The Galaxy promoted former player and assistant coach Jovan Kirovski to the position of Technical Director and replaced him with Pat Noonan who was a forward with the Galaxy last season.
Kirovski is the first technical director in the club’s history and will work on scouting players domestically and abroad, while forming relationships with clubs. He has experience playing in Europe and joined the coaching staff last season after retiring as a player.
Noonan was acquired last season in Stage 2 of the MLS Re-entry draft. Noonan announced his retirement as a player and joined the Galaxy coaching staff, something that Cobi Jones, Gregg Berhalter, and Jovan Kirovski have also done in recent years. Berhalter became a head coach for Hammarby in Sweden after one year of serving on Bruce Arena’s staff.
Noonan has suffered through injuries the last couple of years, but served as a great mentor to a young Galaxy side last season. He was one of the leaders for the Galaxy’s reserve league squad which claimed the Western Division title.
“We’re delighted to bring Pat onto our coaching staff,” Arena said. “In his short tenure with the Galaxy, he earned the respect of our coaches and our players and I believe that he will develop into an outstanding coach.”
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In other Galaxy news, Oscar Sorto and Jose Villarreal were called up to the US U-20 National Team for a training camp in Mexico. The team will play two games against Panama’s U-20 team in preparation for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship which will determine who qualifies for the U-20 World Cup.
Villarreal and Sorto are both Homegrown players that have signed with the Galaxy. Villarreal signed last offseason and made quite the impact in his short time with the team. Sorto played on the Galaxy’s reserve league squad last year and was signed to a Homegrown player deal this offseason. He will serve as the reserve right back for the Galaxy, behind Sean Franklin.
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Sorto and Villarreal were not the only players to be called to international duty as Omar Gonzalez and A.J. De La Garza were named to the US National team’s January camp. The two Galaxy defenders will be hoping to impress head coach Jurgen Klinsmman. The camp is preparation for numerous MLS and Scandanavian players who are out of season.
Klinsmann has said that he expects seven or eight players from the camp to be named to the team that goes to Honduras for the opening of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Gonzalez is expected to be one of those players after a resilient season that saw him return quickly from an ACL injury to win MVP of MLS Cup. De La Garza didn’t play in the Cup final as he was working back from his own leg injury, but he is fully healthy now and hoping to impress the US National team coach who is looking for defenders.
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