Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho directs his players as the two-time defending English Premiership champions Chelsea Football Club train at the University of California at Los Angeles Thursday, July 27, 2006. Chelsea FC will face a Major League Soccer all-star team in Chicago on Aug. 5. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)DAMIEN MEYER/The Associated Press
Last week, Jose Mourinho, the Inter Milan head coach, made some interesting comments regarding his commitment to stay at the Italian soccer club, which is eight points clear at the summit of Serie A.
Mourinho unconvincingly said he would "likely" complete his contract with Inter, which runs until 2012. Knowing he relishes a return to the English Premier League, these statements, one would think, would alert the Liverpool owners and executive to act sooner rather than later in acquiring his talents.
The earliest possible scenario would now be this summer after Liverpool's Rafael Benitez has likely failed to make the European Champions League competition for next season, while Mourinho's Inter would almost certainly have won another Serie A title and potentially a Champions League crown.
Failure to act in 2010 will leave Liverpool vulnerable to missing out on arguably Europe's top club manager.
Dubbed the special one by the special one himself, Liverpool is surely in need of something special itself after 20 years of abject failure when it comes to lifting the domestic league title. Both Gerard Houllier and now Benitez have been given ample time and support to achieve this elusive goal, but neither, in reality, has shown the wherewithal to get the job done.
Some will contest that Europe's top club manager is the domain of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Hard to argue with that, but with his own confession some time ago that he will not coach beyond 70 - he will be 70 at the end of 2011 - if Liverpool waits until then, the reality suggests it could well lose out to arch-foe Manchester United, not just in the signature of Mourinho but the inevitable future titles that would follow.
Who succeeds Ferguson has been the topic of discussion for many years and it is not an easy argument to solve considering the extraordinarily difficult task that would lay ahead for the new coach in trying to emulate the irreplaceable Ferguson era.
Mourinho would be the most popular and realistic option, and if anyone could emulate the magnificent era, it would be him. Mourinho and United, with grandfather Ferguson in an advisory capacity, should be a frightening thought for any club, but especially Liverpool, knowing its insatiable need to succeed on the domestic title front.
In Liverpool's favour, if a deal was to be completed prior to 2012, would be the mouth-watering challenge that managing Liverpool would present to Mourinho. Knowing his own ability to achieve, the thought of bringing the title to the club yearning for it most would surely be too hard to resist.
Interesting Year ahead
Canadian World Cup coach Stephen Hart faces an interesting first year on the job. While there has been some debate on whether he was the right choice for the job, now that it has been made earlier rather than later - kudos to the Canadian Soccer Association here - it should give Hart some breathing room for solid preparation.
His recent comments to Gerry Dobson on Sportsnet's Soccer Central - that qualifying for the World Cup is his prime goal even if it means sacrificing other results along the way, presumably to blood some of the young, inexperienced players - are in touch with reality. Just as important for Hart, however, will be to make sure no other talented Canadian slips the net when it comes to playing for Canada. We have a few who are vulnerable, including Teal Bunbury, who could also play for the United States, and David Hoilett, with the Premier League's Blackburn Rovers.
With Bunbury, we have the good fortune of knowing his father, Alex, is a distinguished alumnus of our national team's program and therefore he gives his total parental support to Canada. Teal has already competed for Canada at the under-17 level. Ready or not for the World Cup senior team, it would make sense to include him in the Jamaica game Jan. 31, a no-lose situation for Hart.
With Hoilett, who ironically could also play for Jamaica and maybe an outside possibility for England knowing he has lived there for six years, it appears more complicated, although it should not be.
If the player is non-committal at this stage, it should not prevent the CSA or Hart from exercising a strategy to acquire such a talent. One-on-one visits with the backing of sponsorship, Canadian alumni players or even star celebrities such as Steve Nash should be the innovative steps taken.
Clearly, we need to do something different.