did Roy Wegerle really start a World Cup match? -- that he was forced to take risks with the locker room chemistry.)
Good managers at the international level are looking, basically, to accomplish only a few things: they want to organize matters and make things professional and smooth around the program; they want to squeeze the best out of individuals by choosing complimentary parts and putting personnel in places where they are set up for success; and, they want to avoid the costly personnel mistake.
Again, that's all about knowing the athletes. Was DaMarcus Beasley ready to start in a World Cup match last summer? Perhaps not. There's a prime example of a costly personnel mistake. So, yes, U.S. coaches can make them.
But then-manager Bruce Arena made far more prescient personnel choices through the years than costly ones, which is why he had such a successful overall tenure.
As for Bradley's belated appointment: The arc of this story might still be troublesome for some fans. And it is a reasonable question: if Bradley was going to be the guy, why not enact the move sooner?
Gulati's cautious deliberation might have been misplaced or overly conservative at some other time. But under the circumstances it was a reasonable way to proceed. If he did it again, Gulati said he might expedite the early stages of the search, but that he felt comfortable with the process overall.
He pursued Jürgen Klinsmann initially, and so many followers agreed that the charismatic German-born Californian was a unique (and probably perfect) hodgepodge of soccer savvy and U.S. know-how. When that bid stalled, Gulati needed a stopgap while he explored every available option.
Bradley, the only two-time MLS Coach of the Year when in charge of the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA, was the stopgap. While Gulati mulled the choices, Bradley did everything necessary to assuage any lingering concerns. Three wins (including a biggie against Mexico) and a tie took care of that.
(FYI: the past four MLS Coach of the Year winners have been U.S.-born: Dave Sarachan, Greg Andrulis, Dominic Kinnear and Bradley.)
There are certainly a few advantages to coaches who pack a European or South American savvy. It's just that the advantages are mitigated by the significant handicap of not knowing American athletes.
Klinsmann was the exception. He would have fit both sets of important criteria. But there's no question which set should be paramount: the ability to connect with American athletes and to work within the familiar domestic soccer sphere.
Grahame Jones of the Los Angeles Times wrote about this episode, which is telling:
Ante Razov had been released by the Los Angeles Galaxy in 1997. He joined Bradley at Chicago the next season, and the coach was frank about the young forward's abilities. He told Razov that pro soccer players needed a full bag of tricks; standing around poaching for goals wasn't good enough.
Perhaps the message would not have resonated from the mouth someone less familiar with domestic soccer. From Bradley, it obviously stuck.
Razov is now the league's third all-time leading scorer and might well leapfrog to the top of the list by season's end.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
