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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Bullish on The Bruce
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quelle surprise: New York Red Bulls have hired Bruce Arena. Not just coach, but “sporting director,” a term reflecting the European investors who recently purchased the former MetroStars. Basically, he’ll have a lot of authority in player acquisitions, etc. Like a GM.
His typical blunt self, he was today at his press conference: Don’t expect the U.S. to be seriously competitive at the World Cup until 2018 at the earliest. And a bit revealing: He thought in January he wouldn’t be retained after his contract ran out. Wasn’t interested in going back to MLS, but had a change of mind. Impending unemployment can do that, but he had a deal in place with Red Bulls before his U.S. fate was sealed.
The Bruce’s first game in charge: An Aug. 12 friendly with Barcelona. Yes, it’s that time of year, with Europe’s best are stretching their pre-season leagues against our in-season lads.
The word is that the Red Bulls would like to loosen up the tight MLS salary cap to allow some high-priced world-class players to come over (Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane?) and add some pizzaz and formidable head-butting skills. It ain’t ever gonna be like it was with the Cosmos, but every little bit helps.
Perfect segue: Try your hand at the Zidane head-butting game, and see how many red cards you can collect. Off the Ball got progressively worse with every game she played. Too bad there wasn’t a Lance Armstrong figure to whack after his rank comments last week at the ESPYs.
On the home front, the Silverbacks can’t lose at home and can’t win on the road, which isn’t all that unusual. But that hot streak at their new digs has placed them firmly in the playoff hunt in the USL First Division. Puerto Rico makes a visit on Saturday.
