Former Champions League coach Raphael Wicky hired to lead U.S. under-17s
With World Cup qualifying looming in early May, the United States under-17 men’s national team finally has a head coach, and he’s more than qualified for the job. Former Champions League manager Raphael Wicky was named Friday by U.S. Soccer as the new U-17 boss, seven months after longtime coach John Hackworth left to take a job with Louisville City of the United Soccer League.
Wicky, 41, previously led Basel in his native Switzerland. He took the club to the knockout stage of the Champions League last season, successfully navigating a group that included Manchester United, Benfica and CSKA Moscow. Basel even beat Manchester City in the round of 16 but lost the two-leg, total goals series on aggregate. He was fired last May after Basel failed to win an eighth consecutive domestic title. Wicky coached the club’s U-18 and U-21 squads before taking over Basel’s first team.
As a player, Wicky won 75 caps for the Swiss and represented the country in the 2006 World Cup. A defensive midfielder, he played for German Bundesliga sides Hamburg and Werder Bremen and also with Atletico Madrid in Spain’s La Liga. Wicky finished his career in MLS, with now-defunct Chivas USA, in 2008.
“I’ve been following U.S. soccer for more than 10 years now, very closely since I played at Chivas,” Wicky, who is married to an American and holds a UEFA pro license, the top certification for coaches in Europe, told the federation’s official website. “I have coached this age group. I know what these players go through at this age. There are still things which I will learn, but it obviously helps to have coached at that highest level.”
The U.S. will attempt to qualify for this fall’s FIFA U-17 World Cup at the CONCACAF under-17 championship, which begins May 2 in Bradenton, Florida. The Americans will play Canada, Barbados and Guatemala in the group stage. The region’s top four teams will advance to the World Cup, which is expected to be played in Brazil in September and October. Original host nation Peru was stripped of the tournament because of “organizational and infrastructure challenges” the sport’s governing body announced last month.
“The first step is to get to know the players better,” said Wicky, who also worked with Servette FC’s U-14, U-15 and U-16 teams and was an assistant with the Swiss Under-20s.“I’ve been watching a lot of video, a lot of different games, then I’ll be able to meet them at the beginning of April at our first training camp … there’s not a lot of days to prepare.”
Former U.S. national team and current RB Leipzig assistant coach Jesse Marsch was teammates with Wicky at Chivas. The two have stayed in touch over the years.
“I knew he was going to be a coach at Chivas,” Marsch told Yahoo Sports via text. “We would talk a lot about tactics and leadership in teams. He would share a lot of his experiences in Hamburg and Sion, his hometown club. He’s really humble and interested in learning and he’s big on life experiences, not just football motivations.
“He has a lot of experience with young players,” Marsch continued. “I had always heard that he was making a big impact with the young players that he works with, which ultimately led to his role with the first team at Basel. Really a good, good guy.”
Doug McIntyre covers soccer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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