Yanks Abroad and On the Bench

Often you read of Yanks Abroad, most irrelevant, who play anywhere from the Taiwan Serie B to Norway. But a new breed of “yank abroad” is starting to emerge. That is, ones that man the bench. Coaches.

Like for instance, I read the other day, that (woulda coulda shoulda) Jurgen Klinsmann will be having two American assistant coaches on his bench at Bayern Munich, Martin Vasquez and Nick Thesolf. Vasquez is a former player for the red white and blue, earning a quality 7 caps for the USA. Thesolf is a former player of the Columbus Crew.

Just thinking of Yanks Abroad on the Bench begs the question. Does coaching abroad work the same way as playing abroad? Will coaches really, truly, honestly get better from being over seas?

I personally think so. The structure over there is just flat out different from what you hear about in the good ole’ MLS. Every player that goes over speaks about the differences between training here and training there. Smart logic says, if we learn to train ‘em like they do over there, maybe they will start to play more like them.

Regardless, it’s just an interesting thing to keep an eye on, and I will report on any more Yanks Abroad on the bench that I manage to stumble upon in my internet journeys.