Can Fire's de los Cobos succeed where so many have failed?

Bob Bradley was not available. Bruce Arena is spoken for. Same with Sigi Schmid, Dominic Kinnear and Peter Nowak.

All of those coaches are proven winners in MLS, but since they already have jobs, the candidates Chicago Fire technical director Frank Klopas and owner Andrew Hauptman could pick from to replace Denis Hamlett fell into three categories:

• Retreads: Men who have coached in MLS without winning a MLS Cup, like apparent runner-up Tom Soehn (who did win a Supporters' Shield and a U.S. Open Cup) and Curt Onalfo, just hired by D.C. United to replace Soehn. This is the safe but uninspiring group. If they didn't win elsewhere, who says they can win here?

• Rookies: This group includes apparent finalist Jesse Marsch, who officially is still a player for Chivas USA, and Real Salt Lake assistant Robin Fraser. Real Salt Lake found Jason Kreis out of this group and won a nice trophy last November with him, but it still means taking a chance. Hamlett came from this group and got the team to two conference championship games but no further and was let go.

• International coaches: Carlos de los Cobos, the man Klopas and Hauptman did choose, falls into this group. They come with good reputations and no clue about the mysteries that envelope MLS like no other league in the world. Not one has won in MLS yet. The Fire hopes it has found the first.

By all accounts de los Cobos is a smart guy and skilled manager, and he made a good impression in a brief meeting Monday. He knows tactics, and he knows how to get a good effort out of his players.

Still, the Fire is taking a big chance. De los Cobos won't just compete against other MLS teams but also against MLS history.

If picking a rookie coach would have been a risk, picking an international coach seems like betting on the Cubs to win the World Series. Just because it hasn't happened in more than 100 years doesn't mean this won't be the year.

"You look at Salt Lake, with Jason Kreis," Klopas said. "I'm not taking anything away because they won a championship, but if I take Jason Kreis and compare him to Carlos de los Cobos and who they are - that's not taking anything away from Jason - I'm just saying you have a guy with tremendous experience, tremendous knowledge of the game."

"It's exciting," Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch said, noting the team will again play in international tournaments in addition to its MLS schedule. "He brings a wealth of experience both as a player and a coach. The international experience he has is going to be valuable for us."

The Fire insists it didn't hire de los Cobos just because it wanted a Mexican coach to attract fans from the Mexican community in the city and suburbs, though it sure helps in this World Cup and Census year.

"At the end of the day, we got him because he's a world-class coach," said team president Dave Greeley, adding that season-ticket renewals are at a record pace. "He's a rock-solid guy. So that's probably the cherry on top of the sundae, but he's a good guy."

Maybe de los Cobos will succeed where Juan Carlos Osorio, Ruud Gullit, Walter Zenga, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Carlos Queiroz, Bobby Houghton, Bora Milutinovic and a litany of other international coaches did not.

The key, Klopas said, is that de los Cobos won't rest on his reputation. The man is ready to work, is "humble" enough to know he must learn the league and its players, according to Javier Leon, managing director of Andell Sports Group, which manages the team for Hauptman's ownership group. And in Klopas and others in the Fire organization, de los Cobos has a strong support group in place to help find players and learn the league.

De los Cobos has a two-year contract with a team option for a third season. Hopefully, sometime in that time frame Klopas and Hauptman can wink at me and say, "We told you so" as de los Cobos hands them a nice, big trophy.

"The commitment to Carlos is long term," Leon said.

Then he mentioned the most successful coach in team history.

"For those people who know about the Fire, they remember a guy like Bob Bradley. Based on his integrity, the type of ethical guy he is. When I sat down with Carlos the first thing I thought was Bob Bradley came into my mind. Someone who is very honorable."

Added Klopas: "He really wanted this challenge, to be in the U.S., because he sees how the league has developed in a short time, how much better the players are, how the national team is doing so well at a high level. Maybe he wanted to be the first guy to come over and do well."

If not, maybe Bradley will be available again.