Who’s next to take the reins at Orlando City SC?
After firing Jason Kreis on Friday, the Lions are currently led, for now, by interim coach Bobby Murphy. But it appears to be only a matter of time before the club identifies new leadership that can take Orlando into the MLS elite where their fans and ownership clearly believe they belong.
MLSsoccer.com’s own Greg Seltzer has already laid out a mostly domestic-based quintet of potential successors to Kreis, and on Saturday ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman took to Twitter to drop another name – quite a big name indeed – who he’s hearing connected to OCSC.
How big? We’re talking “Big Phil” big.
One of the most famous Brazilian managers ever, Scolari, who turns 70 later this year, has led clubs and national teams around the world over a managerial career that spans the better part of four decades.
He coached Brazil to the 2002 World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup titles, helped Portugal finish as runners-up at Euro 2004 and has won myriad other honors in his homeland and across Asia, having most recently worked with Chinese powers Guangzhou Evergrande until the end of last year.
Another bit of chatter around Orlando’s coaching vacancy concerns Kaká, the legendary Brazilian playmaker who starred for the Lions from 2015-17 in the final stop of his world-class career.
Kaká featured on the Scolari side that won the World Cup in 2002 and rumors now suggest that he could take up an understudy role at Big Phil’s side in Orlando, or alternately, rejoin the club in a GM/technical director-type post:
The Lions currently sit in sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings and visit D.C. United for a US Open Cup Round of 16 match on Wednesday (7 pm ET | Streamed on MLSsoccer.com).
