Biello must be bold to impress bosses

ASSUMING Mauro Biello believes he’s auditioning for the Canadian men’s soccer team’s head coaching position, now might be a good time for the interim boss to impress his prospective full-time employer with some big, bold decisions.

That said, the ex-Montreal Impact boss still doesn’t know exactly who will be tasked with replacing John Herdman, who resigned in August to take the helm at Toronto FC. Nobody knows — not even the person who will eventually be the person who eventually names a search committee to find that person, eventually.

The permanent coach won’t be appointed until a new general secretary is found to lead Canada Soccer, which at least had the self-awareness to recognize its own incompetence and retain the American consulting firm Korn Ferry to identify that person for them. Korn Ferry, incidentally, is making a lot of money off the boardroom negligence at the highest levels of Canadian sports, having already helped nominate the new board of Hockey Canada.

Now might be a good time for the Canadian men’s soccer team interim boss Mauro Biello to impress his prospective full-time employer with some big, bold decisions, says writer Jerrad Peters. (Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press files)

In other words, Biello likely has the job until at least the spring, though it doesn’t mean a whole lot as his team aren’t scheduled to play a single match beyond next week’s CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final second leg against Jamaica in Toronto.

Of course, should his side be eliminated at BMO Field (Nov. 21, 6:30 p.m., OneSoccer), he’ll effectively have vacated his temporary post, anyway. So, in an effort to prevent that from happening, he could at least aid his cause by making some obvious yet difficult choices for Friday’s first leg in Kingston (6 p.m., OneSoccer).

If he’s willing, and brave enough, a number of them can almost be made for him.

Despite rarely playing and yet to score this season for Mallorca, Cyle Larin is in the squad to face the Reggae Boyz, which is understandable given his status as this country’s all-time leading goalscorer. But under no circumstances should he be playing from the start at Independence Park. In fact, his position on the team-sheet — whether in the XI or on the bench — will be an indicator of Biello’s willingness to do right by his squad by breaking with loyalty.

Herdman, for all his man-management successes, didn’t have the stomach to bench Atiba Hutchinson at the World Cup, for example, even though his then-captain was nowhere near match-fit. It was a selection based on loyalty and emotion, and one that proved costly. Biello can try a different tack.

Tajon Buchanan’s availability could help with that. The 24-year-old missed last month’s 4-1 drubbing in Japan and, if restored to the right-hand side with Alphonso Davies on the opposite flank, sending Jonathan David through the middle should sort out the attack and leave Larin amongst the subs.

Another absentee in Japan was Stephen Eustaquio, and having him back in the fold will make the entire set-up, Biello included, look a whole lot better. The Porto midfielder is his club’s top tackler among non-defenders, has contributed three goals and consistently demonstrates a sense of space that makes him the best player at his position in the whole of CONCACAF. His deployment against Jamaica is a no-brainer, and at least one of his partners in the centre of the park should be Ismael Kone.

Not exactly impressive against Japan, the Watford man has been recently playing his best football since joining the Hornets in January. The Championship outfit are presently on a six-match unbeaten streak, and Kone has played in five of those games, even assisting the winner against Sheffield Wednesday.

Crucially, he’s also the only non-Major League Soccer midfielder other than Eustaquio in the squad. Oftentimes that wouldn’t be much of an issue, but the MLS season will have been over almost a month when the first Jamaica match kicks off, and freshness will absolutely come into play — especially considering that Jamaica’s North America-based internationals were given a run-out against Guatemala on Saturday.

It’s the sort of recency bias Biello would be wise to entertain, and nowhere should it affect his thinking more than in defense.

Derek Cornelius was singled out for his particularly poor display against Japan — he looked rattled, in fact — but the 25-year-old should start on Friday nonetheless. The reality is that he’s Canada’s form centre-back, having helped regain the Swedish Allsvenskan for Malmo on Sunday. He’s also the national team’s tallest defender apart from veteran Steven Vitoria, who should be playing alongside him in Jamaica. The partnership would make Kamal Miller the odd man out, but he hasn’t played since Oct. 22 and his recent performances for Canada haven’t been all that impressive.

Finally, Biello is saved a major judgment call between the sticks, where goalkeeper Milan Borjan is Hutchinson’s successor as captain and has been doing quite well at new club Slovan Bratislava. The time will come to swap in one of Maxime Crepeau and Dayne St. Clair, but it isn’t this week or next.

Given Jamaica’s record in Kingston, where Canada haven’t prevailed since 1988, a road win would look extremely impressive on Biello’s head coaching application form. Should he make the decisions and get the result to hold up his end of the bargain, he’ll just have to figure out where to send it.

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