Canadian Soccer Association drops pursuit of Brazilian coach

The Canadian Soccer Association's painstaking quest for a men's senior team coach isn't over yet.

Weeks of negotiations involving Canadian soccer officials and Brazilian Rene Simoes collapsed yesterday after the CSA's executive committee failed to convince the board of directors to approve a contract. So Canada's struggling men's team, ranked No. 103 in the world and without a coach since last June, continues without direction.

"I am not disappointed with the decision, that's business, they had a right to make the decision," Simoes said from Rio de Janeiro. "CSA officials indicated that they wanted me as coach and technical director and even indicated this in a letter to me, but also noted that they needed final approval from their board of directors."

CSA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Simoes was always the top candidate for CSA president Colin Linford and the seven-member executive committee, but contract demands, reported to be close to $500,000, might have been a factor in the failure to sign off on a contract.

But a Toronto-based representative for Simoes, Juan Carlos Ramirez-Gaston, said the failure to hire Simoes had nothing to do with money, and added the decision was a "sad day" for soccer in Canada.

"The reason the deal fell apart ... had more to do with [the board's] opposition to [Colin] Linford as CSA president and politics on the board," Ramirez-Gaston said.

Simoes is best known for leading Jamaica to its first and only appearance in a World Cup, in 1998 in France. He last led Iran's under-23 team to a bronze medal at the Asian Games before resigning in December, and has been reviewing other coaching offers from the national teams of Cuba, Venezuela and Uzbekistan.

"Canada was a great potential location for me and has a great future," Simoes said.

"You have to look at the people in Canada and the many generations of immigrants who bring a rich soccer culture to their adopted nation. In the interviewing process, I gave CSA officials a goal to improve ahead of the 2010 World Cup and beyond and wanted to get more Canadian players playing in countries around the world and finally put Canada on the soccer map."