This is about the two greatest football managers in United States in history. One led the country to a World Cup quarter-final appearance and was thisclose to the semis. The other masterminded the only team in history to win a World Cup group along with a stunning upset of European champion Spain in between La Furia Roja's 2008 Euro title and 2010 World Cup win - the lone such crown in Spanish history.
Much is known about Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley and both have extensive MLS experience. One is still there now - the dean of MLS coaching in Arena. And do you want to get a chance to meet him? You can do it by logging onto Southwest.com and booking a flight.
Why is this? Because of the stunning LA Times investigative piece explaining how MLS mandates commercial flights. That means the star-studded Galaxy may be on Southwest.
Said Landon Donovan: "There’s a perception and an image. We're on a Southwest flight to Kansas City and a lady in front of us said, ‘Why are you guys flying Southwest?’ So if we want to be Major League Soccer, not minor league soccer, and we want to be like the others sports, eventually we have to get there."
In essence, the league only allows four charter flights in the interest of "competitive balance." That includes the playoffs for some reason. Arena said he is so embarrassed that he bans the players from wearing LA Galaxy gear in order not to look ridiculous.
What does the league have to say in response? Idiot commissioner Don Garber said that teams have to decide whether they want charter flights or academies. What foolishness and this is why the MLS is one of the world's laughingstocks. The Times reported charter travel would only cost the league an additional $20 million.
Across the pond, Bradley doesn't have to deal with such nonsense in the richest league in the world. The new Swansea City boss gave his first interview below to the club web site.
So what does IMOTGP think about Bradley at Swansea City? Well we think it's a good situation despite the club hovering just above the drop on four points and winless in six. For one, within the Swans' reach are clubs like Hull City, Burnley, Boro and Bournemouth - all within four points or fewer. Swansea have enough talent to get above these sides.
The next six fixtures are Arsenal (A), Watford (H), Stoke City (A), Manchester United (H), Everton (A) and Crystal Palace (H). Only the Gunners are title contenders in that group and it's safe to say that Swansea will fancy their chances of picking up points in all of the other five, perhaps outside of the trip to Goodison Park. A 10- or 11-point haul from these matches is critical for Bradley and could be doable with established talent like Fernando Llorente, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Leroy Fer and Wayne Routledge on hand. It's up to Bradley to revive players like Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-Yueng.
The Arsenal match is delectable since it was reported that Swansea asked their managerial candidates for a game plan to neutralize the Gunners during the interviews and Bradley apparently shined. On Oct. 15, we will find out whether that plan really has merit.
But in conclusion, Swansea are a fairly stable club and we believe it's actually a better place for Bradley to be than a bigger club like Sunderland which has had much upheaval of late. He's also not with one of the newboys, either. If Bradley gets relegated, he'll deserve to be sacked but we predict that won't happen and the Swans will stabilize somewhere in the upper part of the bottom half of the table.
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