Arena Unafraid to speak out

The Los Angeles Galaxy boss, Bruce Arena, might have been handed a big fine by the Major League Soccer board, but, he is still not afraid of saying what he feels in the media.

The 62-year old American believes he did not do anything wrong by criticizing the league officials for not letting him secure the services of the playmaker Sacha Kljestan.

Kljestan who is a player of the Belgian club R.S.C Anderlecht at the moment was about to sign for Galaxy last month, but, the MLS officials, for some reason, interfered and did not let that deal take place.

That pissed Arena off and he publicly had a verbal go at the officials saying that they need to grow up.

Arena had this to say back then, “I don’t think we have got too many matured people in the board right now and that’s a shame. The kids can’t run such a big league.”

“I do hope that something is done about these rules during off season. The arbitrary rules are never good.”

The officials, obviously, did not like these words of Arena a single bit and they sanctioned him for breaking the code of conduct.

According to MLS rules, no player or manager can criticize the league officials publicly.

However, the fine doesn’t seem to have any affects on Arena. He still looks fearless and says what he thinks he should say.

Speaking to the media yesterday, he said he doesn’t regret the statement that he made a few weeks ago.

The former Yanks coach said, “I stand against any wrongdoing and that’s what I did. We go about the business in a very straightforward way here at Galaxy.”

Galaxy is at the second position in the Western Conference points table right now with 51 points.

Robinson Says Priorities Have Not Changed

Vancouver Whitecaps manager Carl Robinson says that the priorities of the season have not changed despite the good start made by the club. At the start of the season, it was stated that Vancouver will be focusing on developing the youngsters and improving the squad as a whole. This was seen as a transitional period for the club. However, they have been able to get a decent set of results up until now. This has seen them mid-table in the Western Conference. About the club’s much superior form than originally expected, Robinson says that the focus has not changed.

He is just happy that the team is enjoying a good run of form, although they have not won a single match in the last five. This is threatening to destroy the good start they have had so far. Even though they have not been able to get three points of late, the likes of Colorado Rapids and Portland Timbers – teams that are around them – have also not been able to get consistent results. This means that Robinson and Vancouver Whitecaps will still be dreaming about reaching the top five or even top four of the table.

Robinson stated that the club wants to make use of this good form and reach the play-offs.

“It didn’t raise my expectations, because my focus was on youth development and I said all along it’s going to be a work in progress here. I want to develop young players, coach young players and with young players you get ups and downs and I think you’ve seen that over the last six or eight games, really. We got off to a super start, but that was all credit to the guys and the work they put in. That work hasn’t changed, the effort hasn’t changed, the technical quality hasn’t changed,” said Robinson.