TORONTO – One of the worst-kept secrets in Toronto sports was finally made official Wednesday morning.
Jürgen Klinsmann and his company, California-based SoccerSolutions, were officially announced by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment as the group entrusted with charting a new course for Toronto FC.
The announcement came after a Toronto newspaper broke the story late last week that Klinsmann was the big name MLSE had settled on to act as a consultant in turning the Reds around. Klinsmann had a long and illustrious playing career, and as a coach he took Germany to a third-place finish in the 2006 World Cup.
“It took a couple of weeks to get things together, time zones and stuff, but anyway we finally got it done [on Tuesday],” MLSE executive vice president and COO Tom Anselmi told Toronto sports radio station The Fan 590. "He’s looking forward to the challenge and he’s a very interesting guy."
Klinsmann will have a comprehensive to-do list that includes first identifying the culture of the club and a Canadian style of play that will resonate with fans. He’ll then use that information to evaluate personnel – players, coaches and management – and assess the 45-plus worldwide candidates that have applied to be TFC's new director of soccer.
The 46-year-old, who will be formally unveiled next week, will have his work cut out for him trying to find a panacea for a club that has missed the playoffs every year since its inception in 2007. TFC have had five coaches in those four seasons and this past season dismissed both their first-ever director of soccer, Mo Johnston, and head coach Preki.
[inline_node:303969]The opportunity to have such an involved role in the club, as well as Toronto’s potential, piqued the interest of the former 1990 World Cup winner and 1996 European champion.
“He knows the market,” Anselmi said. "He knows of the dent that we’ve made in MLS in the first four years, knows of our on-field woes this last year and is just really intrigued by the opportunity because he sees it’s not quite a start-up, but it’s almost a start-up.
“I think he’s really intrigued by what this franchise can be in this market because this community is so into the game and for a European that played at the highest levels, has won it all, done everything, living in North America for the last 15 years, what he’s seeing in Toronto is probably as close as it gets to the European experience, so I think that really intrigued him.”
Klinsmann’s pedigree of international success and knowledge of North American soccer made him appealing to MLSE.
“He knows the game real well over here, he’s been here 15 years, he’s been offered the US national team job a couple of times,” Anselmi said. "He scouts US colleges, he understands the difference in the development system over here and the influence that the NCAA system has on that versus the classic European model … so yeah, he knows the North American game."
MLSE was led to Klinsmann by Tim Leiweke, CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group and owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy, which had previously used Klinsmann as a consultant.
“It’s bringing some discipline to the process and not just getting into a beauty contest or looking for the biggest name,” said Anselmi. “We need to know what we need and go and find it.”
Ready to launch: MLS Matchday 2010, The new official MLS iPhone app. It's FREE! Download it here!
