Bruce Arena was formally named as Los Angeles Galaxy coach this weekend, taking what the team described as “full control” of the club’s soccer operations.  

This may prove to be an inflammable mix. Arena has been idle since he and Red Bull New York parted ways, and his reputation is running on fumes. He desperately needs another winning run in MLS to exorcise his many ghosts. The team that hired him is in similar straits: AEG needs to fix a dysfunctional locker room, a damaged brand, and hang on to a star making noises that he’d like to get out of town.  

It also may be an impossible job: After the disastrous co-management of the Galaxy by Alexi Lalas and David Beckham’s handlers, the Galaxy was left top-heavy with bloated salaries and a lack of talent. It currently needs more than soothing words and man-management.

Time is a factor. While the Galaxy is in better shape than the Red Bulls were when Arena took the reins, both AEG and the league need to have David Beckham in the playoffs. But looking down the road, the Galaxy also needs to hold on to Landon Donovan and shore up the teams’ pitiful defense. Arena has ten games in which to work might legitimately be termed a miracle. The MLS playoff race is so tight that anything can happen, but the way Houston has been playing lately and the dogged determination being shown by Real Salt Lake seems to indicate that a top two finish and a guaranteed post-season berth will be difficult.

Arena made his pro name by smartly stocking and running a dynastic D.C. team thirteen years ago, and he is widely (and correctly) credited for steering the 2002 men’s team to glory in Korea. Since that time, Arena’s ego seemed to expand while his teams’ accomplishments shrank.  

Convinced his tactics could help the Americans win anywhere, he seemed genuinely nonplussed when that turned out not to be true. His stated ambition to coach an English team was greeted with scorn abroad. When he returned to the club level, his New York team didn’t win a playoff game under his tenure. (He also made the mistake of signing Claudio Reyna as a designated player — a move that arguably cost him his job at the Meadowlands.)

And have we mentioned the arrogance that he too often displays? I sense that it covers up some deep personal insecurities, but where that ego once served to deflect pointed questions, it now serves to invite them. It’s a shame that he doesn’t instead lean back on his humor, which is both incisive and funny.

Arena has shown he can work with some of the biggest egos in the game. Beckham’s clan is smarting after the removal of their hand-picked coach, Ruud Gullitt, and Arena is going to have to deal with a lot of the off-the-field politicking that shadows England’s most famous soccer export. But he showed in D.C. that guys like Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno would play for him, and at his peak, he got guys to believe they could excel in his system.  

Arena also has been smart in inviting Dave Sarachan to join him in LA. Sarachan was Arena’s secret weapon in the 2002 Cup: His gentle personality and eye to detail got that team out of a lot of jams.

Now: A lot of people want to see Arena fail. They blame him for the 2006 debacle (again, with justification) and are sick of his attitude. Smart fans also know what a wreck he left at the Fed: He completely neglected the American youth development system while serving as TD, and the squad is now really suffering as a result. Unfortunately, wishing failure on the man is just as unfair to the Galaxy as Arena has sometimes been to the fans, the players and the folks who covered him.

And, while few are saying it, Arena is the right man for the job right now. There isn’t another American with the combination of experience and grit who hasn’t already been behind the Galaxy’s wheel. Nor is there another quality foreign coach out there who would touch that job right now.

So, wish Arena luck. He’s going to need it.

It is confirmed: David Beckham has signed a contract with MLS and will join the LA Galaxy. A formal announcement is forthcoming at 1:30 pm ET. The deal is said to be worth some $38m a year for five years.  AEG, adidas and MLS have formed an unusual partnership to handle and market the star in the United States. Recall that under MLS's "salary cap" rules, the league is only paying some $400K of that. Out of whack? You be the judge! Beckham himself has confirmed that he is leaving Madrid in a prepared statement to the press, and our look at what this means for the league will be up momentarily.

On to Reader Mail:

Kyle Edward Cook wrote in to ask: Why wasn’t Cobi Jones mentioned in your “Where are They Now?” piece.

This is an excellent question that brings up two points. The first is, while I, personally, would turn off the swear filter and make this a true “write-into-Trecker-and-tell-him-what-an-$%#@*-he-
is” experience, my editors have asked me not to. So, let me re-direct you to my fan club, BigSoccer.com
where the level of dialogue is always top-notch and you can bloviate to your heart’s content.

Second: The truth is, I forgot. I don’t know how I did this, but I did. So, I apologise: Mr. Jones absolutely should have been in that piece. The only rationale I can offer for leaving him out was that I sincerely believed he had an outside chance of making the USA team as a sub — I still believe Jones could be effective as a game-changing 20 minute type of player and thus that might have moved him from one mental box into the other.

“The Gaffer” writes in to ask what my opinion of Cup planning is: So far, it’s not bad; I think the real test will come with tickets at the stadiums tomorrow. But, so far I have to say things have run quite smoothly, and overall, things are quite calm and affable.

“Zachy” asks: “It is just me or do I see more American press covering the Brits than the home team?” I dunno about that, actually — speaking personally the ratio of things I’ve covered so far in this blog is as follows:

Bicycling 40%
Food 25%
Idiocy 13%
Wayne Rooney 10%
The USA 10%
Famke Janssen 2%


Hope this helps.

“EzFinn” notes, hopefully, that this World Cup may be “the apex of commercial trappings.” Lord, I hope so.

“Lance” asks: “Why no comments from the naked men?” Um, I don’t really have an answer for this one.

Finally, the su####ious-sounding “Li Trecker” writes in and asks: “What’s up with the ‘we?’ Is someone else there with you?” Sigh. Yes, dear, some one is. The “we” is not the good-old fashioned “royal we,” but an actual “we.” I should make mention of the invaluable assistance provided by the aforementioned Li, my assistant and long-suffered spouse, who does a lot of legwork for yours truly, an increasingly immobile sort these days.

Tune in later on for more from the FIFA Congress and all the excitement of weinerschnitzel!