Cabrera’s style a mix of technique and attacking flair
Wilmer Cabrera has called North America home for quite a while now. But the large bulk of his playing career was spent in the Columbian league, with stints in Argentina and Costa Rica as well. Following the end of his career, Cabrera looked for a change, and the United States seemed like the most viable option.
Finally, Cabrera chose New York, hoping to begin a career as a helicopter pilot in the area. Instead, the former Colombian international would get sucked back into the beautiful game, joining the Long Island Roughriders for a season in the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid.
That’s where Cabrera’s North American journey began. After a season with the Roughriders, Cabrera would find a job with MLS as a community development manager, all the while earning his USSF A coaching license in 2005. That would earn him a job, two years later, with the United States Soccer Federation as a head coach of the U17 side.
For Cabrera, that was always the plan. Since then, he’s worked at almost every level of the beautiful game in the United States, eventually getting his first gig in MLS, as an assistant coach with the Colorado Rapids.
Mix of styles
Cabrera’s coaching style is a mixture of all these life experiences. Having learned and experienced the characteristics of coaching in North America, much of that is evident in the way he approaches coaching, often calling himself an “American coach” despite his Colombian roots. But Cabrera hasn’t forgotten the attacking and creative flair on which he was raised, the same one that he employed with the Colombian national team through two World Cups in the 1990s.
His football roots are what had prompted US Soccer to hire him in the first place; Cabrera encompasses the technique, creativity and grit found in South American soccer – attributes that have made players from the mostly Spanish-speaking continent successful in MLS – and has combined it to the speed and physicality of the game in North America.
If one thing is certain, Cabrera believes in risk. “If you don’t take risks, you’re always going to be safe, but never successful. Be your creative best. This game isn’t a coach’s game, it’s a player’s game. You can do a lot of things, but in the end, the players make things happen,” once said the Impact’s new head coach.
Cabrera’s first game will be a big one as well, as the Impact travels to the Queen City to take on Toronto FC, at BMO Field, this Saturday at 7:30pm (TVA Sports, TSN, 98.5, TSN 690). To make matters more interesting, both teams are level on points, the Impact currently occupying the seventh and last playoff spot, with Toronto on the outside looking in, currently ranked ninth.
