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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."
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