Since Stephen Hart stepped down as coach of the Canadian men’s team last October, the Canadian Soccer Association maintained it was in no hurry to hire his replacement.

According to CSA president Victor Montagliani, they were prepared to wait until this fall when a collection of coaches would become available after failing to qualify their team for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. On the other hand, he also said that if the right guy fell out of the sky, the CSA would hire him immediately. Apparently Benito Floro was the right guy who fell out of the sky.

So how exactly did the Spaniard’s hiring come to pass?

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Well, in fact, the CSA’s aggressive/passive approach did not result in Floro’s name surfacing until recently. It was the end of May when Montagliani was preparing to travel to Mauritius for the annual FIFA congress when the first contact was made.

The Indian Ocean island nation, by the way, was historically the one and only home of the long extinct Dodo bird. How fitting that the geriatric set of FiFA dinosaurs chose this tropical paradise in which to hold their meetings. Montagliani is a baby compared to most of them.

At any rate, just before his departure he received a note from Floro’s agent declaring his interest in the job. Montagliani said he would get back to him upon his return to Canada.

Then while on a layover in London on his way to Mauritius, Montagliani was enjoying a drink with Ángel María Villar, the Spanish football federation president. They sit on the same FIFA legal committee. Conversing lightheartedly in Spanish, Montagliani told Villar he was looking for a coach, and surely Spain had plenty. The response was positive and it went from there.

This is the short version, of course. There was much more to it than that, including an exhaustive interview process that included at least 15 solid candidates from all of the FIFA confederations. As CSA president, Montagliani was involved in every step of the way, as he should be.

But understand this — Montagliani is not one to brag. In fact, the closest he’ll come to that is to say, “I get things done.” But the truth is he is fluent in several languages and as a result, he moves effortlessly in FIFA circles. I’ve seen it myself many times.

And we all know what that old boy’s club is all about. It would be easy to argue that without Montagliani’s ability to speak Spanish, this hiring would not have happened. Of course, all of this matters only if you believe Floro is the right man at the right time for Canada.

For now, the president and the coach converse in Spanish, although Floro has indicated he wants to practise English as much as he can and will take some tutoring. He will be at the Gold Cup strictly as an observer and will have no contact with the team until he officially takes over on Aug. 1.

At that point, there will be many questions to be answered. Which players will he jettison? Will he play on every FIFA date as previously mandated by the CSA? Does he have the influence to negotiate matches with highly ranked European teams? Does he even want to?

One of the themes from Friday’s news conference was Floro’s history of not staying in any one place too long. Seems to me that’s par for the course.

If he fails to qualify Canada to the 2018 World Cup, he’s gone. If he somehow gets Canada there, he’ll be off to greener pastures anyway.