Galaxy to choose Arena?

“Two thousand zero zero
Party over, whoops, out of time
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999″

Our friends over at Soccer by Ives are reporting that the Galaxy will name Bruce Arena head coach on Monday, and, hmm, interesting choice. The team is essentially betting that Arena will be able to coach like it’s 1999, after he had won two MLS Cups and was on the way to a stunning run in the 2002 World Cup, and not like the 2007 Arena who flamed out of Germany and left New York in shame after signing the injury-ridden Claudio Reyna for more than $1 million a year and leading Los Toros Rojos to a 16-16-10 record. Still, at least they made the playoffs, so that’s a step up from where L.A. has been the last two seasons.

On paper, the decision appears to make sense — but that’s always been true of the goings-on at Galaxy central, where they have shown the ability to fall far enough in love with an idea that any potential negative ramifications are swept away with the sound of big checks being written. Tim Leiweke and Bruce Arena! Bruce Arena and Tim Leiweke! What could go wrong? What could possibly go wrong?

Well, everything. There are so many warning signs on this deal that it would take hours to put them in some sort of logical order, so we’re just going to throw them out shotgun style:

- In recent years, the Galaxy’s coach has been the subject of extreme micromanagement. After the Galaxy ended Frank Yallop’s tenure as coach, Landon Donovan said this to the L.A. Times:

“I like Frank as a person and I think he’s a great coach. The unfortunate part is, he hasn’t been allowed to show what a good coach he is this year. He’s not been able to be himself. He’s had people in his ear telling him what to do, and he’s not been able to just get on with it. When he finally was left alone, we went on a seven-game unbeaten streak. I don’t think anyone wants to work in those circumstances.”

It’s possible, of course, that Donovan was referring solely to the now departed Alexi Lalas as the “people in (Yallop’s) ear,” but even if that was the case, it seems likely to us that Lalas would have been acting on Leiweke’s behalf. Nobody goes from laid back, goatee-wearing, guitar-playing jock to uptight, obsessive kibitzer without at least some provocation.

- Historically, Arena has not been the kind of guy who tolerates people questioning his judgment. In his extensive interview with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl after he was hired for the New York job, Arena had this to say about his former bosses at U.S. Soccer (and, amusingly enough, about what is now his home stadium):

Let me tell you this: I wasn’t convinced I would come back if they wanted me back. It couldn’t go on the way it was going. There’s too many people who want to be technical directors and soccer experts that aren’t. They’re micromanagers. U.S. Soccer needs a real thorough technical direction in terms of how you go about doing business in this sport every day, and it’s not there. The national training center [at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.] is a joke in terms of a national training center. It’s an amusement park. That has to be the foundation of that organization, which it won’t be.

SI.com: What do you mean by “amusement park”?

Arena: Everything running through it, from the X Games to tennis to this to that. That’s not a national training center. Which is a shame, because there are resources to do that right. It’s always been a sticking point. So what I’ll do is, I’ll try to demonstrate with this club how you do that stuff.

- Ironically, Leiweke may not be insulted by Arena labeling the HDC “an amusement park.” In fact, when the Galaxy hired Ruud Gullit, he told Grahame Jones of the L.A. Times that he thinks of the whole club as a circus:

“I understand that there are some who don’t like the circus. Well, I love the circus. If people want a retirement home, they can go someplace else. We’re not a retirement community here. We live in the circus and we should relish the fact we have 94,000 people coming to watch us [play an exhibition] in Australia. I like that. I like the fact that half the media in that room today was not from L.A. Ruud’s going to make us bigger. He’s going to create even more demand and expectations, and I like that.”

Leiweke may like it but there’s a pretty good chance that Arena won’t. Add to this stew the fact that Arena, who has always had a prickly relationship with the press, is now going to be under an international spotlight thanks to the presence of David Beckham, and it looks more and more like “Arena to the Galaxy” is a ticking bomb, waiting to go off.

This will end well. Oh yes. This will end well.

(As a side note, we’re going to take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for a second. Last fall, when the press first speculated that the Galaxy would hire a big-name foreign coach to replace Frank Yallop, we noted on the Soccer Silicon Valley blog that such a move would “almost guarantee another season of befuddlement, in-fighting, and confusion among the Galaxy brass.”  We get things wrong, too, but we nailed that one.)

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In other news:

- The Earthquakes are partnering with San Jose City Council member Nora Campos to hold a backpack drive tomorrow and on August 30, when the Kansas City Wizards are in town. Fans who donate backpacks on those days will receive a coupon for a half-price ticket to a future Quakes game. The backpacks will be donated to underprivileged children at Goss Elementary School in San Jose. There’s additional info on the team’s web site.

- Tomorrow is also the day for the San Jose Earthquakes blood drive. Fans will be able to donate blood at the Stanford Blood Center Blood Mobile prior to the match, and four donors will be selected at random to win either a team-autographed ball or a game-worn jersey. Call (888) 723-7831 or visit the Blood Center’s web site if you’d like to sign up.

- Michael Parkhurst, who is coming off a solid performance for the U.S. at the Beijing Olympics, will not suit up for New England on Saturday. He’s been given the weekend off.

Frankly, this strikes us as being very unfair to the Revolution’s other players. We suggest Steve Nicol give Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston the day off, too.