For most fans of an MLS team, the idea of a foreign coach jetting in to takeover their team may fill them with dread. The league’s history is not littered with success stories, as many struggle to grasp the complicated and nuanced set of rules the league is run by.



Veljko Paunović is somewhat different though. The former Atletico Madrid forward’s association with the United States dates back to his father, Blagoje Paunović. A legend of Partizan Belgrade, (where Veljko started his career) he spent time in the North American Soccer League with the Oakland Stompers. “He talked to me a lot about that experience – he was very satisfied and happy in the States,” Paunović said in an interview. “He made an impact on my decision to try a similar experience in the MLS.”

Paunović will most certainly get an ‘experience’ in MLS. A player with the Philadelphia Union, he arrives in Chicago knowing his new employers are at a low ebb. Finishing bottom of the standings last season, the Chicago Tribune claimed fans were ‘in the mud pit of hell’ . Tasked with changing that, Paunović is not wandering into Illinois blind. “For me it’s always very important to know the people who I am going to work with,” he told American Soccer Now. “I met with Nelson [Rodriguez, the Fire’s General Manager] a long time ago, so we created a very good relationship in terms of having the same passion for soccer and sharing the same vision about players and style.”

In need of inspiration and someone to restore the glory that once draped itself over the club, there is a strong chance Paunović can be that man. Retiring from professional soccer in 2011 after a spell with in MLS, he began work with Serbia’s youth team a year later. Initially working with the U18s, he began slowly progressing through the age groups until he was promoted to work with the U20 team in 2014. Himself a relatively young coach at just 38-years-old, he has adopted modern methods when dealing with his players.

Described as a ‘father figure’ to his U20 squad by Serbian journalist Nebojša Marković, he often engaged with his players online via social media to talk tactics and ideas. “What I try to do with the boys is give them moral values and the tools they need to play good football,” he told FIFA.com in an interview last year. “I want them to make their own decisions on the pitch and to put everything they learn in training into practice.”

Certainly his reach does not stop at development on the field. His experience in Europe’s top leagues was supplemented by advice on how to succeed off the field too. “My generation lacked a good guide and a solid project,” explained the 38-year-old. “The situation was difficult in my country at the time. There was a war going on and a lot of political and social problems.”

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Talk of a more holistic approach from the coaching staff will no doubt please fans of the Fire, as they seek an on-field identity for their team. Some 18 years since the club collected it’s only MLS Cup, under the guidance of Bob Bradley, the current Le Havre head coach also spent time working with youth teams prior to taking a job in MLS, (as well as time in the college game).

Currently working with a streamlined squad, it affords Paunović the opportunity to build something significant. Taking promising full-back Brandon Vincent from January’s SuperDraft, the acquisition points towards his tactical ethos. “That style of play will be where we will be building out of the back, trying to always play in the opponent’s half of the field,” he told ASN. “That’s the basic idea, but we have to be able to adapt to all the circumstances of the game and all the changes that happen. This is what we’re looking for—the right players to build the style of play where we can be dominant. We never want to be inferior to anything.”

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