Trouble in Tinseltown?

Today’s soccer spotlight falls on the humble community some 400 miles to our south, an anonymous burg of nearly 13 million souls known predominantly for its utter inability to promote itself or its inhabitants in any way. (Apparently, we got out of bed on the sarcastic side this morning.)

Anyway, the Galaxy has cut loose veteran defender Abel Xavier and he is not particularly pleased about it, as he has been all too happy to share with both Steven Goff of the Washington Post’s Soccer Insider blog and  Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy. Xavier is particularly critical of Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit.

Xavier told Goff that Gullit “doesn’t respect the players, he doesn’t communicate with the players. He never wants to listen to the players. It’s a bad environment. He doesn’t like players with personality. The players are afraid to speak out because, for most of them, their jobs are not guaranteed. They are afraid of losing their jobs. … Look at Carlos Ruiz: One week Ruud Gullit wants to trade him and the next week he wants to be his best friend. … With all the friction between the coach and the players, how can you have a healthy environment?”

Xavier shared similar criticisms with Goal.com’s McCarthy. “I admired (Gullit) as a player, but I do not admire him as a coach. The way he conducts himself, his lack of ability to communicate with players and his way of developing the team shows a lack of respect. … When we win, he praises himself. When we lose, he blames the players. …They don’t fight for him and they don’t believe in him.”

On the surface, Xavier’s gripes could be dismissed as sour grapes, but many of the observations he shares with McCarthy paint the former Portugal international is an insightful observer of MLS and American soccer:

“The American mentality is great,” Xavier said. “Players want to learn and they want to work. The players always want to play and back the coach. You don’t scream at young players. You’ll kill their confidence. You should show them what to do with the correct language. Before you are a football player, you are a man. You need to be respectful.”

Xavier thinks the American mentality requires a different style of man-management… building team spirit while on the training pitch and cultivating mutual respect.

“MLS is different than Europe,” Xavier said. “You need to integrate with the team. You need to be part of the players and listen to what they say. You need to create a group relationship, especially amongst the experienced players, and he doesn’t do that.”

Interesting. In fact, after reading that last little bit, it sounds to us like Xavier’s biggest criticism of Gullit is that he’s not Frank Yallop. (Or that Ruud is, well, rude.)

In any case, it’s an odd move for another reason. On July 1, MLS contracts were guaranteed for the rest of the season, which means that teams are responsible for a player’s full annual salary after that deadline passes, so the Galaxy gets no salary cap relief from dumping Xavier.

Ah, chaos in L.A. Couldn’t happen to a nicer team.

• • •

There is one thing that’s working in L.A., and that’s David Beckham. The New York Post, icon of excellence in journalism (ow, there’s that sarcasm again), today reports some of the financial benefits that Beckham has brought to both the Galaxy and the league:

The Galaxy sold an astounding 300,000 Beckham jerseys last year, Garber pointing out “That’s more than Derek Jeter, more than Reggie Bush.” As a matter of fact, that’s more than any athlete on the planet. For perspective, Reebok confirmed that jersey sales for NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were in the 75-80,000 range.

“I think at this point it’s probably around the half-million mark, which is great for us and great for the league,” said Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas.

Let’s see — a half-million jerseys at $80 each — $40 million. That’s not the net profit, of course, but it probably helps out the bottom line quite a bit.

• • •

In other news, one of the Quakes’ supporters groups, the 1906 Ultras, have launched a spiffy new web site.  You can also find them in Section 111 at Buck Shaw. Nice job, guys!

Finally, Quakes’ midfielder/defender Kelly Gray has a new column up at Goal.com, talking about the team’s three new signings.