After completing two convincing road wins against Colorado and Seattle last week, the Los Angeles Galaxy have continued a simply jaw-dropping beginning of the 2010 season.  Although the Galaxy are on the brink of losing Landon Donovan and (probably) Edson Buddle to the World Cup after Saturday’s game at home against Toronto, they have built themselves a lead in the Western Conference that they are unlikely to relinquish during the South African festivities.

Statistically, the Galaxy are in another world from the rest the league.  After eight games, the Galaxy remain undefeated with 22 points out of a possible 24.  They have scored a league-high 15 goals and have given up a league-low of 2 (!!).  Edson Buddle has a league-leading 9 goals, none of which are from the spot.  Landon Donovan has a league-leading 9 assists.

While Buddle’s play has gotten the acclaim and has resulted in a call-up to the US National team, and Donovan remains the offensive weapon for which teams have no solution, the Galaxy success cannot be laid to just two players.  Several factors may not make the headlines, but have made a tremendous difference on the scoreboard.

 Omar Gonzalez – No sophomore jinx here.  Last year’s rookie of the year has barely put a foot wrong in 2010.  I doubt there is a better defender in the air in MLS right now.  Every ball that gets sent into the Galaxy box from distance goes right back out again.  Two years ago the Galaxy were a horror show defending set pieces.  With Gonzalez manning the box, there seems no way in now.  He is too young and inexperienced for our current World Cup squad, but he should be playing in Europe in two years and could be in the starting XI in Brazil four years from now.

Chris Birchall and Juninho – Birchall, who had been widely known as the white, English guy on the Trinidad and Tobago National team, and Juninho, who is on loan from Sao Paulo in Brazil, have been the Galaxy’s steel in the middle of the field.  Although Juninho speaks Portuguese and Birchall is fluent in Limey, their communication in the center of the pitch has been outstanding.  They have been tough tacklers and have distributed the ball terrifically well.  Their control of the middle has allowed Donovan to go wide and Buddle to go deep.  They are two great Bruce Arena finds, speaking of which….

Bruce Arena has turned a shallow, young team into a deep, experienced machine.  Two years ago, the Galaxy were the worst team in MLS.  They seemed to be composed of David Beckham, Landon Donovan and a bunch of kids who were trying to figure out which parent brought the post-game snacks.  Coach Ruud Gullit came to the US ignorant of the way MLS worked, and left only slight less so.  The transformation under Arena has been dramatic.  Operating under the same salary cap as everyone else and with no new DP slots to use, Arena has fashioned a team balanced with wily vets like Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant and Eddie Lewis, young rising stars like Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza and the increasingly impressive Michael Stephens, and good imports like Donovan Ricketts, Birchall, Juninho, and Leonardo.  The Galaxy have a rare MLS asset – a deep enough team that most players are fighting for position.

Is the Best Yet to Come?  The Galaxy are set to lose Donovan and Buddle until (fingers’ crossed) mid-July, and though the schedule is a bit lighter during the World Cup, they will almost certainly drop points.  However, presuming that Donovan does not fly from South Africa straight to Merseyside, the Galaxy should have a blazing fall, especially if they are allowed to vacate the Beckham DP slot pick up a superstar like Raul.  At that point, the Galaxy will really be something to see.

The way the Galaxy are playing, they can be something the league has not seen in some time, a dominant team.  For a league that has thrived on parity, that is something new.  However, with soccer-awareness likely to be at an all-time high this summer, having a little bit of dominance in the team with the nation’s best player is not a bad thing for the league.  If the Red Bulls can add firepower and continue their improved start, there is nothing MLS would like to see more than a good Los Angeles versus New York storyline.  The Galaxy fans and the MLS front office will be anxious for Bruce Arena and his team to keep this momentum going.

In the first part of our 2009 MLS Cup Final preview, the Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy players were assessed and compared, with a slight advantage being measured for the Galaxy. In this continuation of our analysis, attention is paid to the coaches and intangibles for both clubs.

The Coaching:

The Los Angeles Galaxy was a mess during the summer of 2008. They had just lost a 3-2 decision to the San Jose Earthquakes on a late goal by Ryan Cochrane, and a very disturbed David Beckham groused to the press after the game about the team’s lack of confidence. We would later learn in Grant Wahl’s The Beckham Experiment that this was the low point for the club. The players were not communicating, and head coach Ruud Gullit was already eyeing his exit from MLS. Just weeks later, after a sweep of the dysfunctional front office, Bruce Arena was handed the reigns to the Galaxy. Biding his time following an ignominious term as leader of Red Bull New York, Arena was prepared for the spotlight that came with coaching the world’s most famous player.

While the remainder of that year continued to be a circus at The Home Depot Center, the stage was being set for a return to prominence in 2009. Arena cleaned house of those he could or would not work with, and then brought in the mid-level veterans he knew could be successful in the MLS environment. Savvy draft picks in defenders and ex-Maryland teammates Omar Gonzales and A.J. DeLaGarza contributed immediately to a 10-game stretch to start the season that saw LA lose only once. The team began to gel around their coach, and the confidence to win grew each week. Even the summer return of Beckham couldn’t derail the Galaxy this season — Arena made sure he would integrate back into the squad seamlessly — and they went on to finish atop the Western Conference. Bruce Arena brought the Galaxy from worst to first in just one season. This Sunday marks his fourth trip to the MLS Cup Final — where he won twice at the helm of DC United — and the sixth trip for the Galaxy franchise.

Meanwhile, the scene is much different in the Beehive State, where MLS playing legend Jason Kreis is in his third year in charge of Real Salt Lake. Hired shortly after retiring as a player from the club, Kreis has quickly become a respected manager around the league. When he retired early in the 2007 season, Kreis had scored 108 career goals in MLS — good for best in league history at the time. That attack-minded attitude became his trademark when it came to tactical decisions at RSL. By employing constant pressure on their opponents, Salt Lake continues to create myriad scoring opportunities. His win/lose/tie record is nothing to be excited about, but his teams have done enough to get into the playoffs the past two seasons. A near miss in last years Western Conference Finals was redeemed with passage through the Eastern Conference Championship this post season. He preaches self-belief and hard work to his charges, most exemplified by midfielder Kyle Beckerman, and a never-give-up attitude. Always considered the underdog in these playoffs, especially when it comes to road games, Kreis has employed his attack-first mentality to perfection in toppling two very tough opponents in Columbus and Chicago.

Advantage: Los Angeles Galaxy — Arena has the trophies to prove it.

The Intangibles:

There are few certainties in sports — that’s why they play the games — save for the underdog crying out for respect against a seemingly undefeatable opponent. Since the 2009 playoffs began, Real Salt Lake has worn the underdog label with aplomb. Their surprising success in reaching the MLS Cup would not have been predicted entering their final game of the season against the Colorado Rapids. With just one win in their five prior matches, RSL required a win over their Rocky Mountain rivals just to sneak into the playoffs as the eighth seed (after winning tiebreakers against those same Rapids and DC United) with 40 points. Their season ending form was just average, but their playoff form has risen to another level. They have all the confidence in the world after two straight road victories, and look forward to their match in Seattle.

The field and weather conditions on Sunday should help Real Salt Lake as well as their attitude. Qwest Field offers up the much maligned artificial playing surface the club may remember from their days playing on a similar field at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Utah. Additionally, the weather will be very cool, with a good chance of rain — much closer to what you’d see in their home state and not sunny Southern California.

Lastly, the inspiring story of midfielder Andy Williams’ wife’s battle against cancer has helped the team rally around the cause. Williams has continued to impress even with the weight of those personal issues, and his teammates will be eager to reward his dedication.

Down in Los Angeles, the three year soap opera of Galaxy soccer that has followed David Beckham’s historic signing reaches a more stable stage with their MLS Cup Final appearance. As mentioned earlier, LA was last in the league at the end of 2008 and looking nothing like the Super-Club that former GM Alexi Lalas imagined them to be. What the guidance of Bruce Arena and the leadership of veteran signings like Gregg Berhalter and Tony Sanneh have been able to do for the club is impressive. Sanneh in particular has been a revelation for the club, without haven’t logged very many meaningful minutes during 2009. Virtually out of the game when Arena signed him earlier this year, the veteran has brought professionalism to the club that many felt was lacking. Add in other veterans like Chris Klein and Eddie Lewis, and there is a swagger to the Galaxy’s play that was missing during three prior years of missing the post season.

And, of course, there is David Beckham. The face of MLS is on the precipice of achieving a remarkable feat in professional soccer — league championships for three different clubs in as many countries. Beckham has been often criticized for his seemingly disinterested approach to playing in the U.S., but nobody watching this post season can fault him for his efforts. His intensity on the field, sometimes viewed as a form of petulance, can lift an entire team to success. Now on the biggest stage for soccer in America, David Beckham will want to add MLS Champion to his resume.

Advantage: Los Angeles Galaxy — The Beckham Experiment will be a success.

That completes the two final categories to consider for this MLS Cup Final preview. The indicators overwhelmingly point to the Los Angeles Galaxy as the team better prepared to beat Real Salt Lake. Thus, the stage is set for the Galaxy to hoist their third MLS Championship trophy this Sunday in Seattle.

The Western Conference Finals was a long, hard slog between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo.  With an 8:30 starting time to accommodate ESPN2’s college football schedule, two blackouts that interrupted play in each half, and a half hour of overtime, the Galaxy did not trudge off the pitch with their Western Conference trophy until almost midnight.  Some thoughts from the Home Depot Center:

Houston did everything they wanted to do, except score.  The Dynamo came in with a plan – don’t give David Beckham or Landon Donovan any room to maneuver, and use speed create opportunities to score.  They executed their plan well, especially in the defensive half.  Beckham struggled to find time on the ball all evening, and that cutting pass that has been so effective lately was just not there.  Donovan was invisible for large parts of the game, and when he had the ball at his feet, it was never near goal and all his passing lanes were cut off.  Ricardo Clarke was up for the game, and was full of hustle and challenge all night.  It all worked well.

But Berhalter, Gonzalez, and the crossbar kept Houston out.  Greg Berhalter and Omar Gonzalez were just terrific anchoring the Galaxy back line.  Between them, they rarely put a foot wrong, and Houston’s Brian Ching and Dominic Oduro were denied service for large stretches of the game.  Oduro, who has been NASA hot the past month, was a non-entity and subbed out in the 72nd minute.  Ching’s one decent chance came shortly after that when his header from a Brian Mullan cross was pawed by Donovan Ricketts onto the cross bar and out.  Gonzalez in particular was outstanding.  After recovering from his nightmare playoff debut against Chivas USA two weeks ago, he has come out focused and confident, and the Galaxy have now gone 250 playoff minutes without conceding a goal.  Other than the 20 minute flurry of possession that the Dynamo enjoyed in the second half, chances were at a premium for Houston.

Fleet of foot Alan Gordon created the Galaxy chances.  Most of the time, watching Alan Gordon dribble the ball is like watching Andre the Giant do the Charleston.  It ain’t pretty.  But when Alan Gordon came in six minutes into the first overtime, his fresh legs looked like Maradona’s compared to a clearly gassed Rico Clark.  A few minutes after coming on, Gordon received the ball 20 yards from the box and turned on Clark who could only grab Gordon and take him down.  The subsequent Beckham free kick was headed by Gonzalez into the mix and found its way to Berhalter who stabbed it into the net for the critical first goal.  Ten minutes later, Gordon took a breakaway ball into the box and again jigged past Clark who could only muster enough energy to stab out a hopeful leg that sent Gordon straight into the turf.  The stone-cold penalty was converted by Donovan, and that ended the match as a competitive encounter. 

Was that the real MLS Cup game?  Many observers would say that Houston and Los Angeles were the two best teams left in the playoffs.  Combined, they have four wins, three draws and a loss against Real Salt Lake and Chicago this season.  Both western teams have that critical combination of experienced veterans and rising stars, and the both build their attacks from the back with a solid defense distributing the ball forward.  Both teams have successful coaches who know how to prepare teams for big games.  With LA booking its flight to Seattle for the MLS Cup, they are going to give either Real Salt Lake or Chicago nothing but problems to plan around, and will feel that anything less than a victory will be a failure. 

Final open quiz question – If the Galaxy win the MLS Cup, will Beckham have become the most successful club player in history?  He will have won top honors in this third different league (EPL with Manchester United, La Liga with Real Madrid and MLS with the Galaxy)and will also have won the Champions league (with Manchester United).   Has any other player ever done that?  None springs to my mind.  Maradona won two leagues (with Boca Juniors and Napoli) and Zidane won two leagues and the Champions League (with Juve and Real Madrid).  I can think of a few other Zelig-like players like Geo Van Bronckhorst who won in three leagues (with Rangers, Arsenal and Barca) but I can’t think of anyone who has won in three leagues and the Champions league over their career.

The season is over and, after a wild weekend, we have our playoff teams.  The first round of playoffs looks like this:

West

LA Galaxy vs Chivas USA

Houston Dynamo vs Seattle Sounders

East

Columbus Crew vs Real Salt Lake

New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire

Before we start previewing this first round of the playoffs, let’s spend a moment looking back at how we got here:

For the last month, the MLS essentially had a single table, and it was great!  With six team finishing within three points of each other, all hovering around that playoff line, east and west had little meaning.  Everybody’s results affected everybody else, and the variety of scenarios defied calculation.  Considering the MLS is planning a balanced schedule next year, conferences will have no meaning at all.  The MLS should recognize this reality and just publish a single table.

It seems like nobody from the east wanted to go to the playoffs.  For New England to qualify, they needed a triple bank shot, and they got it.  Dallas lost to Seattle who had already qualified.  Toronto got blown out by the lowly Red Bulls.  DC drew Kansas City.  And finally New England beat the Crew.  As hard as New England seemingly tried to avoid the playoffs over the past two months (nine points out of a possible 27 since September 1), they did just enough to get into the post season.  The MLS came within a hair of having six teams from the west and two from the east in the playoffs.

Special kudos to the Galaxy.  Last year they shared the worst record in the west with San Jose.  They let in an atrocious 62 goals in 30 games.  From the second half of the season on, they had the stink of death about them.  Bruce Arena completely resurrected the team in 2009, played a brand new back five for most of the season, cut their GA number in half, got Beckham and Donovan to play well with each other, and led a team that was consistent from wire to wire.  The Galaxy lost only six games the entire season - a league low.  In the process, Arena proved to be as good a soccer coach and talent picker as exists in the American game.

More special kudos to the Seattle Sounders.  Before their first kick of the season, the Sounders were a resounding success.  From the moment they stepped on the field, they were embraced by their city as passionately as any team in the MLS.  But few expected them to be any good.  Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg were assumed to be on the “thanks for the memories” tour, and the rest of the team was not exactly going to fire anyone’s imagination.  However, Fredy Montero proved to be the find of the season for the MLS, and Coach Sigi Schmid fashioned a cohesive team that constantly did enough to get results.  To make the playoffs in their debut season is a terrific achievement, and Houston is probably looking forward to their visit to Qwest Field as much as they would a trip to tour Chernobyl.

Additional kudos for Jason Kreis.  The world is full of great players who made lousy managers.  Ted Williams, Magic Johnson and Tony Adams were all intense players who were constantly frustrated that they could not teach what came so naturally to them as players.  None of them had more than token careers managing a team.  Jason Kreis has his place booked in the MLS Hall of Fame.  His 91 goals and 65 assists make him a legend.  Yet, he has seamlessly taken off his uniform, put on a suit and tie, and has guided an underwhelming Real Salt Lake team to its second straight post season.

Playoff previews will come later this week.

One week to go, and this is where we stand:

As the table stands now, this would be the playoff matchup –

WEST 

Los Angeles vs Seattle

Houston vs Chivas

EAST

Columbus vs  Colorado

Chicago vs Toronto

Remember, the first tie-breaker is head to head competition, not goal difference.  The Galaxy have a superior record against both Chivas and Houston, so if they win their game Saturday against San Jose, and Chivas does not pick up four points from their remaining two games, the Galaxy will have won the west.  This will represent an amazing turn-around under Bruce Arena, who was able to completely reshape the roster and turn chicken droppings into chicken salad in one year.

Seattle is in, and could still theoretically win the west.  Even though they are fourth in the west, it is still possible for Seattle to win it, though it would take drawing an inside flush to accomplish it.  However, Sigi Schmidt has proved his class this year by taking a brand new team into the playoffs, and considering how much tougher the west is than the east, it is a fantastic accomplishment.

Does anyone from the east want to go to the playoffs?  As we head into the last game of the season, only Columbus has played themselves into the playoffs, and everyone else seems to be limping and staggering towards the finish line.  As it stands now, even Chicago can get aced out if they lose to Chivas on Thursday and a couple of other shoes drop.

If Chicago and Toronto win this week, they are in.  If not, anything can happen.  The Revs, which has squandered several opportunities to make themselves safe, are now in the position where their fate is no longer in their hands.  By their Sunday game at Columbus, they will know whether that game still has meaning.  Toronto, DC United, Colorado and Dallas are all playing Saturday night, and none of them are playing each other, so they will all have an eye on the scoreboard of other games to understand their fate.

All will be revealed a week from now!

He’s the best manager this nation has ever produced. Not only is he the best, but the gap between Bruce Arena and the second best American manager ever (Bob Bradley, Dom Kinnear, Mooch Myernick, etc?) is so wide it’s not even worth debating. Bruce Arena has done what no US manager has ever done and may never do again. For his prickly ways and the sometimes difficult football to watch his teams produce, he is a one of a kind person when it comes to the game in this country.

That’s why it should come as little surprise to our readers that the Los Angeles Galaxy after three disastrous seasons are now one of the best teams in Major League Soccer again. Arena’s tried and tested formula or signing players he knows from past coaching stints (the USMNT, DC United or UVA) has once again worked brilliantly as the team looks better organized and more together than anytime since the untimely and tragic death of Doug Hamilton.

Bruce Arena has taken a previously outclassed squad and achieved results. Sadly, much of it has been achieved by playing anti-football. The Galaxy are still one or two years away from moving beyond the stench created by Alexi Lalas, Ruud Gullit and David Beckham and while Arena is being faulted by some for his tactics, what else is he supposed to do? Send a team out to play attractively and be beat 3-0 every night like Ruud Gullit’s team was towards the end of his tenure?

I know we hear a lot from MLS fans about how good coach A, is or coach B is. But I’ve witnessed time and time again that good coaches by the MLS standard don’t match up on most nights with Bruce Arena. There are very few Galaxy games this season that I have watched where the other manager is on par tactically with Arena when it comes to making changes during a match.

I do believe as reflected in some recent comments that the coaching in MLS is subpar. I also agree with the comments from some readers that the fact that USL attracts some decent foreign coaches (including some that have managed at a very high level in Europe) who steer away from MLS because of the restrictive rules and failures of past foreign coaches (not one single non American/Canadian oriented coach has been successful in MLS history with the exception of Octavio Zambrano, and even he was eventually fired twice).

Thus, you have a situation where former players who haven’t been properly trained as coaches end up opposing Arena. Some former players improve their coaching skills while some simply do not. It is worth noting that after his one failure as a coach, Arena did not reach back to hire former players of his as his top assistants but brought in Dave Sarachan, who helped build the USMNT under Arena and also did a good job with Chicago. Arena has never said so, but his hiring of Sarcahan indicates to me he knew that he made mistakes in New York with his staff selections.

The best eight years in US National Team history were due almost entirely to Arena. Coming off the disaster of World Cup 1998 and inheriting a team in transition, he quickly stabilized the side beating Germany twice and Argentina once in his first eight months on the job. As well as Bob Bradley is doing, Arena had two more wins against top five ranked nations in his first eight months than Bradley has in almost three years.

Dave Sarcahan was a big part of that quick turnaround for the USMNT, as he rejoined Arena in late 1999 to help steer the national team through the choppy waters of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. The USA finished third in the Hexagonal, but considering Costa Rica and Mexico had relatively few injuries compared to the USA during qualifying, Arena had actually been able to deepen the pool thanks to the troubles.

World Cup 2002 was unlike anything American soccer has experienced before or since. What’s more interesting is that the team was not necessarily more talented than the 1994 or 1998 teams. But Bruce Arena had a magic touch. He got lucky with a healthy John O’Brien for the entire tournament but also pushed the right buttons with Clint Mathis, Frankie Hejduk, and youngsters Pablo Mastroeni, Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley to get results. He also smartly kept veterans Cobi Jones, Earnie Stewart and Joe Max Moore in the team to provide stability.

When Arena was fired in 2006 by Sunil Gulati he implied that the US wouldn’t see the sort of run we enjoyed under him again for sometime. Perhaps it was just a bitter parting shot, or perhaps the maestro of American soccer knows something we don’t. The jury is still out on that comment of course as we have not completed a full World Cup cycle.

Let’s get back to the Galaxy. I felt that when Arena was hired that it was a good choice for the club which had resembled a traveling circus for the better part of 15 months. But even I did not know Arena would have the Galaxy turned around this quickly.

With the veteran experience of several USMNT players, some good young players and Landon Donovan, anything including MLS Cup is possible. That is if David Beckham and his ego don’t get in the way. That I suppose will be Arena’s big test from here on out this MLS season.

NOTE:

THE US-MEXICO GAME FROM AZTECA AUGUST 12TH WILL NOT BE SEEN ON ESPN. SOME MAY RECALL THEIR WERE TV RIGHTS ISSUES IN 2007 WHICH PREVENTED THE USA FROM PLAYING A FRIENDLY AT AZTECA. THESE SAME ISSUES HAVE REAPPEARED WITH TELEMUNDO KEEPING THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH RIGHTS. SO NORMAL USA BROADCAST PARTNERS ESPN AND UNIVISION/TELEFUTURA/GALAVISION HAVE BEEN SHUT OUT. TELEMUNDO HAS EXCLUSIVE ENGLISH AND SPANISH RIGHTS TO MEXICAN NATIONAL TEAM GAMES IN THE US IF THEY ARE PLAYED IN MEXICO.  MUN 2 WILL BROADCAST THE GAME IN ENGLISH.

PERSONALLY IT DOESN’T BOTHER ME, LIVING IN THE MIAMI/FORT LAUDERDALE MARKET I AM USED TO WATCHING USA GAMES IN ESPANOL BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS IN HD, AND THEY HAVE BETTER COMMENTATORS THAN ESPN. BUT I KNOW FOR MOST AROUND THE COUNTRY THIS IS A BAD BLOW.

Eddie Johnson and Brian Ching celebrate a goal against Barbados, the only game which a current US striker has scored a goal in the last 14 months for the national team.

Bob Bradley’s tenure as United States National Team manager has gone about as well as can be expected: A CONCACAF Gold triumph, several victories in the “old world” and thus far a smooth run in qualifying including an elusive win over Guatemala. So with this in mind, clearly their will be no coaching change for the US in the next several years. But Coach Bradley unlike his predecessor Bruce Arena seems to be reluctant to use current club form as a guide to player selection. Arena, almost to a fault felt it necessary even during World Cup qualifying to call in any in-form American player to give him a look.

Bradley seemed to take the Arena philosophy early in his tenure. Bradley’s first year and change on the job saw the call ups of about 70 players. However since the March friendly with Poland, Bradley’s selections have become less and less creative and more and more predictable. Thankfully some of this predictability has been the now routine call ups of Frankie Hejduk and Eddie Lewis both of whom spent a year without being called in after World Cup 2006 when younger players tried and ultimately failed to fill their positions. Unfortunetely this also means the continued routine call ups of Eddie Johnson, now playing his trade in England’s second division, Clint Dempsey who has scored one club goal in the last nine months, DaMarcus Beasley whose role should be filled by Lewis until the later retires, and Ricardo Clark who has looked completely out of his depth in his last four matches for the United States.

The return of Clark to the national team for critical qualifiers is totally unjusitifed. Despite playing on MLS’ dominant team, Clark’s confidence is in the tank. He has been most unimpressive to me while playing for the Dynamo this year other than in a few glimmers. Eddie Johnson and Brian Ching the current US strikers have scored goals in only one match for the US in the last fourteen months: that match was an 8-0 thrashing of Barbados. Had Arena still been managing the national team, in form Kenny Cooper or Charlie Davies would have surely been called into this squad if for no other reason to judge them in camp.

Clint Dempsey not only has played poorly for the US, but seeing him in person now in several US matches over the last 12 months I fear he has gone from having a monster killer instinct to disinterest in the national team. This probably comes from being overworked at Fulham and now confused about his role there, thanks to Manager Roy Hodgson’s tactics. DaMarcus Beasley is a player whose hustle wins him accolades from American coaches and whose Champions League experience gets him love in the press, but whose utility on the international level appears to be waning. Beasley’s first touch and creativity are completely devoid when he needs it the most and I personally am much more comfortable with a wily veteran like Eddie Lewis on the pitch than Beasley whose mistakes and poor positioning are more likely to cost you points than win you anything.

Bradley’s call in of Marvell Wynne is long overdue. For some reason with Wynne available for matches against Mexico and Barbados earlier this year, Drew Moor was called in ahead of him as the first choice right back. Also the call up of Mexican-American fullback Michael Orozco who hopefully can earn his first full US Cap is a welcome sign.

The omission of Kenny Cooper, and Freddy Adu the most creative player the US has are glaring. Arena most certainly would have called both players in to camp in a similar situation. Only time will tell if Bradley’s decisions are justified.

I’ve read with some amusement the last few days the opinions of people I respect questioning the apparent decision by the LA Galaxy to hire Bruce Arena. From my vantage point after drifting along as simply a marketing entity and not a serious footballing side since the death of Doug Hamilton, no move can equal the potential hiring of Arena in signaling that the Galaxy are serious about competiting again in MLS. The Galaxy have become irrelevent from a footballing standpoint in MLS. No amount of David Beckham hype, ticket sales, or hubris from AEG can change that reality.

Bruce Arena understands MLS and the American player as well as anybody around. His tenures with Virginia, DC United and the US National Team speak for themselves. The weakness Arena had in his time leading US was his lack of interest in player development and the youth academy setup, but seeing that MLS has become a league less committed to developing its own talent and more interested in getting second tier players from abroad and recycling older American players, Arena’s unique understanding of the American game will make him the ideal choice. Whether it’s acquiring players within MLS, a weakness of former GM Alexi Lalas or motivating the current group of Galaxy players, Arena knows what he’s doing: He’s done it better than anyone in the history of football in the US. Arena has a better sense for American talent: who will pan out and who won’t than any manager in the history of the game here in the US. This is directly the opposite of Alexi Lalas who had some strange ideas as to the quality of certain players and seemed to be more of a marketing man despite his remarkable success as a player for the US National Team.

Arena’s time at Red Bull New York has many questioning his pedigree: They ought not to. In Los Angeles, unlike in New York Arena will find a back office staff and a management team who understand MLS and football not simply the marketing of energy drinks, and he will have the resources of AEG to back his vision for the club. Arena’s hiring will also signal that after allowing the Beckham/Lalas circus to run roughshod over footballing considerations for almost two years AEG and the Galaxy are getting back to basics.

The choice of Bruce Arena should be a no brainer for AEG. The hiring of a manager of Bruce Arena’s quality can also prevent a mass exodus of players from the Galaxy in the near future. Arena’s tactics are simple but will suit both David Beckham and Landon Donovan’s quality as well as being stronger at the back then what we have seen from the Galaxy recently. The quicker AEG closes the deal the sooner the Galaxy can return to the heights they enjoyed in the first decade of MLS’ existence.

I’ve read with some amusement the last few days the opinions of people I respect questioning the apparent decision by the LA Galaxy to hire Bruce Arena. From my vantage point after drifting along as simply a marketing entity and not a serious footballing side since the death of Doug Hamilton, no move can equal the potential hiring of Arena in signaling that the Galaxy are serious about competiting again in MLS. The Galaxy have become irrelevent from a footballing standpoint in MLS. No amount of David Beckham hype, ticket sales, or hubris from AEG can change that reality.

Bruce Arena understands MLS and the American player as well as anybody around. His tenures with Virginia, DC United and the US National Team speak for themselves. The weakness Arena had in his time leading US was his lack of interest in player development and the youth academy setup, but seeing that MLS has become a league less committed to developing its own talent and more interested in getting second tier players from abroad and recycling older American players, Arena’s unique understanding of the American game will make him the ideal choice. Whether it’s acquiring players within MLS, a weakness of former GM Alexi Lalas or motivating the current group of Galaxy players, Arena knows what he’s doing: He’s done it better than anyone in the history of football in the US. Arena has a better sense for American talent: who will pan out and who won’t than any manager in the history of the game here in the US. This is directly the opposite of Alexi Lalas who had some strange ideas as to the quality of certain players and seemed to be more of a marketing man despite his remarkable success as a player for the US National Team.

Arena’s time at Red Bull New York has many questioning his pedigree: They ought not to. In Los Angeles, unlike in New York Arena will find a back office staff and a management team who understand MLS and football not simply the marketing of energy drinks, and he will have the resources of AEG to back his vision for the club. Arena’s hiring will also signal that after allowing the Beckham/Lalas circus to run roughshod over footballing considerations for almost two years AEG and the Galaxy are getting back to basics.

The choice of Bruce Arena should be a no brainer for AEG. The hiring of a manager of Bruce Arena’s quality can also prevent a mass exodus of players from the Galaxy in the near future. Arena’s tactics are simple but will suit both David Beckham and Landon Donovan’s quality as well as being stronger at the back then what we have seen from the Galaxy recently. The quicker AEG closes the deal the sooner the Galaxy can return to the heights they enjoyed in the first decade of MLS’ existence.

What a crazy week it has been already within MLS. Juan Carlos Osorio ends up with the Red Bulls and Chicago is left without a coach. The franchise in its ten years of existence has had three head coaches and two of them have been poached away by the New York franchise. What makes Osorio think he can succeed in New York? Considering Carlos Queiroz and Carlos Alberto Parriera among other big names have failed, why would Osorio be any different? Perhaps Osorio realizes the bad habits he learned at Manchester City from Stuart Pearce and Kevin Keagan won’t work in MLS and he’ll coach more aggressively next season with the likes of Juan Pablo Angel to fall back on. Osorio knows Claudio Reyna from his Man City days and may be inclined to keep Reyna in the fold.

Where will Chicago turn? I would strongly consider either John Spencer or Paul Mariner. With Spencer you get a former Premier League and MLS footballer with a great mind for the game. In Mariner you get a boatload of Ipswich Town fans who see him as a bit of a god like figure to support the club, as well a man who has arguably the best scouting network in the country.

Bobby Boswell’s career with DC United has ended. A year ago at this time Boswell was a star in the making, and was rapidly becoming the poster child for young Americans in the league. His time at Florida International University in my backyard was filled with promise as were his first two years in MLS and his first several call ups with the national team. Then it seems he went too Hollywood, and his game completely deserted him. Boswell heads to Houston for Zach Wells who will likely replace Troy Perkins who is almost certainly headed to Europe. So when Perkins heads to Europe he will be the latest in a long line of American keepers to get a job across the pond.

FC Dallas has released Denilson. What a waste of a DP. But more importantly Juan Toja has been resigned which shows MLS is serious about keeping young Latin players stateside.

I have heard some interesting speculation regarding Landon Donovan’s future in Los Angeles. Regardless of what some US fans and American talk show hosts think of Donovan he is highly respected south of the border. In fact I will go on record as saying he is the most respected American player in history south of the border. I’ve heard that Moreila who pushed deep into the Mexican Apetura playoffs would love to take Donovan on loan for the Clausura season. I have also heard one or two other Mexican clubs may be interested. In addition, what MLS team wouldn’t want to add Donovan to the fold? The way I see it, if Los Angeles is really keeping Clint Mathis it must be dealing Donovan. Or maybe it is Mathis who’ll be gone to Sydney FC or San Jose in the upcoming months. Stay tuned- this will be interesting.

Another bit of potential transfer news involves Eddie Johnson possibly heading to Newcastle or Reading. Please let it be anywhere but Newcastle. ANYWHERE!!!!!

Of the possible DPs coming to MLS this season, only the names of Andriy Shevchenko and Jared Borgetti makes sense. The other names like Ronaldo, Juan Sebastian Veron, and Claudio Lopez. In the case of Borgetti the fact that MLS still hasn’t signed him, a Mexican admirer of the American game is mind boggling. When Borgetti left Bolton two years ago, MLS had an easy opening to get him before he went to the Middle East, and then back to Mexico. But as has been the case often with potential signings the league was asleep at the wheel. Now MLS will have to try and sign Borgetti while some suitors in Europe are still in the mix. My guess is if he signs with MLS he’ll be allocated to Colorado, and Daniel Osorio will be history with the Rapids.