Cup
After a 2-0 win over Miami FC in the third round, we crashed out of this tournament again, this time in the quarterfinals against Chicago on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation.

Major League Soccer
We were nearing the end of the MLS season, with only 3 matches to play. Fixture congestion and an inability to find the net at times were creating some problems, but we had locked up the Supporters Shield and the #1 seed in the Western Conference with 19 wins, 8 draws, and 0 losses. We scored 53 goals to only 13 against for a +40 goal differential. With 65 points, we were 17 clear off the Colorado Rapids who had the second best MLS mark.

I was glad to find out that my assistant Sidnei Lobo will take over my former post as manager with the Union. Although several coaches and staff followed me out the door, the continuity of playing the same style of soccer should help soften the blow of my departure.

Headed South
After turning down offers from Euro clubs that were probably better, Palmeiras in Brazil came calling. Managing in Brazil is a unique challenge in that there is a much higher number of quality clubs that can realistically compete for trophies than say, in England, Italy, or Spain where you typically can expect one of 3-4 teams to be at the top. In that way it's very similar to MLS except it does not have the same restrictions.

Looking at the club, the potential to win is there. They have top training facilities and a state-of-the art youth academy. The Arena Palestra Italia is a 45,000 seater built in 2010 and in very good condition. When the World Cup comes to Brazil in 2014, I would not be surprised if we didn't host some of the games. They have not won the league since 1994, but they finished runner-up in 2010 and are four-time champions overall. I'll have a $14 million transfer budget to work with, which should help bring a couple of players to strengthen the squad for the future.

The staff is a little heavy on goalkeeper coaches (4), but overall is good and I can work with them. I don't see any that I will be sacking outright, but I may pass on a couple of guys when their contract comes up. My assistant manager Tata also believes in the 4-2-2-2 and seems good, albeit a little old (59).

The squad itself is pretty good. We're having some injury problems but they sit in fifth place right now so the cupboard isn't bare. We should be able to hit the ground running with these guys. One interesting note is that I'm being reunited with Ciro, the striker who scored 33 goals in 79 appearances over 3 years for me at Philadelphia. He's injured right now, but he should be training again in a week or so, so I look forward to seeing what he can do against Brasileirão competition.

With 10 games left to play and 13 points adrift from the top, winning the league is probably an unrealistic goal. However, climbing into the top 4 to earn an automatic spot into next years Copa Santander Libertadores group stage is certainly within our grasp.

Algeria
I will remain with Algeria as we move toward qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. We took the momentum of winning the Cup of Nations into qualifying and easily swept through the second round, taking maximum points from our group. Our draw for the third stage is a tough one, with Angola, Senegal, and Libya. We have to win the group to qualify, so 2013 is going to be a big year for us with the Confederations Cup also on the slate.

The nations that we can expect to see in Brazil for the Confed Cup are; Brazil (hosts), Russia (World Cup winners), Germany (UEFA winners), Argentina (CONMEBOL qualifiers), South Korea (AFC winners), United States (CONCACAF winners), and New Zealand (OFC winners). Mexico won the Copa America, but should be ineligible for the CONMEBOL berth which would go to Argentina who were runners-up. But I guess FM may let Mexico in, so we may see El Tri instead of Argentina.