Just more than a week ago, FC Dallas made an announcement that many knew was coming when the Hoops named Jeff Cassar as the team's goalkeeping coach for the 2007 season. Cassar, who has been in the league since the inaugural season of 1996, the opportunity to move from player to coach is one he is clearly looking forward to.
"I feel really blessed to have this opportunity," Cassar said. "There aren't a lot of players in this league who can go from playing right into the coaching role. I feel blessed and am excited to be working with this coaching staff."
Cassar comes off an eventful 2006 where he missed most of the season with several different injuries and played in only one regular season match for the Hoops. Even though he is now a member of the FCD coaching staff, as of yet, he has not officially retired from the league.
Dario Sala, who started the bulk of the games in goal for FCD last year, will miss the first six games of 2007 because of a suspension handed down because of a postgame incident following the Western Conference Semifinals loss to Colorado. That means Shaka Hislop, a veteran of the English Premier League, will likely start the year in goal with Ray Burse, a converted forward out of Ohio State who completed a solid rookie season with the Hoops reserves, as his backup.
Should an emergency situation arise, Cassar admits that the chances of him making a return to the field aren't enough to mention.
"It's been thrown around but that's not the first option," he said. "My body kind of let out on me (last year). That's not the first option. It would only be in an emergency situation."
Cassar plans to take something from each goalkeeping coach he has had in his career, including from former Premier League 'keeper Alan Knight, who was FCD's goalkeeper coach in 2006, and incorporate that into his own coaching style.
"I'm going to take a lot of what I have learned from each coach I had," he said. "Alan (Knight) kept it simple and kept us sharp. I am going to try to keep that moving and throw in a few things of my own along the way."
Burse, Hislop and Sala each come from different backgrounds and have their own distinctive styles between the posts, something Cassar sees as a bit of a challenge for him as a coach.
"It's going to be a big challenge," he said. "We're going to keep the lines of communication open with all three of them. I'm here to help them be as good as they can be. What they need, I'm going to give them."
He likes the development he has already seen from Burse after just one season in MLS.
"Ray has all the tools to be a great goalkeeper but he hasn't been playing as long as they have and the experience is lacking," Cassar said. "He has come a long way and still has to go a long way. You have to be patient with him because he needs games. We want to get him in as many reserve games as possible. I am going to teach him the position. You can put him through drills and he will get better. But he needs to learn when to come, when to stay and things like that. That's where I will come in."
Cassar also likes the fact that Sala brings some fire and some attitude to the defensive end of the field, something that new FCD head coach Steve Morrow has emphasized since being hired back in December.
"When you have a goalkeeper, you have to have someone with strong character and he (Sala) definitely has that," Cassar said. "The team feeds off that. I'm going to get that with all of them and keep Dario moving along because last year was fantastic for him.
"It's a good team philosophy of having some bite in the back. We're not going to take anything from anyone. We will be tough and honest. I think that is going to run together and the 'keepers will portray that and it will go to the rest of the team."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
