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Savarese, Dos Santos In A Class Of Their Own Among North America's Coaches

NASL coaching veterans are only two coaches in North America who have reached more than one League Final since 2013
Neal Malone | Nov 9, 2017

Quite simply, Giovanni Savarese and Marc Dos Santos are in a class of their own.

Look across the men’s professional game in North America over the last five years and you will find only two coaches who have taken a club to more than one League Final in that span.

Those coaches are Savarese, who has been in charge of the New York Cosmos for the last five seasons, and Dos Santos, who is in his first year with the San Francisco Deltas.   

The statement above, while profound, doesn’t nearly do justice to the accomplishments of this NASL coaching duo. Savarese has brought the Cosmos to four NASL Finals in the last five years, and will be looking for his fourth Soccer Bowl trophy on Sunday. Dos Santos has led his respective clubs to Finals three years in a row: Ottawa Fury FC (2015, NASL), Swope Park Rangers (2016, USL), and San Francisco Deltas (2017, NASL).

It bears repeating – since 2013, no other coach in the NASL, MLS, or USL has appeared in more than one Final.  

Given the statistics illustrating just how evenly dispersed appearances in league Finals have been for coaches in North America, the respective résumés of Savarese and Dos Santos are remarkable, really.  

Perhaps it’s fitting then that these two coaching giants are facing off against each other on Sunday in what else – a Final. The success of Dos Santos’ Deltas this year was predicated on consistency and spot-on tactics, while Savarese’s Cosmos tapped into their vast experience and winning mentality to overcome early-season struggles.

The Championship Final, which will kick off at 5 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium on Sunday, is the second meeting between the two coaches in a title game. Under the guidance of Savarese, New York knocked off Dos Santos’ Ottawa, 3-2, at Shuart Stadium in 2015.

Regardless of the outcome on Sunday, the two coaches are sure to continue demonstrating to the entire country why they are so highly regarded. Enjoy the show.  

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