UPDATE (3/22/22): Eric Wynalda has clarified that he is not the head coach of the Las Vegas Legends, but is working more behind the scenes with the club, assisting head coach Jose Rivera
National Soccer Hall of Famer Eric Wynalda announced on his podcast Wynalda for the Win on Friday that he will be making a return to coaching this season to lead the Las Vegas Legends. The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) side is making it’s tournament debut in the 2022 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
The former US men’s national team star’s announcement marks his first foray into coaching since being appointed to lead Las Vegas’s USL Championship team, the Las Vegas Lights, during their 2019 season. In 36 games as head of the Lights, Wynalda posted a 12-16-8 record before being replaced by Frank Yallop midway through the 2020 season.
After the Lights, Wynalda was hired to coach New Amsterdam FC (NISA) in July of 2020, but stepped down due to personal reasons shortly before the beginning of the season.
The father of six will make his return to Las Vegas soccer this time at the amateur level with the Legends, where he will hope to duplicate the US Open Cup success he had as manager of Cal FC. In 2012, with Wynalda in charge, Cal FC reached the Fourth Round of the US Open Cup in a Cinderella run that saw them defeat both USL Pro side Wilmington Hammerheads 4-0, followed by a stunning road upset of MLS’ Portland Timbers, 1-0 in extra time.
US Open Cup Coaching Win % (Modern Era) (min. 8 games) |
1. Dave Sarachan – 0.789 2. Scott Schweitzer – 0.750 3. Tom Soehn – 0.727 4. Tom Fitzgerald – 0.700 5. ERIC WYNALDA – 0.692 |
“I like to discover these players who haven’t really had the opportunity to play at the club level … and now through a platform like this, like the Lamar Hunt Open Cup, we can assemble a team that in my opinion, can go toe to toe with any MLS side,” Wynalda said during his podcast.
The victory over the Timbers, who played their regular starting lineup in the match, marked just the sixth time that an amateur team eliminated an MLS team. However, it was the first time an Open Division Local amateur side defeated an MLS team in a non-shootout. It remains not only one of the biggest upsets of the US Open Cup’s Modern Era (1995-present), but one of the biggest in the history of the tournament.
As a player, Wynalda played in just five US Open Cup games, two of them in 1998 with the San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes), and three of them in 2001 when he helped the Chicago Fire reach the Semifinals. He has had much more Open Cup success as a head coach for four different clubs (Cal FC, Atlanta Silverbacks, Los Angeles Wolves FC, Las Vegas Lights). Out of all the Modern Era coaches since 1995, Wynalda has the fifth best win percentage (0.692) with a 9-4-0 record. In his four Open Cup runs, he has reached the Third Round every time and his deepest run in the competition came in 2014 when he led the NASL’s Atlanta Silverbacks to the Quarterfinals. Atlanta was one of five North American Soccer League clubs to ever reach the Quarterfinals.
Wynalda will be looking to help the Legends recapture that magic.
“The reason I came to Las Vegas was to see this city grow, and to capitalize on the talent pool that exists here in Las Vegas,” Wynalda added. “Because at times, in my experience, I would say it is just as good if not better than what I have seen in Los Angeles.”
One advantage that the Legends have going for them is the minimal roster restrictions for Open Division National teams (NPSL, USL League Two). As long as the players that are recruited aren’t cup tied (i.e. played for another team in last fall’s US Open Cup qualifying tournament), and are willing and able to sign an amateur reinstatement form, they can recruit whoever they want.
The Legends were founded in 2012 as an indoor soccer team, splitting home games between the Orleans Arena and the Las Vegas Sports Park until the team’s dissolution in 2016. In 2019, team owner and general manager Meir Cohen announced the team’s return, this time as an outdoor member of the NPSL. After its debut season was cut short due to the pandemic in 2020, the team finished first in the league’s Southwest Division last year. Thanks to the league’s playoff format and a number of other western teams taking 2021 off due to COVID, the Legends high place finish allotted them one of the NPSL’s automatic tournament berths.
This will be the team’s first season competing in the US Open Cup, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years, ending the tournament’s run of 106 consecutive years of play.