Moments after Marc Dos Santos was formally launched because the third head coach in LAFC historical past, he was led out of a information convention and onto the sphere at BMO Stadium to fulfill an important constituency he’ll must win over in his new job.
The followers.
Because the membership entered MLS in 2018, no group has received extra video games, scored extra objectives, earned extra factors or received extra trophies than LAFC. But as Dos Santos, a prime assistant for 5 of these eight seasons, was hugging and mugging with a number of the people who find themselves quickly to change into his fiercest critics, one other supporter approached common supervisor John Thorrington with a query.
“How do you separate [him] being part of that teaching employees and telling the followers ‘look, it’s going to be completely different with this particular person?’” he requested.
If Dos Santos had been unsure in regards to the job description, that query made issues clear: being the perfect is not ok. He must be higher than that.
And Dos Santos isn’t just fantastic with that, he’s embracing it.
“I knew the strain,” he stated. “You reside as soon as. You reside scared, purchase a Doberman or one thing, proper? It’s an excellent alternative. However I feel it’s a privilege whenever you coach a group in Los Angeles.
“Each sport right here is strain. Each group right here is win, win. It’s a successful metropolis and the tradition of the town. So I perceive that.”
Oh, did we additionally point out that simply successful isn’t sufficient? For LAFC’s famously demanding supporters, the way you win is nearly as essential.
“Now we have to win and we’ve got to entertain,” Thorrington stated. “We’ve finished plenty of that over time. However we’ve got to drill down on that.”
Meaning attacking, staying on the entrance foot, being aggressive, relentless and tireless. Additionally no downside for Dos Santos, since that’s precisely the form of soccer he likes to play.
“My fashion is the LAFC fashion,” he stated. “What we wish to be is constant in our depth. That’s not negotiable, our depth.”
Up to now Dos Santos is saying all the precise phrases and hugging all the precise folks, however his first check on the sphere received’t come till mid-February, when LAFC begins play within the CONCACAF Champions Cup in Honduras, adopted by its MLS opener within the Coliseum towards Lionel Messi and league champion Inter Miami.
And Dos Santos has some outsized cleats to fill.
In its first 4 seasons below Bob Bradley, LAFC made three playoffs appearances, received a Supporters’ Defend, performed within the CONCACAF Champions League ultimate and broke the MLS file for many factors in a season. The group was even higher the final 4 seasons below Steve Cherundolo, successful a second Supporters’ Defend and a U.S. Open Cup, taking part in in a second Champions League ultimate and reaching two MLS Cup finals, successful one.
Dos Santos, 48, was an enormous a part of all that, serving to Bradley set the tone as a part of the teaching employees in LAFC’s first season, then aiding Cherundolo the final 4 years. In between, he spent 2½ seasons managing a Vancouver Whitecaps group that misplaced extra video games than it received.
Marc Dos Santos watches a match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC in April 2021.
(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Related Press)
There have been extenuating circumstances, nonetheless, such because the COVID-19 pandemic that pressured the Whitecaps to separate one season between sequesters in Canada and Portland, Ore., then begin the subsequent season quarantined in Utah. However Dos Santos says the bruises he acquired there made him a greater coach and a greater particular person.
“If I used to be a GM, I’d by no means attempt to rent a coach that solely wins. As a result of I wish to know when he fell, can he stand up?” he stated. “That reveals character and character. I by no means felt, ‘oh, simply because it went unhealthy in a single membership, that I’m gonna keep on the bottom.’
“No, it’s important to stand up and punch again. In order that’s what I wish to do.”
Apart from, the Whitecap years are a small pattern of the expertise on Dos Santos’ resume. He acquired his begin in Montreal, the place he was born, and went on to educate with 11 groups in three international locations during the last 18 years, successful all over the place he managed however Vancouver.
That made him a powerful contender for the LAFC job when Cherundolo introduced in April that he would return to his spouse’s native Germany on the finish of the season. And although that gave Thorrington loads of time to discover a alternative, permitting him to forged a large web and think about greater than 100 inquiries, he finally settled on the man who had been proper below his nostril.
The identical course of performed out 4 years in the past when Thorrington carried out a world seek for Bradley’s alternative earlier than selling Cherundolo, then coach of LAFC’s affiliate within the second-tier USL Championship.
One factor that labored in Dos Santos’ favor, Thorrington stated, was the variety of gamers who sidled as much as say how a lot they wished to play for Dos Santos. He additionally had the benefit of continuity, an understanding of LAFC’s tradition and a loyalty to the group Not solely did he return after being sacked in Vancouver, however he stated he turned down one other MLS teaching job this fall to remain in L.A.
“I might have chosen one other membership that possibly [had] extra consolation, not as a lot strain,” he stated. “However when John opened the door for the interview course of. I went in with the whole lot I had.”
Now comes the exhausting half.
Though Dos Santos is planning modifications to his employees — assistant Ante Razov, the one member of the technical employees that has been with LAFC all eight seasons, is unlikely to return after being handed over for the highest job a second time — the core of the roster that took the group to 36 wins during the last two seasons can be again. For LAFC’s ravenous fan base, that leaves only one technique to go: up.
Dos Santos says he’s prepared for that problem.
“It’s a tough job. Teaching is difficult,” he stated.
“There’s going to be opinions. However it’s a privilege additionally to be ready that has a lot strain. This can be a membership of strain that wishes to win.”
⚽ You’ve got learn the most recent installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a highlight on distinctive tales. Take heed to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Nook of the Galaxy” podcast.
