Bruce Arena sounds off over Gold Cup, MLS schedule

I get so doggone conflicted when Bruce Arena opens his mouth.

On the one hand, the Galaxy’s sense of entitlement has always started at the top (I mean, way up top, as in upper management), but often gets inflamed by Arena. The Galaxy manager does complain with a certain reliability when things don’t go the team’s way.

On the other hand, his complaints are often valid. Because of his past success, Arena has enough power and influence that he can say things that so many players, coaches and officials are thinking and not fear the repurcussions. So in that way, Arena’s comments can serve a good purpose.

So it is with his latest statements on the upcoming Gold Cup. The Galaxy and quite a few other MLS clubs could lose important players for two or three weeks during the regional competition.

What Arena said.

That’s what this league is. This is the way the league operates. When you can’t be in sync with an international calendar, that’s the reality of things. We’ve been well aware of [the Gold Cup] before the year started. It’s crazy. It skews the competition in the league, but it is what it is. What are you going to do?”

Arena said that no decision has been made on Landon Donovan, but chances seem quite strong that his team’s second-best attacker at the moment (Robbie Keane is the man around the SyubHub Center right now) will be called into Jurgen Klinmann’s national “B” team.

Either way, Arena ain’t happy – not after seeing his top defender (by a long, long way) miss almost a month of matches. Omar Gonzalez was away during four MLS matches and a U.S. Open Cup loss.

I think the whole thing is foolish, to be honest with you, coming off the players disappearing for a month with the World Cup qualifying as well. It’s a major problem we have with scheduling in the league, and it damages the competition. We have to find other ways to fit the schedule in where teams are not impacted due to the FIFA calendar.”