When Veljko Paunovic was hired as head coach of the Fire in Nov. 2015, he was hailed as a key piece in the club’s rebuilding process.
After enduring another losing season in 2016, that rebuild became a realization with a strong regular season in 2017 that resulted in a home playoff game. Now a potential dream type job for Paunovic, manager of the Serbian national team, has opened up. For now, he’s saying nothing will come of it.
“I haven’t met with anyone,” Paunovic said at a press conference on Wednesday. “I haven’t talked to anyone from the Serbian federation. I did go to Serbia for a different purpose, a professional scouting trip and to see my family, but I also went to Europe, other countries, to do more scouting and that’s all I can say. What I can also say is that I’m very happy and when we came here we said that we are in the process, we are going to do, we are going to build a championship program. I’m very happy with the progress we had.”
Paunovic was joined by general manager Nelson Rodriguez in what was scheduled as a year-end wrap up press conference. Once the Serbia job opened up, Paunovic’s name popped up as a natural candidate. Rodriguez also said he hasn’t had any contact with anyone from Serbia about Paunovic, who is under contract with the Fire for one more year.
Slavoljub Muslin led Serbia through qualifying to earn a spot in the 2018 Russia World Cup, but he and the federation separated after qualifying concluded.
''We parted ways because we don't think alike on how the team should look for the World Cup in Russia,'' Muslin was quoted by Serbian media, according to an AP report.
Speculation around Paunovic came from the fact that he won the 2015 Under-20 World Cup with Serbia. That run included a win against the U.S. in the quarterfinals and assistant coaches Marko Mitrovic and Aleksandar Saric followed Paunovic to the Fire’s staff.
Chicago Fire
Paunovic was asked if the Serbia job is something he has as an ambition at some point in his career.
“I’m always focused on what I’m doing now,” Paunovic said. “My purpose when we came here was to build a team that will be a championship team, that will win championships and that will resonate in soccer in the United States, with the style, the mentality, everything. I focus all my energy and my mind, only on that. I think I still have a lot of things to do here and I’m looking ahead to next season as a great opportunity for all of us to improve, for me too as a coach, and to fulfill my personal goal, but the same goal that we all together share which is to have Chicago Fire being one of the best teams, or the best team in the United States.”