Alfonso Mondelo

Two people with MetroStars connections are being considered for the assistant coach job vacated by John Harkes, reports Steven Goff. The two are Alfonso Mondelo, the MLS Director of Player Programs, who coached the MetroStars in 1998, and Omid Namazi, currently in charge of the New Jersey Ironmen of the indoor MISL, who played a grand total of 12 minutes for Metro in 1996.

Mondelo was initially hired by the Metros in late 1997 to assist Carlos Alberto Parreira, and was promoted to the head coaching job when CAP ditched for the green of Saudi Arabia. He proceeded to coach Metro to a 14-17 record in league play, and was fired with one game left in the regular season after the team suffered six straight losses. The former Long Island Rough Riders coach also managed the Tampa Bay Mutiny, being hired in 2001 and fired in the middle of the club's last campaign in 2002.

Namazi, a veteran of the indoor game, played his 12 Metro minutes on loan from Baltimore of the now-defunct NPSL, in a 2:1 loss to Colorado on July 4th. Since then, he's coached indoor with multiple teams, leading the Philadelphia KiXX to the MISL championship in 2002. Namazi also coached in the WUSA with the San Diego Spirit.

Former Chicago Fire and USA midfielder Chris Armas, who interviewed for the job, took himself out of the running, according to BigAppleSoccer.

Update: Namazi told BigAppleSoccer that he had the discussion with Juan Pablo Osorio "a couple of weeks ago", that the talks were "speculative" and that there was no "concrete offer".