June 28, 2006
The Red Bulls finally let head coach Mo Johnston go and assistant Richie Williams will serve as interim head coach until a permanent replacement is found.
Cue the Bruce Arena to the Red Bulls rumors. Bruce is a New Jersey guy, so there is that angle. As a DC United fan, I don't like the thought of Bruce heading to the arch rivals. But, that franchise has been a mess forever. So, there is a chance that even Bruce and Red Bull couldn't fix that mess, right?
Todd Dunivant to the Red Bulls
This is a good one.
Alexi Lalas traded Dunivant from San Jose to LA in 2005. He was rumored to be trying to land Dunivant in NY when he was the Red Bulls GM. And now he sends Dunivant to NY as the LA GM.
It will be interesting to see what the Galaxy do with the allocation they picked up in exchange for Dunivant.
LA also waived Brazilian holding midfielder Marcelo Saragosa . Saragosa had started 10 games for the Galaxy this season.
The former Chicago Fire GM did a Q&A with ESPN.com about his work in trying to bring an MLS expansion team to Milwaukee, along with a lot of MLS and US Soccer stuff in general.
The one idea that really intrigued me was the whole giving vouchers for tickets to local youth soccer players to drive ticket sales. That might be something that the Rhinos want to look at trying to drive up attendance in the future.
MLS vs Europe debate in the wake of the early World Cup exit by the US
This is a debate that I can really see both sides of.
Personally, I think the key is to get playing time at the highest level possible. If a guy will get playing time in Europe, then he should head to Europe. But, if he's going to ride the pine, then I think he'd be better off playing in MLS.
As an example, I think Kenny Cooper will grow more by playing with FC Dallas than he would had he stayed on the Manchester United Reserve squad.
A Dennis Miller worthy rant on US Soccer and MLS
I didn't agree with a lot of what the author had to say, but it was entertaining and thought provoking none the less.
Personally, I don't see how MLS can compete economically for top talent with the mega clubs of the world. MLS is moving towards 20,000 seat stadiums and don't have the sponsorship and media revenues that the big clubs in Europe have. Thus, I don't see how MLS could ever build a revenue base that would allow them to compete with European clubs for top talent.
But, I do believe that there are areas where MLS and US Soccer need to improve. Such as the intensity in training on a day to day basis. Along with trying to improve the level of play in MLS.
I took that as "Come back and ask me when my job with the German team is done." Klinsmann has taken too much heat from the German media, fans, and soccer community for being "too American" for him to dismiss the idea of coaching the US squad out of hand.
He can't openly talk about the US job before Bruce Arena is off the job and while he's still coaching the Germans in the World Cup. But, I'd expect that Klinsmann would listen if US Soccer came calling in a few months.
And personally, he would be one of the top candidates for the job in my mind. But, that doesn't appear to be going against the grain right about now.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
