Last Saturday’s episode of Timbers 360 appears to have accidentally leaked the hire of Marti Cifuentes, who most recently was the gaffer for Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers while in the EFL Championship. He’s only briefly mentioned at the beginning of the show, almost as if they had a longer segment planned. Three days later there has still been no official announcement from the Timbers, although news outlets and reliable sources are reporting it. His stints with QPR and Leicester City were not the greatest, but he did well in other European leagues. He’s supposed to be an attack minded player whose teams play with a clear identity.
From the Athletic (paywall):
Cifuentes was most recently with Leicester City. The club surprisingly fired him in January when the team was in 14th, but six points off the playoff places. Leicester would go on to win just one of its next 15 matches and were relegated.
Before Leicester, Cifuentes spent a season and a half with QPR. He took over a team that was second-to-last in the 2023-24 campaign and guided them to safety. QPR finished 15th in his lone full season in charge.
Video from the knowledgeable folks at Timber Review:
Our Instant Reactions to the Cifuentes Hire
by u/Adam_Susman in timbers
Interesting background from MLS Soccerwise
