Rogers Out as Sol Coach, Team Being Sold

i-ec6c708b7de88a7fc2d60b7e2d548df3-AbnerRsol.jpgAbner Rogers won’t be coaching Sol star Marta, left, any longer.

Sol Coach Abner Rogers, a notable absentee at the L.A. Sol’s table at the Women’s Professional Soccer draft today in Philadelphia, left the team Dec. 23, 100 Percent Soccer has learned.

The move was part of an organizational shake-up related to its pending sale to a new ownership group.

“Right now the team is in transition over to a new ownership group and Abner is no longer with the organization,” confirmed Robert Penner, spokesman with Women’s Professional Soccer.

Penner said the sale of the team, which is currently operating under the custody of the league, will likely be finalized within the next week or two. He gave no further details.

Anschutz Entertainment group, which had a 50 percent share in the team that played at AEG-owned Home Depot Center, has been in discussions “for months” with an unidentified party to sell its stake, Penner confirmed. However, the team will play at the Carson stadium this season.

The news was not unexpected. One Hundred Percent Soccer broke the news in October that the Sol lost $2 million last year.

General Manager Charlie Naimo has taken over coaching duties from Rogers, who was named WPS Coach of the Year after leading the Sol to the inaugural regular season title with a dominating 12-3-5 record.

Rogers did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Naimo is himself an accomplished coach whose greatest success came with the W-League New Jersey Wildcats. He took over the struggling team in 2004 and in three years led it to two W-League regular season titles and the W-League championship in 2005.

He was named W-League Coach of the Year in 2006, after first winning the honor with the Central Jersey Splash in 1999.

Naimo also led the W-League Pali Blues, based in Pacific Palisades, to consecutive league championships in 2008 and 2009.

Naimo did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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