The Houston Dynamo have reportedly hired Wilmer Cabrera to be their head coach after not giving Wade Barrett the full-time job.
After finishing the 2016 MLS season as the second-worst team in the league, the Houston Dynamo decided not to give interim head coach, Wade Barrett, the full-time job. Now that their year is over, the team has been looking for a replacement and they finally found their man. Paul Tenorio of FourFourTwo has reported that the “Dynamo hiring Wilmer Cabrera as head coach. Done deal.”
Cabrera will only be Houston’s fourth ever head coach and third ever non-interim. He had a long career as a player with multiple clubs from Columbia, Argentina, Costa Rica, and even with the Long Island Rough Riders of the Premier Developmental League in the United States. He began coaching in 2005 and has worked his way up the ranks ever since.
The Colombia international started as an assistant at the Suffolk County Community College before moving onto B.W. Gottschee. After that, Wilmer coached the United States’ U-18 team and then the U-17’s. His prior Major League Soccer coaching experience came with the Colorado Rapids from 2013-14 as an assistant and then with Chivas USA in 2014 before the club was dissolved.
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Before making the move to Houston, Cabrera was the head coach of the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros in 2016. The Dynamo saw enough promise in the 49-year old coach to give him a chance. He has limited head coaching experience at the MLS level but it is Wilmer’s chance to prove that he can make it. He is only 9W-19L-6D in his MLS coaching career. (Wikipedia.com)
Even though the team has a new head coach, not everyone is happy with the organization’s decision.
Many reacted to the news of Barrett not returning including Dynamo midfielder, Will Bruin, who tweeted “Very, very disappointed Wade will not get the head coaching position. In my opinion, very foolish.” Even former player, Geoff Cameron, said “Funny that @HoustonDynamo seem to be chasing away everyone that helped make the club successful!” on twitter.
It’s fair to say that neither of them are fans of the decision to let Wade Barrett go, but it is unclear how they feel about new the team’s new coach.
This is now Cabrera’s team and he has a lot of work to do going forward. The Dynamo wanted to get this deal done early so that Wilmer could get to work immediately and plan the roster for next season.
Houston was one of the worst team’s in Major League Soccer this past season so Cabrera will be taking over a club that needs to be turned around. They have also not made the playoffs in three year and finished near the bottom of the Western Confernce each of those three seasons.