Orlando City SC announced late Wednesday night that the team and head coach Adrian Heath had parted ways.
The situation isn’t unfamiliar to interim Houston Dynamo head coach Wade Barrett. The former MLS defender took over for Owen Coyle after the Scotsman and the Dynamo parted ways on May 25.
“I can’t speak about anything. Unless you’re in a locker room, unless you’re around the team everyday,” said Barrett after Thursday’s practice.
The separation of Heath and Orlando comes on the heels of Orlando City’s 4-0 thrashing at the hands of FC Dallas on Monday. Despite that loss, Orlando City has 20 points and is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings. The cause of a bad loss coupled with a coaching change can affect the team in many ways.
Because of that, Barrett doesn’t want to take any chances come Friday night when the Dynamo visit the Lions (8 pm ET; UniMás).
“They have good players on their team, a lot of good attacking pieces on their team,” said Barrett, before it was announced that Kaká would not play in the game. “I’m sure they’re going to be inspired to go out and perform well."
The Dynamo may be playing better on the field but the standings have yet to reflect that, where the Dynamo sit last with 17 points. Saturday’s win against the Philadelphia Union, Barrett’s first, could be the beginning of a streak.
Saturday’s win came from an stoppage time free-kick goal from Cristian ‘Chaco’ Maidana, who's seen his minutes reduced in the past two MLS games. While most talked about Maidana’s free-kick beauty, Barrett remembers all the little causes that led to the goal.
“Mauro [Manotas] came in and did a great job. Andrew [Wenger] came in and provided energy in those last minutes. And Chaco was busy getting on the ball,” said Barrett speaking about the three subs he used on Saturday. “It was the lead up to the goal that was most impressive to me.”
Playing time has been distributed differently under Barrett than under Coyle and he acknowledged frustration could set in with the players.
“Of course guys are frustrated if they don’t start or play but the attitude has been excellent,” said Barrett. “And you see what happened in the game in the weekend. The game was won. We won the game towards that last 15 minutes.”
