Arena’s Criticisms Right on the Mark
“I expect the unexpected,” Bruce Arena was quoted as saying before the U.S. national team dismantled El Salvador, 2-0, on the road in San Salvador on Saturday night to gain only its fourth victory in Central America in 39 years.
Just what the unexpected was, however, is unknown. The current round of regional qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany has pretty much gone according to plan.
Once Wednesday’s games are over, chances are Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. would be virtually assured of advancing to next year’s six-team final round.
Joining them there would be two from among Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.
That scenario is exactly what was predicted before qualifying began, and it is just as easy to predict now that Mexico and the U.S. will be going to Germany, with Costa Rica and Jamaica battling for the third spot.
And if, as expected, Arena does qualify the U.S. for its fifth consecutive World Cup, he would earn the U.S. Soccer federation a hefty $8 million, the sum FIFA has promised to each of the 32 qualified teams.
That would be more than enough to pay for Arena’s not inconsiderable contract, and perhaps it might even stop U.S. Soccer from trying to stifle the coach when he speaks his mind, as he did not long ago.
Federation and Major League Soccer officials might not have liked what Arena said in criticizing shortcomings in both organizations, but it was about time someone in a position of power stood up and said something of substance about the sport.
Arena was wrong in blasting USSF and MLS for a perceived lack of soccer-knowledgeable people -- there are many -- but he was absolutely correct when he called the MLS regular season essentially meaningless, when he called for only four teams to make the playoffs instead of eight, and when he called for a single league table instead of two conferences.
Fans have been saying the same things for nine years, ever since MLS was founded, but their voices have fallen on deaf ears.
Arena’s voice was heard, but then was silenced by angry phone calls from USSF in Chicago and MLS in New York, and he later decided to offer an apology.
“The passion and commitment I have for the game tends to cloud my judgment and apparently destroy some of my brain cells as well,” he said in part. “For this, I apologize to the people I may have offended.”
The hope here is that more offense is forthcoming.
Bland and controversy-free is not a formula that will put soccer on the front page or the evening sports news.
It’s a formula for failure.
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Now that John Ellinger has been named coach of MLS’s new Salt Lake City team, perhaps he can do something about its disaster of a name.
Without so much as signing a player, the folks in Utah -- or those who are paid to advise them -- have determined that the team already has enough pedigree and prestige to be called Real Salt Lake.
And not just Real, mind you, ReAL.
It’s bad enough that Real Salt Lake fits about as poorly as Boca Salt Lake or Internationale Utah, but owner Dave Checketts’ outfit now is saddled with what looks to be a typographical error.
The team logo is fine. The team colors are fine. The team’s choice of coach is fine. But ReAL? Get real.
“I didn’t want to name us the Baboons or the Golden Spikers because you can’t tell if that’s arena football or indoor lacrosse,” Checketts said Saturday when the name was unveiled. “I wanted a soccer name. I wanted to make sure that when people heard it around the country they knew that it was soccer. And I kind of like the way RSL rolls off the tongue.”
Fair enough, but make it Real, not ReAL.
Meanwhile, don’t look for Checketts and Ellinger to be chasing the likes of Roberto Carlos, Raul or Michael Owen, who play for the real Real.
“This is going to be a young team,” Checketts said. “I’m not sure that during the first year anybody will recognize many names of the players.”
Just like the rest of the league, then.
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When Guadalajara played Club America at Chicago’s Soldier Field last week, there were 44,975 fans in the stadium.
The two Mexican rivals have a pulling power that stretches far across the border, so it will be interesting to see how many fans Chivas USA and the still-being-planned Club America expansion team in MLS will draw in 2006.
Still on the subject of names, how does Houston America sound? How about Austin America?
Of course, it would be a lot easier, given the CA lettering in Club America’s logo, if that team ended up in Illinois. Chicago America, anyone?
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With Coach Thomas Rongen having joined Chivas USA, for better or worse, the U.S. under-20 national team coaching job is up for grabs.
One candidate for the post should be former Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid, who proved adept with that age group when he led the 1999 team to the second round of the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria.
The next such event is in the Netherlands next year, and Schmid would be the perfect fit. Well, not quite as perfect as Rongen, a Dutchman, but pretty good.
The trouble is, is anyone at U.S. Soccer listening?
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Whether the U.S. women’s national team job will become vacant won’t be known until after the team’s current Olympic celebratory tour ends in early December, probably at the Home Depot Center and possibly against Brazil.
The Olympic gold medal winners are enjoying themselves on what is essentially a farewell tour for retiring veterans Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett. As for Coach April Heinrichs’ future, there has been no comment from U.S. Soccer.
Arena was asked recently about reports that some players had called for Heinrichs to be removed. He dodged the question quicker than DaMarcus Beasley sidesteps a would-be tackle.
“I already have one foot in my mouth,” Arena said.
