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Dallas Burn Club seeks cure for playoff blues with Chicago imports
By Jeff Diecks, CNNSI.com Unsatisfied with a team that simply reaches the playoffs every year, Dallas GM Andy Swift has turned to the Burn's biggest rival in search of the leadership that he hopes will take the team to its first MLS Cup appearance. Nineteen days after sending Sergi Daniv to Chicago for veteran sweeper Lubos Kubik, Swift ended a three-month coaching search in January by bringing in Fire assistant Mike Jeffries to replace Dave Dir. "We're trying to borrow a page from their book," Swift said of Chicago -- the winner of the league title as an expansion team in 1998 under the guidance of Bob Bradley. "Now we're getting Bob Bradley's top assistant." Jeffries inherits a club that posted an 81-75-4 record in five years with Dir at the helm, finishing only one regular season with a losing record. But Dir's teams were 6-11 in the postseason, and he remained unpopular with many of the demanding Hispanic soccer fans in the Dallas market. Swift cited a desire to "get to the next level in MLS" as the official reason for firing Dir. Having spent four years in various marketing roles attempting to sell the Burn to the Hispanic community before he ascended to the GM position last April, Swift likely also had the Cotton Bowl turnstiles in mind when he made the move. Flash back to 1997, when Dallas hosted popular Mexican club Chivas. The exhibition fell in the middle of the MLS regular season, two nights before a scheduled game in Columbus. With an eye on the playoff race, Dir understandably chose to rest several starters for the exhibition. The result, however, was a 5-0 pounding administered by Chivas in front of 30,194 fans, leaving a lasting impression on the Burn's target audience that the club's sales staff is still fighting four years later.
The two teams held a rematch this preseason, with Dallas earning a 2-2 draw against a weaker Chivas side than the 1997 version. Afforded the ability to play his starters, Jeffries saw fellow Chicago import Kubik help set up the Burn's first goal and score the equalizer on a free kick in the 82nd minute. Provided he stays healthy, the 37-year-old libero will appear in plenty of scoring summaries this season, one of many reasons why he's quickly made new friends of his former division rivals. "He's fit right into the team," forward Jason Kreis said. "He's a true leader, talking to guys before the game. That's really something we've needed." The team also needs a healthy Kreis. The 1999 league MVP underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Feb. 16 and experienced a slower-than-expected recovery. Kreis remains "hopeful" that he'll be back to full speed by the season opener, but the injury canceled plans of spending his first full training camp with strike partner Ariel Graziani. "Ariel and I have never spent a long time training together. I was hoping this would finally be that time, with him in for a full preseason, so that we could iron out any differences," Kreis said. "I think we can be better together. We can combine a little better if we become more familiar with one another." Still, the duo has combined for 48 goals in two seasons despite interruptions caused by national team commitments and offseason loan agreements. "Clearly we'll be a much more potent team when they can connect offensively," Jeffries said of his strikers. From Kreis and Graziani all the way back to steady goalkeeper Matt Jordan, the Burn's strength is in the center of the park. Oscar Pareja does the work of a marquee playmaker without the fanfare. After three inconsistent seasons, midfielder Chad Deering has drawn praise from the new staff in the preseason. He will be paired with defensive midfielder Jorge Rodriguez, who will be asked to clog up the middle and help cover for Kubik's offensive forays along with marking backs Eric Dade and Richard Farrer. While there is a group of solid veterans in the middle, there are major question marks for Dallas on the flanks. Dallas hopes second-year man Antonio Martinez will fulfill his promise on the left, but Jeffries offers little more than a nervous chuckle when asked who will start at right midfielder. The club's plan following the Kubik trade was to replace Daniv by selecting a winger in the first round of the draft. Then Jeffries and Swift saw slick playmaker Joselito Vaca, who is already becoming a fixture with Bolivia in World Cup qualifying at the age of 18, fall to them with the fifth overall pick, and the plan was quickly tossed in favor of the hot prospect. The Burn did pick up right mid Josue Mayard in the second round, but he sat out much of camp with tendinitis in his Achilles tendon. Miles Joseph, added in a March trade with Columbus for a throwaway draft pick, seems to be Mayard's competition for the starting spot. Or Jeffries could play Vaca wide instead of sitting him on the bench behind Pareja. Even Farrer, Rodriguez and young forward Bobby Rhine have spent time on the right in the preseason. Other than the question mark at right mid, Jeffries has taken over a playoff team with most of its starting lineup intact and a deeper overall roster than most MLS clubs. Jeffries concedes that he faces a task different from a typical new coach. "This is a good situation, but it's not an easy situation," Jeffries said. "Usually a new coach has an opportunity to form the team in their own manner. This is clearly not a situation like that." But Jeffries dismisses any notion that his moving to the other side of a Chicago-Dallas rivalry, which was sparked by a tough 1999 playoff series, is out of the ordinary. "It's not Celtic-Rangers," Jeffries said.
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